Amzie Strickland (January 10, 1919 â€" July 5, 2006) was an American character actress who began in radio, made some 650 television appearances, had roles in two dozen films, appeared in numerous television movies and also worked in TV commercials. In a seven-decade career, from the 1930s to 2001, she amassed well over 100 credits.
Radio and television
Strickland began as a radio actress during the old time radio era and her various radio roles included Libby on Call the Police (1948-1949) and Cathy Evans, girlfriend of private eye Brad Runyon (J. Scott Smart), in Dashiell Hammett's The Fat Man (1947â€"1951). She appeared (sometimes on a recurring basis) on such programs as Adam-12, Dragnet, with Jack Webb, Gunsmoke, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, Mission: Impossible, Alias Smith & Jones, Happy Days, Carter Country, Bonanza, The Golden Girls, The Facts of Life, The Jeffersons, ER, 7th Heaven, Ellen, Wings, Alf, Dragnet, Father Dowling Mysteries, Full House, Ned and Stacey, Perry Mason and Knight Rider. Her TV movies include Tower of Terror, and Inherit the Wind.
In 1966, Strickland played the widow Laticia Daigle in the episode "The Lady and the Sourdough" of the syndicated western series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Robert Taylor. Paul Brinegar was cast as Rupert Johnson, who entered a partnership to cook for a feisty miner, Tom Despo (Stanley Adams) in return for half of the gold that Despo finds. Johnson then meets Miss Daigle, a baker, and soon develops other plans.
Films
Her film credits include roles in Captain Newman, M.D., Penelope, Kotch, Harper Valley PTA, Pretty Woman, Doc Hollywood, Shiloh, and Krippendorf's Tribe.
Personal life and death
She was married to radio and television actor Frank Behrens, and they had a son, Tim Behrens.
She died of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 87 in 2006, just sixteen days before her Shiloh co-star J. Madison Wright died of a heart attack at the age of 21.
References
External links
- Amzie Strickland at the Internet Movie Database
- "Amzie Strickland". Find a Grave. Retrieved September 2, 2010.Â
- TV.com