Since it probably won't get the attention it deserves, I'd like to note the passing of actress Cara Williams at the age of 96. She was a movie star, best known for pictures like Meet Me In Las Vegas and The Helen Morgan Story. She co-starred with Danny Kaye in The Man From the Diner's Club and was Oscar-nominated for her work in The Defiant Ones.
Like a lot of movie stars of her day, she then went into television and while she guest-starred all over the place, she was best known for starring in two TV series — Pete & Gladys (1960-1962) and The Cara Williams Show (1964-1965).
Pete & Gladys was a spin-off from and successor to the long-running series, December Bride, in which Harry Morgan had appeared as Pete Porter, the "wacky next-door neighbor." On it, he was always talking about his never-seen-on-December-Bride "wacky wife," Gladys…and after that show went off, Pete and a few other characters on it were joined by Gladys (played by Ms. Williams) in this new series.
This was in accord with some law in the television industry that apparently said that Harry Morgan always had to be on a series. He went from December Bride to Pete & Gladys and then on to The Richard Boone Show, Kentucky Jones, the revival of Dragnet, The D.A., Hec Ramsey and then on to M*A*S*H, followed by AfterM*A*S*H…and even that wasn't his last series. He was also on Blacke's Magic and You Can't Take It With You. If he hadn't died in 2011, he's probably be a regular on Fleabag. Never mind that he'd be 106 years old.
Pete & Gladys was one of the better ones owing largely to the great chemistry he had with Ms. Williams and the fact that she was a terrific comic actress. Comparisons to Lucille Ball were inevitable even without the same hair color but I thought Cara Williams deserved to be respected as a gifted comic actress in her own right.
I remember nothing about The Cara Williams Show other than that she co-starred with Frank Aletter, Paul Reed and (occasionally) Jack Sheldon…and that it wasn't as good as Pete & Gladys. But she was probably great on it and there are several episodes of each series on YouTube if you want to decide for yourself.
She was a really good actress who had a fine, though maybe not long enough career.