Madge Blake was an American character actress best remembered for her role as Aunt Harriet Cooper on "Batman" from 1966-1968. Madge Blake's father, Albert Cummings, was a Methodist who discouraged her entry into acting. As such, she stayed out of acting until later in life. During World War II, she and her husband worked in Utah on construction of the detonator for the atomic bomb and performed such jobs as testing equipment destined for the Manhattan Project. Though she was five years his senior, she was a niece of actor Milburn Stone (Doc Adams on "Gunsmoke"). She took advantage of his influence to help her land acting roles. In the middle 1950s, she appeared on Rod Cameron's "City Detective" crime drama and in Ray Milland's sitcom, "Meet Mr. McNutley", renamed in the second season as "The Ray Milland Show". Blake also appeared in four episodes of the NBC sitcom "It's a Great Life", which aired from 1954-1956. In addition to her "Batman" role, Blake portrayed the baffled Margaret Mondello, mother of Larry Mondello (played by Rusty Stevens) on "Leave it to Beaver" in 1957, gushy gossip columnist Dora Bailey in "Singin' in the Rain" in 1952, and was a model for one of the fairies in Disney's animated version of "Sleeping Beauty" in 1959. In 1961, she guest starred in the episode "A View of Murder" of the crime drama "The Brothers Brannagan". Blake portrayed the role of Flora McMichael, a romantic interest to Walter Brennan's Grandpa Amos McCoy in "The Real McCoys", a popular 1950s and 1960s situation comedy about a West Virginia mountain family that relocated to southern California. Prior to her role in "Batman", she appeared in the pilot episode of "The Addams Family" (broadcast in the U.S in September 1964) as Miss Comstock, an official from the Addams' children's school. Blake also appeared in a memorable episode of "I Love Lucy" in 1957 with George Reeves guest-starring as Superman. Declining health saw her role as Aunt Harriet reduced, and with the introduction of Batgirl in the third and final season of "Batman", she only appeared in two episodes that season as a guest role. She was admitted to a hospital after falling at home and fracturing her ankle. She died in 1969 at the age of 69 in the hospital from a heart attack, not long after Batman was cancelled.
Singin in the Rain (1952)
The Long, Long Trailer (1954)
Rhapsody (1954)
Fireman Save My Child (1954)
The Tender Trap (1955)
It s Always Fair Weather (1955)
The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956)
Loving You (1957)
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
Sergeants 3 (1962)
Follow Me, Boys! (1966)
Batman: The Movie (1966)
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