Barbara Luddy (May 25, 1908 – April 1, 1979) was an American actress best known for her voiceover work for Walt Disney Studios in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Biography

Born in Great Falls, Montana in 1907 or 1908, Luddy was the daughter of Will and Molly Luddy of Helena, Montana. She sang in vaudeville as a child. She attended Ursuline Convent in Great Falls, Montana.

Career

Stage

In 1929, Luddy toured with Leo Carrillo in Australia as part of a touring company that presented the play Lombardi, Ltd. A review in the Sydney Morning Herald cited Luddy's work portraying a mannequin as "a role in which Miss Barbara Luddy made a great hit by her pert audacity and vivaciousness."

Radio

Luddy was a member of the dramatic cast of the Chicago Theater of the Air. One of Luddy's better known roles on radio was being a regular performer on The First Nighter Program from 1936 until the series ended in 1953. In 1937, she and fellow First Nighter actor Les Tremayne set what a contemporary newspaper article called "a precedent ... when these signed long term contracts calling for their exclusive services" on the program." She also played Veronica Gunn in the comedy Great Gunns. In soap operas, she played Judith Clark in Lonely Women Carol Evans Martin in The Road of Life, and Janet Munson in Woman in White.

Film

Luddy's film career began with silent pictures in the late 1920s. She is perhaps best remembered for her voice work in Disney animated films such as Lady and the Tramp (in which she played the titular Lady), Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Robin Hood and the Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes including Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, all of which were edited into the composite feature The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Her other film credits include Terrified (1962) and the TV film Lost Flight (1969).

Television

Luddy guest starred in episodes of such television programs as Hazel, Dragnet, Adam-12, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Personal life and death

Luddy married R. Ned LeFevre, an actor and announcer, on September 18, 1942. The couple had one daughter, Barbara, and a son, Chris LeFevre, who preceded Barbara in death. Luddy died of lung cancer in Los Angeles, California, on April 1, 1979, at the age of 70.

Filmography