Midge Ware

Midge Ware
Ware in Five Minutes to Live (1961)
Born
Muriel Florence Bendelson

(1927-10-20)October 20, 1927
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
DiedJune 3, 2020(2020-06-03) (aged 92)
Westlake Village, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Actress
  • model
Years active1951–1980
Spouse(s)Alvin (Al) Weitz
(m. ca. 1945; div. 19??)
Art Batanides
(m. 1954; div. 196?)
David Moessinger
(m. 1965; div. 19??)
Ernie Colton
(m. 19??)

Midge Ware Colton (born Muriel Florence Bendelson; October 20, 1927 – June 3, 2020) was an American model and stage, screen and television actress. She had a career lasting over 30 years in the show business.[citation needed]

Early life

Born in The Bronx, New York, Ware was the daughter of taxi driver Samuel Bendelson and Mitzi Restenbaum Bendelson. She had twin brothers. Her schoolmates nicknamed her Midge, and she eventually had that made her legal name.[1] She graduated from George Washington High School in Manhattan.[2]

Career

Before she became an actress, Ware was a model whose picture was used on the magazine covers more than 100 times. Universal signed her to a film contract in 1950.[1] She debuted on film in Bedtime for Bonzo (1951).[3]

Ware performed on Broadway in The Fifth Season (1953) and Maybe Tuesday (1958).

On television, Ware was guest hostess on Truth or Consequences,[1] and she portrayed Louise Scruggs on The Beverly Hillbillies.[4] She made guest appearances in episodes of television sitcoms and dramas, including The Donna Reed Show, Gunslinger, The Phil Silvers Show, The Rifleman, Police Woman, and Quincy, M.E..

Volunteer work

Ware gave decades of volunteer service to the Motion Picture & Television Fund's retirement community and hospital, in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 2016, she received US President's Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing this work.[5]

Personal life

On August 7, 1954, Ware married actor Art Batanides in Las Vegas. It was her second marriage.[6] They had two children together, son Jason and daughter Leslie Ann,[5] before they divorced in the early 1960s. Her third marriage was to David Moessinger, a director and writer, in 1965; they had a daughter together, Amy,[5] before divorcing at some unknown date.[3] Her fourth husband was Ernie Colton, and she was stepmother to son Craig; the couple had been married for many years at the time of her death.[5]

Death

She died on June 3, 2020, aged 92, in Westlake Village, California.[5][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Aaker, Everett (May 25, 2017). Television Western Players, 1960-1975: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. p. 430. ISBN 978-1-4766-6250-3. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  2. ^ "Kirsch Beverages Selects Midge Ware As 'NO-CAL Girl' for Her Trim Torso". The Williamsburg News. New York, Brooklyn. October 16, 1953. p. 4. Retrieved September 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c "Midge Ware, 92". Classic Images (542): 48. August 2020.
  4. ^ Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Midge Colton Obituary". Ventura County Star. June 26, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2020 – via Legacy.com.
  6. ^ "Midge Ware Married". San Francisco Examiner. Associated Press. August 9, 1956. p. 48. Retrieved September 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. It was her second marriage, his first.
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