Betty Lou Gerson was an American actress, predominantly active in radio but also in film and television and as a voice actress.
She is best known as the original voice of Cruella de Vil from the Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) for which she was named a Disney Legend in 1996.
Gerson was born on April 20, 1914, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where her father was a steel business executive. She belonged to a Jewish family.
She attended private schools in Birmingham, Alabama, and Miami, Florida. She relocated to Chicago with her family when she was 16, where she appeared in the radio serial The First Nighter Show. Then, she relocated to New York City.
Betty Lou Gerson’s top movies and TV shows
Some of the actress’s top movies and TV shows are:
The 100, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Father Knows Best, The Twilight Zone, Hazel, Wanted Dead or Alive, The Guardians Galaxy, Dangerous Assignment, Gunsmoke, The Fabulous, Four Star Playhouse, Bachelor Father, Once Upon a Time, I married Joan, 77 Sunset Trip, Death Valley Days, Navy Log, Studio 57
Betty Lou Gerson awards and nominations
On October 16, 1996, Lou Gerson received the Disney Legends Award for living up to the Disney principles of imagination, skill, discipline, craftsmanship, and magic.
