"[3] Her father, Levi Blustine (or Bluestein), a vaudeville comedian known as Ed Blondell,[4][5] was born in Poland to a Jewish family circa 1865[citation needed] and died in Glendale, California, on March 27, 1943.

"[3] Her family comprised a vaudeville troupe, the "Bouncing Blondells", whose members were her parents, her sister and her brother.

[citation needed] Blondell co-starred with Ronald Reagan in Accidents Will Happen (1938)[14] and with Hans Conried in The Twonky (1953).

In her television performances, Blondell may be best remembered for her role as Honeybee Gillis in the 1950s sitcom starring William Bendix, The Life of Riley.

She portrayed an aging prostitute who rescues a town from a trio of criminals in "The Looters", an episode of Wanted Dead or Alive.

During the child's delivery, Gloria also nearly died from blood loss, but her life was saved by an emergency hysterectomy.