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Jody Gilbert

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Comedienne

The Resume

    (March 18, 1916-February 3, 1979)
    Born in Fort Texas, Texas
    Popular character actress, former concert singer
    Specialized in comic roles during the 1940s
    Acted in close to 100 films over a 13-year period
    Acted in 'Ninotchka,' 'Christmas in Connecticut,' 'Never Give a Sucker an Even Break,' 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' 'Willard,' and 'House by the River'
    Portrayed Rosa in the popular radio show, 'Life With Luigi,' as well as in the television series of the same name

Why she might be annoying:

    She went uncredited in most of her film roles.
    She has been mistaken for Barbara Pepper.
    She was a Vaudeville stage sex symbol who put on a lot of weight.
    She was stereotyped in 'comic fat girl' roles (admittedly there weren't many options for full-figured actresses at the time).
    This included the role of the sarcastic 'Tiny the Waitress' - the butt of W.C. Fields' wight-guessing jokes ('Baloney Maloney Malarkey ya big Kabloona!')
    A gossip columnist wrote the following to explain her success in films: 'There’s one girl in Hollywood who worries neither over her weight nor waistline. She is Jody Gilbert, who eats heartily, takes only enough exercise to get her where she’s going and does all right in the movies.'
    When she arrived in the courtroom to testify to the House of Un-American Activities, she joked that there was only room for one of her two lawyers to sit beside her on the witness bench due to her size.
    She continued in a similarly uncooperative manner throughout, feigning ignorance and making a mockery of the proceedings as a whole.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She gave a recital at Carnegie Hall at 19.
    She was a player at the Pasadena Playhouse.
    She did her own musical show on local radio while she was still in high school.
    She toured the deep south in musical comedies in her teens.
    Even before her weight gain, she had difficulty obtaining roles in summer stock and on Broadway, due to her thick Texas accent.
    The few scenes she had in 'Never Give a Sucker an Even Break' she stole out from under W.C. Fields.
    She was blacklisted in 1951, and didn't work in another movie for close to twelve years.
    She suffered massive injuries from a car accident in 1979, which eventually killed her.
    Her open display of contempt for the HUAC hearings was one of the first instances where the tables were turned on the questioners (although newspapers dismissed it as a disaster for her).
    She had a sense of humor about her build, saying: 'If I lost any one of these chins I might be just another actress. As it is, I’m a person of some weight around here!'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying