Actress known for comedic TV roles
LOS ANGELES Kaye Ballard, the boisterous comedian and singer who appeared in Broadway musicals and nightclubs from New York to Las Vegas and starred with Eve Arden in the 1960s TV sitcom The Mothers-In-Law, has died. She was 93.
Ballard died Jan. 21 at her home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., after a fight with kidney cancer, her friend Marguerite Gordon said.
The Mothers-In-Law aired from 1967 to 1969. It marked a high point in a career that began when Ballard was 12 and lasted into the 21st century.
She was on hand last week when a documentary on her life and career premièred at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
The Mothers-In-Law was set in a Los Angeles suburb and featured its stars as women who become thorns in their married children’s lives, with comedic results influenced by the screwball style of I Love Lucy.
Ballard made a mark in every form of show business except movies. She did appear as a secondary player in a few films, including 1958’s The Girl Most Likely starring Jane Powell and in 1964’s A House Is Not a Home, but her high-octane personality may have been too potent for the big screen of that era and its more restrictive portrayals of women.
Ballard’s first break came when she was singing in a Detroit nightclub. Comedy bandleader Spike Jones dropped in one night and quickly drafted her into his contingent. For two years she toured with the Jones troupe, singing, playing the flute and tuba, and engaging in the band’s antics. She also sang with the bands of Vaughn Monroe and Stan Kenton.
Ballard began working on TV in the early 1950s, becoming an in-demand performer on network variety programs including The Mel Tormé Show and those of Ed Sullivan and Perry Como. She also became a favourite of talk-show hosts, making repeat appearances with Jack Paar, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson.
She was born Catherine Gloria Ballota to Italian immigrant parents in Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 20, 1925, according to her 2006 memoir How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years. (She noted she had always said she was born in 1926.).