Comedienne and Actress Kaye Ballard

She was born Catherine Gloria Balotta, Italian, of course, in Cleveland, Ohio. By the time she was five years old, Kaye Ballard knew she wanted to be a performer. Before she even graduated high school, Ballard was working all around Ohio doing imitations of her favorite stars.

She played nightclubs, performed in both Burlesque and Vaudeville and toured with the Spike Jones Orchestra as a vocalist. She was the first person to record "Fly Me to the Moon" originally titled "In Other Words." She also introduced the song "Lazy Afternoon" in the Broadway play "The Golden Apple."

By the time her television and movie career began, Ballard had already established herself as an accomplished comedienne, actress and singer.

Short, round and full of sound, Ballard was cast in "The Mothers-in-Law" alongside Eve Arden in the Desi Arnaz-produced sitcom in the sixties. She and Arden played neighbors whose children get married. She and Eve Arden appeared on the cover of TV Guide magazine during the run of The Mothers-in-Law.

She later appeared on The Doris Day Show for two years.

Those two roles somewhat typecast Ballard as an outspoken, loud-mouthed and, for the most part, Italian character actress.

"It's hard to get away from anything like that," Ballard said in a New York Times interview. "It's like the Fonz. Only he made a lot of money. We didn't."[1]

Vivian Vance, who was Lucille Ball's best friend Ethel Mertz in "I Love Lucy" once gave Ballard some very sound advice about being typecast. "Kaye, you must use your own first name, because I go through life just being called Ethel Mertz. No one even knows who Vivian Vance was."[1]

Which was why the characters in "The Mothers-In-Law" were named Kaye and Eve.

She starred, along with Alice Ghostley, as one of the two evil stepsisters in the live telecast version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" with Julie Andrews in the title role.

She made a couple of guest appearances on the popular television variety show "Laugh-In" in the sixties. Ruth Buzzi was also a regular on the show and the two teamed up together for Disney's original "Freaky Friday" (1977) as competing coaches.

Kaye Ballard has recorded numerous albums and made countless guest appearances, movies and television appearances, including the sixties game show "Hollywood Squares," the daytime soap opera "All My Children," and the 1997 British comedy, "The Full Monty."

She is also a breast cancer survivor.

Her most recent appearance was on "The View" in 2006 at the age of 81 to promote the publication of her biography, co-written by Jim Hesselman: "How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years" published by Back Stage Books, November 2006.

Sources:

[1] The New York Times
Kaye Ballard website