Alice Pearce

Gladys Kravitz was played from 1966 by Sandra Gould. She married twice, with her second marriage lasting until her death in Honolulu, Hawaii from lung cancer. Diagnosed with terminal cancer before the show began, Pearce kept her illness a secret, but died from ovarian cancer during the second season. During the 1940s the quality of her roles steadily decreased and in 1947 she retired. Pearce was posthumously awarded an Emmy Award for this role. Her most widely seen performances were in Double Wedding (1937), in which she was billed third in the cast credits behind William Powell and Myrna Loy, and The Marx Brothers film At The Circus (1939). Her hysterical accusations against Samantha, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, and the disbelief of her husband Abner, played by George Tobias, provided a common thread through many of the series early episodes. Rice never became a major figure in films, but achieved popularity in a number of screen pairings with Robert Young.

As the nagging and nosy neighbor, Gladys Kravitz, Pearce's scenes were almost entirely reactions to acts of witchcraft she had witnessed at the house across the street. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Rice became an actress during the early 1930s and after several Broadway roles, eventually made her way to Hollywood. Blonde, pretty and wholesome, Rice was cast as the reliable girlfriend in several MGM films, and during the 1930s, MGM gradually provided her with more substantial roles, occasionally in prestige productions. In 1964 she joined the cast of the television series Bewitched. Florence Rice (February 14, 1911 - February 23, 1974) was a American film actress. More movie roles followed, and she made appearances on Broadway, where she met her husband director Paul Davis during a production of The Bells are Ringing. Her comedic performance was well received by critics and public alike, and she was given her own television variety show.

Gene Kelly was so impressed by her, that she became the only cast member to be included in the film version in 1949. She began working in nightclubs as a comedienne and was cast in the Broadway production of On The Town. Born Alicia Pearce in New York City, Pearce was educated in Europe and returned to the US as an adult. Alice Pearce (October 16, 1913 - March 3, 1966) was an American actress.