20 Facts About Pert Kelton

Pert L Kelton was an American stage, movie, radio, and television actress.

Pert Kelton was the original Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason.

Pert Kelton performed in a dozen Broadway productions between 1925 and 1968.

Pert Kelton is probably best-known for creating the role of Mrs Paroo in the original 1957 Broadway production of the musical The Music Man, which she reprised in the 1962 movie adaptation.

Pert L Kelton was born in 1907 in Great Falls, Montana.

Pert Kelton's mother, Sue Kelton, was a native of Canada; her father, Edward Kelton, a native of California.

Pert Kelton's first credited movie role there was as Rosie in First National Pictures' 1929 release Sally, based on the Broadway hit by the same name.

Pert Kelton was a young comedienne in A-list movies during the 1930s, often portraying the leading lady's wisecracking friend.

Pert Kelton had a memorable turn in 1933 as dance hall singer "Trixie" in The Bowery alongside Wallace Beery, George Raft, Jackie Cooper, and Fay Wray.

In Gregory LaCava's 1933 pre-Code comedy Bed of Roses, Pert Kelton plays Minnie, a witty prostitute who is a partner in crime with Lorry, portrayed by Constance Bennett.

Pert Kelton has all the best lines, surprisingly wicked and amusing observations that would never be allowed in an American film after the Hollywood Production Code was adopted.

Pert Kelton did not return to the "big screen" until 1962, when she was cast as Mrs Paroo in The Music Man.

Pert Kelton's documented lack of consistent employment during the previous year may be indicative too of the professional pressures she was experiencing after her film career in Hollywood began to wane in the late 1930s.

Once Pert Kelton had resettled in New York during the early 1940s, she began to work in theatre again, and she became a familiar voice on radio as well, performing on programs such as Easy Aces, It's Always Albert, The Stu Erwin Show, and on the 1941 soap opera We Are Always Young.

Pert Kelton appeared in Henry Morgan's Great Talent Hunt, first aired January 26,1951, hosted by Henry Morgan, and with Kaye Ballard, Art Carney, and Arnold Stang.

Pert Kelton was the original Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners comedy sketches on the DuMont Television Network's Cavalcade of Stars.

Pert Kelton appeared in the original sketches, generally running about 10 to 20 minutes, shorter than the later one-season half-hour series episodes and 1960s hour-long musical versions.

Pert Kelton sued the publication for libel, but later dropped the suit.

Pert Kelton was part owner of the Warner-Kelton Hotel, built in the late 1920s, at 6326 Lexington Avenue in Los Angeles.

Pert Kelton was married to actor-director Ralph S Bell, with whom she had two sons, Brian and Stephen.