Benay Venuta (born Benvenuta Rose Crooke,[1] January 27, 1910 – September 1, 1995) was an American actress, singer and dancer.

After World War II, she developed an enduring career as a supporting actress in musicals on stage and in Hollywood, interspersed with work on television.

[2] The finale of Call Me Mister is a production number of “Love is Back in Business” staged by Busby Berkeley, ending with four leading players on a precarious, high-rising disc surrounded by water fountains.

[3] Venuta's summer stock and regional theatre credits included A Little Night Music, Bus Stop, Gypsy, Come Blow Your Horn, Auntie Mame, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Little Me, and Pal Joey.

Television audiences knew her as Jean Smart's prim and proper mother-in-law Ellen Stillfield in the sitcom Designing Women.

In 1948, she was the host of Keep Up with the Kids, a Mutual radio quiz show in which celebrity parents (Roddy McDowall, Penny Singleton, Pat O'Brien) competed against their children.