Lu Leonard (born Mary Lou Price; June 5, 1926 – May 14, 2004) was an American character actor who appeared as the Lady in the audience at the Deli for Chuck the Robot's performance who the robot insults repeatedly in Season 2's Dr. Morkenstein.
Biography[]
Born Mary Lou Price in Long Beach, California on June 5, 1926, to vaudevillian parents, Lu, as she was called almost from birth, went on the road with her mom and dad as an infant. Named after her father's sister Lulu, her actress/mother, Amy Goodrich died in July of 1939, when Lou was only 13. Her actor/comedian father, "Happy" Hal Price, settled comfortably into Hollywood movies as a character player, finding hundreds of small roles in Republic and Monogram westerns.
A short-lived marriage to another actor in her younger years, gave her the impetus to switch her stage moniker to "Lu Leonard", keeping her ex husband's name even after their divorce. Leonard never re-married or had children.
Health problems (including diabetes) eventually set in and she left Hollywood in 1995, living primarily in Oregon. Lu eventually decided to move into the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, where she spent her remaining years. She died of a heart attack on May 14, 2004, at age 77, and a bench in the Roddy McDowall garden at the Motion Picture Home has been dedicated in her memory.[1]
Career[]
Lu began her career on stage in New York and made her musical Broadway debut as a Mrs. Peacham replacement in "The Threepenny Opera" followed up by appearances in "The Happiest Girl in the World" (1961), "The Gay Life" (1961), "Bravo Giovanni" (1962) and "Drat! The Cat" (1965). Over the decades she also toured in such musical shows as "The Pajama Game," "Plain and Fancy," "The Music Man," "Oliver!" and "Man of La Mancha."
On-camera performances began in the early 1950's with appearances on such programs as "My Little Margie," "The Life of Riley," "The Red Skelton Hour" and "December Bride," along with a bit part in the bucolic comedy film The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956). She also played the wife of Larry Fine in The Three Stooges comedy short Husbands Beware (1956). The following decades led to frequent TV work in both the comedic and dramatic vein -- "Route 66," "Car 54, Where Are You?," "The Patty Duke Show," "The San Pedro Beach Bums," and "Police Woman"
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s she appeared in guest roles in multiple shows, primarily in comedies, including "Laverne & Shirley," "Buffalo Bill", "The Fall Guy," "Knight Rider," "Cagney & Lacey," "Night Court," "Webster," "Married...with Children." In the late 1980s, Lu was handed a recurring role as William Conrad's wry, wise-cracking secretary in Jake and the Fatman (1987).
On the larger screen, she played the small part of Daddy Warbuck's cook, Mrs. Pugh, in the musical film Annie (1982), and went on to play a greasy spoon waitress in Starman (1984), a nurse in Micki + Maude (1984), Mrs. Whitehead in Stand Alone (1985) and Miss Frigget in You Can't Hurry Love (1988).
During this period she also became something of a regional celebrity in the Los Angeles Theatre circuit for her outrageous portrayal as a lesbian head matron in the play, Women Behind Bars. [1] [2]
Mork & Mindy[]
Lu Leonard, alongside soon to be notable character actor Gregory Itzin appeared among the audience in the NY Deli where Mork is debuting Chuck the Robot in an effort to let his new friend feel what life is like outside of the Museum he is stuck in. Unfortunately for Leonards's Lady, Chuck's degradation is taking an effect and his performance goes downhill rapidly when he repeatedly insults her character's size, making her so angry she storms out.