North by Northwest

Jimmy Cross: Found His Career Going Up (And Down) in 1957

/ thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

It’s 2026! And it’s January, so we are starting the year off with “Worth a Million.” This month we are learning about the careers of several of the cast members from How to Marry a Millionaire. This show debuted in 1957 and aired for two years.

📷tmdb.com The first year cast of women

According to imdb.com, the plot is “Motherly Mike, ditzy but sexy Loco, and sensible Greta move to the big city to find themselves wealthy men to turn into husbands. After the first year Greta gets married with Gwen moving in as the new roommate in this syndicated series.”

The six members of the cast included Merry Anders (Mike), Lori Nelson (Greta), Barbara Eden (Loco), Jimmy Cross (Jesse), Lisa Gaye (Gwen), and Joseph Kearns (Mr. Tobey). During the past decade, we have learned a lot about Barbara Eden, best known as Jeannie in I Dream of Jeannie and Kearns who we remember as Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace. So, this month we are learning about the four remaining stars, and we begin today with Jimmy Cross.

📷imdb.com Cross as elevator attendant

Cross was born in 1907 in New York. At age 40, he married actress Peggy Ryan, but they divorced after the seven-year itch. Ryan was a popular face for a while. She and Donald O’Connor were supposed to be the next Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney couple. Ryan’s parents were Vaudeville dancers, and she was on stage by age two. She was an amazing dancer and singer. After she and Cross divorced, she tried another short-term marriage to Ray McDonald before meeting Eddie Sherman whom she was with for almost fifty years. You might remember her as Jenny, Steve McGarrett’s secretary on the original Hawaii Five-0.

On How to Marry a Millionaire, Cross played the elevator man, at age 50, who worked in the apartment building where the girls lived. He sometimes helps and sometimes hinders the trio with their get-rich-husband schemes.

This was the only series he costarred in, but he did show up on The Red Skelton Show 46 times.

Cross typically played a background role, often a bartender, drunk, or photographer. However, he was busy and appeared on almost every popular show during the sixties and seventies, garnering almost 100 credits during those decades. His last role was in BJ and the Bear in 1979, two years before his death.

📷thevalleytimes.com With Wife Peggy Ryan

Cross also had a decent movie career. Again, he was not front and center but had some fun parts and if you look quickly, you will see him in several popular movies including North by Northwest, Bells Are Ringing, Hello Dolly, and The Poseidon Adventure.

I wish I knew more about Cross. There just isn’t much information out there considering how long he worked in the entertainment industry. This is one of those cases where his work might have to speak for itself. That said, this show got a lot of good reviews when it came out and Cross, while not being a star, added a fun element to the episodes he was in.

Maudie Prickett: What a Character – Prim and Proper

/ thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

As we look at some of our favorite character actors, today we learn more about Hazel’s friend Rosie: Maudie Prickett. Prickett had a prolific career with more than 300 credits between the stage, film, and television.

Photo: bewitchedwikifandom.com

Maudie was born in 1914 in Oregon. Her birth name was Maudie Marie Doyle; she married Charles Fillmore Prickett II in 1941 and used her married name for her career. Charles was the co-founder and manager of the Pasadena Playhouse and later became an orthopedic surgeon. They remained married until his death in 1954 and had two children.

Prickett would amass 64 movie credits, with her first being Gold Mine in the Sky in 1938. Her last three movies were made in 1969: The Maltese Bippy, Rascal, and Sweet Charity. She typically played maids, secretaries, spinsters, or nosy neighbors. One of her most recognized movie roles was as Elsie the Plaza Hotel maid in North by Northwest.

In 1952 she received her first television roles, appearing on This is the Life, Hopalong Cassidy, The Doctor, and The Adventures of Superman. While most people are familiar with Hopalong Cassidy and Superman, they may not recognize the other shows. This is the Life was a religious show that began in 1952 and ended in 1988; each episode was a mini-drama that ends with someone becoming a Christian. The Doctor was a medical show where Warner Anderson as the doctor presented a story and then provided comments after the episode. Most of the series dealt with some type of emotional problem.

The look we were used to with Maudie Photo: imdb.com

For the next two decades, Maudie was quite busy with her television career. She often made multiple appearances on a show as different characters. She had a nice blend of both dramas and comedies on her resume.

In 1961 she married Dr. Eakle Cartwright who died in 1962. In 1966 she would try marriage one more time when she wed the mayor of Pasadena, Cyril Cooper who lived five more years.

While watching your favorite classic television shows, you will see her on westerns including Wagon Train, Bonanza, and Gunsmoke. She made her mark on medical series including Ben Casey and Marcus Welby MD. She also appeared in quite a few dramas including The Millionaire, The Untouchables, Lassie, Daniel Boone, The Mod Squad, and McMillan and Wife.

However, it was the sitcom genre that kept her busiest. During the fifties, she could be seen on Topper, Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, and The Donna Reed Show. The sixties found her on Dennis the Menace, Bachelor Father, The Danny Thomas Show, Mister Ed, My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, The Andy Griffith Show, The Doris Day Show, Gomer Pyle USMC, and Get Smart. During the seventies, she took roles on Mayberry RFD, Bewitched, Love American Style, and Room 222.

Best Friends – with Shirley Booth on Hazel Photo: pinterest.com

All of her recurring roles were on sitcoms: Date with the Angels, The Jack Benny Show, and Hazel. Date with the Angels was Betty White’s second sitcom, and Maudie played Cassie Murphy, a neighbor of the newlyweds. On The Jack Benny Show, she played Mrs. Gordon, the secretary of the Jack Benny Fan Club. Many people remember Prickett from Hazel where she played Rosie. Hazel and Rosie were best friends and always came through for each other but were also very competitive, especially when an eligible bachelor was involved.

In 1976, Maudie passed away from uremic poisoning at the young age of 61. Uremia occurs when there is an increase of toxins in the blood and usually occurs when the kidneys no longer filter them out. It can be treated with medication, dialysis, and transplant surgery, but for some reason, hers must have been untreated which lead to her death.

On Bewitched Photo: sitcomsonline.com

Maudie was a very busy lady, accumulating 164 acting credits between 1938 and 1974. I’m not sure if she was okay with being typecast or if she would have liked some other types of roles, but she certainly made the roles her own. You have to wonder how much more she would have accomplished if she had lived another twenty or thirty years. Her personal life was sad, having three husbands die before her and then she herself dying as middle age was beginning.

I know you read this comment a lot if you follow my blog, but we have another one of those character actors I wish we knew more about. The Television Academy rarely interviews them, and it is tough to find much information beyond their professional resume. One day I will make good on my promise and write a book about these wonderful people who made classic television so fun and believable.