Lurene Tuttle (August 29, 1907 – May 28, 1986) was an American actress and acting coach, who made the transition from vaudeville to radio, and later to films and television.
"[2] After her family moved to Southern California, Tuttle appeared in productions at the Pasadena Playhouse, then joined the vaudeville troupe Murphy's Comedians.
By the time of the Great Depression, Tuttle had put her vocal versatility to work in radio, and within a decade, she became an in-demand actress in the medium.
Dr. Christian was unusual in that the show, according to critic Leonard Maltin in The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age, solicited scripts from listeners (one of whom was a young Rod Serling) and put them on the air—with a little help.
It was during her time on Hollywood Hotel that Tuttle became involved in the founding of the American Federation of Radio Artists.
Columnist Hedda Hopper called the selection of Leon Ames as Father and Tuttle as Mother "what I consider 22 carat casting with two all-Americans.
In Don't Bother to Knock (1952), she portrayed a mother who unknowingly lets a disturbed woman (played by Marilyn Monroe) babysit her daughter.
She appeared twice on the NBC Western series The Californians, once as Belle Calhoun in "Skeleton in the Closet" (1958) and then as Maude Sorel in "The Painted Lady" (1959).
In 1960, she was cast as Mrs. Courtland in the episode "The Raffle Ticket" of the sitcom based on the comic strip Dennis the Menace, with Jay North and Joseph Kearns.
She also played the part of Eddie Haskell's landlady in Leave It to Beaver's 1962 episode called "Bachelor at Large".
Tuttle guest-starred in such Westerns as Buckskin, The Restless Gun, Colt .45, Johnny Ringo, The Cowboys, Little House on the Prairie, Wanted Dead or Alive, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, Lawman, and The Iron Horse.
Tuttle was cast as Mrs. Grange in the 1963 episode "The Risk" on the drama series Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus as an idealistic high school teacher.
In 1972, she appeared as Bella Swann on the episode "Farmer Ted and the News" on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as Mrs. Sharp on The Partridge Family.
[8][9] In 1944, Tuttle received Radio Life magazine's Distinguished Achievement Award for Best Supporting Feminine Player.
A 1930 newspaper article reported "Her dressing room shelf is filled with more than 200 miniature replicas of every variety of dog known.
She's a woman who was born to do what she was doing and loved every minute of it.Tuttle played the swallow in "The Happy Prince", an adaption of Oscar Wilde's short story with Orson Welles and Bing Crosby (1946).
It aired on the Philco Radio Hall of Fame broadcast on December 24, 1944[17] with Lurene Tuttle playing The Swallow and featuring Bing Crosby alongside Orson Welles, with Herrmann's music conducted by Victor Young.