Shirley Mitchell (Alice Darling)
Best known to classic radio fans as The Great Gildersleeve's Southern belle Leila Ransom, Shirley Mitchell (b. 1926, Toldedo, OH) joined the Fibber cast as war worker Alice Darling in 1943. A pleasant (if man-crazy) type, Alice was nevertheless written out when Gale Gordon and Bill Thompson returned from the service in 1946. Mitchell broke into radio through Chicago, then moved to California in 1942, where her comedic talents quickly came into demand. In addition to a plethora of radio roles, she had a recurring role as Lucy Ricardo's friend Marion Strong on I Love Lucy and was part of the cast of NBC's Please Don't Eat The Daisies as neighbor Marge Thornton. She has married twice, the second time to the late composer Jay Livingston, and currently resides in Beverly Hills, California. Links of interest
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