Early Life and Career
Born in New York City, Pearce was educated in Europe and returned to the United States as an adult. She began working in nightclubs as a comedian and was cast in the original Broadway production of On the Town (1944-1946). Gene Kelly was so impressed by her that she became the only cast member to be included in the film version in 1949. Her comedic performance was well received by critics and public alike, and she was given her own television variety show. More movie roles followed, and she made appearances on Broadway, where she met her husband, director Paul Davis, during a production of Bells Are Ringing.
In 1964 she joined the cast of the television series Bewitched. As the nagging and nosy neighbor, Gladys Kravitz, Pearce's scenes were almost entirely reactions to acts of witchcraft she had witnessed at the house across the street. Her hysterical accusations against Samantha, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, and the disbelief of her husband Abner (George Tobias), provided a common thread through many of the series' early episodes. Pearce was posthumously awarded an Emmy Award for this role.
Read more about this topic: Alice Pearce
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural life, and the rusticity of the villager have not been preserved among them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage of civilization.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“Why not walk in the aura of magic that gives to the small things of life their uniqueness and importance? Why not befriend a toad today?”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“I’ve been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)