- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMariana Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty
- Height5′ 9½″ (1.77 m)
- Her father was Irish Philadelphian newspaperman, Benny McNulty. He was related to Jim Farley, Roosevelt's campaign manager and later U.S. Postmaster General. As a child, she sang songs at a silent movie theater. After the sixth grade she joined a touring vaudeville act called "The Kiddie Kabaret." Billed as Penny McNulty, she sang and danced with Milton Berle and Gene Raymond. Her first speaking part was in a Jack Benny Broadway show, "Great Temptations".
Moving to Hollywood, she took a new name after marrying dentist Lawrence Singleton. Her first name derived from having saved large amounts of penny coins. She played a tough nightclub dancer in After the Thin Man (1936) and acted/sang/danced in Swing Your Lady (1938), one of the movies Humphrey Bogart regarded as his worst. Though naturally a brunette, she bleached her hair blonde ever since she got the role of Blondie in that long-lived series.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
- SpousesRobert Sparks(January 1, 1941 - July 22, 1963) (his death, 1 child)Dr. Laurence Scoggs Singleton(October 15, 1937 - December 22, 1940) (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- ParentsBenny McNulty
- RelativesBarney McNulty(Sibling)
- Was the voice of Jane Jetson in The Jetsons (1962) and in later Jetson animated movies & specials.
- Probably most well remembered today for her portrayal of the comic strip character "Blondie." She starred in 28 movies in this series during the years 1938-1950.
- She was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio at 6811 Hollywood Boulevard and for Motion Pictures at 6547 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- Led first strike of Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, gaining improved working conditions (1966).
- Elected president of AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists) in 1969.
- Women are really leaders. A lot of them don't even know they are leaders. But they are.
- "God bless Chic Young." - on playing Blondie in the series of films based on Young's comic-strip character.
- "They threw parts at me that Claire Trevor didn't want" - on how she broke into the movies.
- I was the economical Claire Trevor. I just didn't want to be typed. It goes to show you how you can eat your words. I became probably the most typed actress in the world. But, at least it had some dignity. I'm proud and grateful I was Blondie. She was dumb and shrewish sometimes. But she was real and sympathetic and warm, a real woman, a human being. And that's how I tried to play her.
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