Jean Carson

All this shapely character "broad" had to do was open her mouth to induce laughter--and so she did, primarily on TV during the '50s and '60s. And although she milked that unmistakable rasp for all its worth, she also showed great comedy sense. Born Jean Leete on February 23, 1923, in Charleston, West Virginia, actress Jean Carson (not to be confused with pert British actress Jeannie Carson of Hey, Jeannie! (1956) TV fame) was trained in music and dance and started performing by age 12. With high aspirations of becoming an actress, she subsequently studied at Carnegie-Mellon University. She was first discovered appearing on Broadway in 1948 in George S. Kaufman's "Bravo!" with a cast including Kevin McCarthy and Oskar Homolka. Set in New York, the show was a bust (running only 44 performances), but Jean made a wonderful comic impression and earned a Theatre World award in the process. She followed this with another Kaufman-staged play, "Metropole," in 1949 as well as "The Bird Cage" (1