BILLIE HAYES 1924–2021
The whacked-out witch of HR Pufnstuf
For Billie Hayes, the cackling scene-stealer of HR Pufnstuf, there was no higher praise: Margaret Hamilton, The Wizard Of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, considered her “one of the best witches ever”.
Born Billie Armstrong Brosch in Du Quoin, Illinois, Hayes began her career at the age of nine, tap-dancing in local clubs. She went on to make her Broadway debut in the revue New Faces Of 1956.
It was kids’ TV that delivered her signature role of Wilhelmina W Witchiepoo, the sky-riding hag forever scheming to seize the magical Freddy the Flute. Created by Sid and Marty Krofft in 1969, HR Pufnstuf was the perfect showcase for Hayes, a delirious mix of vaudeville and psychedelia that let her play as broadly as she liked.
Of her first meeting with young co-star Jack Wild, she remembered, “He heard me do Witchiepoo’s voice, and I guess it touched his sense of humour. He must have thought, ‘She’s really nuts!’ I guess when he thought I was nuts he liked me. I’m sure he thought, ‘She’s older than I am, but she’s crazy. I dig her!’”
Hayes reprised Witchiepoo in 1970’s Pufnstuf movie and subsequent Kroffts project Lidsville, where she had a dual role as Weenie the Genie. She was back again in 1978’s The Bay City Rollers Show, bedevilling the by-now fading tartan popsters.
In her later career Hayes was in demand as a voice actor, notching up credits on everything from The New Scooby-doo Mysteries to Transformers: Rescue Bots, The Real Ghostbusters to Teen Titans Go! In 1985 she earned the distinction of being an official Disney witch, voicing Orgoch in The Black Cauldron – the studio’s first step into computergenerated imagery. NS