Last surviving 'I Love Lucy' star dies

[Hum]

Shirley Mitchell, the comic actress who played Marion Strong, Lucy Ricardo's friend with the cackling laugh, on the TV classic I Love Lucy, has died. She was 94.

Mitchell, who is believed to be the last surviving adult castmember from the legendary CBS sitcom, died Nov. 11 of heart failure at her condominium in Westwood, her sister-in-law, the Oscar-nominated Sunset Blvd. actress Nancy Olson, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Mitchell was the widow of Jay Livingston, the pop composer and lyricist who collaborated with Ray Evans on the Academy Award-winning songs ?Mona Lisa? (performed by Nat King Cole), ?Que Sera, Sera? (Doris Day) and ?Buttons and Bows? (Bob Hope). The couple was married from 1992 until his death in 2001.

Mitchell joined the cast of Lucille Ball?s I Love Lucy for the 1953-54 season and appeared in three episodes.

 

Mitchell was very much an in-demand TV actress in the 1950s and ?60s. She played John Forsythe?s secretary Kitty Deveraux on several episodes of Bachelor Father; neighbor Marge Thornton on Please Don?t Eat the Daisies; Mae Belle Jennings, Kate Bradley?s (Bea Benaderet?s) cousin, on Petticoat Junction; and Opal Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies.

Born Nov. 4, 1919, in Toledo, Ohio, Mitchell was a radio star on such shows as The Great Gildersleeve and Fibber, McGee & Molly, and she became good friends with Ball during the redhead?s radio days on My Favorite Husband. She came to Los Angeles in the 1940s and transitioned to television.

In addition to Olson ? the widow of late Capitol Records president Alan Livingston -- survivors include her children Scott and Brooke.

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[#Michael]

A really good friend of mine loves Lucy...she'll be very sad.

[Growled Member]

RIP. You know, I never like the show that much but it's growing on me. My wife loves it and some of it is really good. 

[Mr.XXIV]

Even I loved the show.  :/