Arlene Golonka (Born January 23 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Millie Swanson on the television comedies The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D., and often portrayed bubbly, eccentric blondes in supporting character roles on stage, film, and television.

Biography

Early years

Golonka began her acting career when she was 8 years old, and went professional in a summer-stock troupe while still in her teens. After studying at the prestigious Goodman Theatre in her native Chicago, she made her way to New York City at age 19 where she studied with Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, and Uta Hagen.

Career

She appeared in her first major production, The Night Circus with Ben Gazzara, at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut on November 17th, 1958. After a week-long trial run, the play moved to Broadway on December 2nd, 1958 but closed after only seven performances. Despite that setback, she continued working in other plays such as Take Me Along with Jackie Gleason, Walter Pidgeon and Robert Morse (448 performances from late 1958 to late 1960), Neil Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, which ran 677 performances from February 1961 to October 1962, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Kirk Douglas from November 1963 to January 1964. Golonka appeared in two other Broadway plays from 1965 to 1966, and also took on supporting roles in films produced in the New York City area.

In 1967 she moved to Los Angeles to try her hand at television. She eventually became a familiar face to millions, having made numerous TV appearances besides the afore-mentioned The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D, including: Get Smart, I Spy, That Girl, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Maude, Alice, The Rockford Files, One Day at a Time, Taxi, Murder, She Wrote, Valerie, and Matlock. She was also a series regular on the animated cartoon Speed Buggy, providing the voice of "Debbie", and had a recurring role on the short-lived TV show Joe and Valerie.

In addition to acting on Broadway and TV, Golonka has also had supporting roles in some thirty films including, "Love with a Proper Stranger", "Penelope" directed by Arthur Hiller, Hang 'em High with Clint Eastwood, Airport '77, The In-Laws with Peter Falk, and The End of Innocence directed by Dyan Cannon.

In the later phase of her long career, she began teaching acting, which she has done for over ten years. Golonka now lives in semi-retirement in Santa Monica, California, but still takes occasional roles, most recently a 2005 appearance on the TV comedy series The King of Queens.

Personal life

In the early 1960's, Golonka and then-struggling actress Valerie Harper of the future-hit TV series Rhoda were roommates in New York. Arlene introduced Valerie to her first husband, Richard Schaal.

External links

• Arlene Golonka at the Internet Broadway Database
• Arlene Golonka at the Internet Movie Database
• Arlene Golonka at the All Movie Guide
• Arlene Golonka at TV Guide
• Arlene Golonka at toptenreviews.com
• Arlene Golonka at what-a-character.com
• Upcoming appearances on American TV cable stations
• Biography and photo at mayberryinthemidwest.com

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