Eugene Twombly
Eugene Twombly | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eugene Tracy Twombly April 27, 1914 California, United States |
| Died | October 17, 1968 (aged 54) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Other names | Gene Twombly |
| Occupation | Sound effects technician |
| Years active | 1950s–1968 |
| Spouse | |
Eugene Tracy Twombly (April 27, 1914 – October 17, 1968) was a sound effects technician in radio and motion pictures.[1]
Early life
Eugene Twombly was born in California in 1914 to Ralph H. and Marie L. Twombly (née Tracy; 1892–1958).[2][3] He was the eldest of two children with a younger brother, Ralph Jr. (born 1922), and of partial Canadian ancestry from his paternal grandmother.[2]
Career
He is best known for his sound work on The Jack Benny Program,[4] where his wife, actress Bea Benaderet, played telephone operator Gertrude Gearshift. Other works included Arch Oboler's Lights Out,[5] The Stan Freberg Show,[6] The Gene Autry Show, The Whistler, and When the West Was Young,[7] and a collaboration with Bill Cosby and Frank Buxton on The Bill Cosby Radio Program, which aired 145 episodes from January to July 1968.[8][9]
The Jack Benny Program included occasional references to "Twombly, the sound-effects man," and Mel Blanc voiced a character called "George Twombly" who often interrupted Benny and his cast with impromptu sound effects.[10] In the 1962 first season of The Beverly Hillbillies (where Benaderet had a recurring role as Cousin Pearl Bodine), two consecutive episodes, "The Clampetts Get Psychoanalyzed" and "The Psychiatrist Gets Clampetted," featured a psychiatrist named "Dr. Eugene Twombly" who was played by Herbert Rudley.[11]
Personal life and death
Gene Twombly was Bea Benaderet's second husband and the stepfather of actor Jack Bannon, and they resided in Calabasas, California. He died of a heart attack at age 54 on October 17, 1968, four days after her death from lung cancer and one day after her funeral.[12] They are interred together at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood.
References
- ^ Mott, Robert L. Radio Sound Effects: Who Did It, and How, in the Era of Live Broadcasting. McFarland & Company (2005) p. 246. ISBN 0786422661
- ^ a b "1930 United States Census". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ "California Death Records". ancestry.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ Nachman, Gerald. Raised on Radio. Random House (2012). ASIN B009FKTNS6
- ^ Robertson, Charles (February 1963). "Jazz and All That" (PDF). Audio. p. 58. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
- ^ Bevilacqua, Joe. "The Stan Freberg Show: Episodes Eight Through Fifteen". dawsbutler.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ Jack French and David S. Siegel. Radio Rides the Range: A Reference Guide to Western Drama on the Air, 1929–1967. McFarland & Company (2013), p.198. ISBN 0786471468
- ^ "The Bill Cosby Radio Program Collection, 1968". UMass Amherst Special Collections and University Archives. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- ^ Lee Michael Withers (2002). "Coca-Cola presents The Bill Cosby Radio Program!". Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- ^ "The Jack Benny Program". The Paley Center for Media. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- ^ Feldman, Leslie Dale. Rustics and Politics: The Political Theory of The Beverly Hillbillies. Lexington Books (2015), p. 77-78. ISBN 1498525598
- ^ "E. Twombley, Widower of Actress, Dies". Los Angeles Times. October 18, 1968. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
