Penny Singleton who Blondie Bumstead in the famous Blondie movies was actually a brunette. Penny (15th September 1908 - 12th November 2003) was born Dorothy McNulty in Philadelphia. Her father, Benny McNulty was a Irish Philadelphina newspaperman.
She sang songs at a silent movie theater as a child and after the sixth grade, she joined a touring vaudeville act called "The Kiddie Kabaret". She also danced a
nd sang with Milton Berle and Gene Raymond and billed as Penny McNulty. Her first name derived from having saved large amounts of penny coins. Moving to Hollywood, the married a dentist, Lawrence Singleton and took a new name, Penny Singleton. She made an appearance as a student in 1930's musical "Good News" and Myrna Loy/William Powell's "After The Thin Man" (1936 - still billed as Dorothy McNulty until 1938 when she went over to Republic Pictures "B" to play lead in the musical "Outside Of Paradise" with Phil Regan). Warner Bros then utilized
her as a secondary player in some of their movies.
her as a secondary player in some of their movies.Columbia decided to shoot a film based on Chic Young's popular comic strip about a sweet blonde housewife and her hyper husband, Dagwood Bumstead. Singleton dyed her hair blonde got the part in the first of the series, "Blondie" (1938) with Arthur Lake playing Dagwood. They went on to play the husband and wife team for 28 movies altogether, ending with "Beware Of Blondie" in 1950.
In between the series, she made western "Go West, Young Lady" (1941) with G
lenn Ford as the leading man, but the movie is best remembered for the catfight brawl with Ann Miller. "Young Widow" (1946) starring Jane Russell, gave Penny a supporting part only.She was the voice of Jane Jetson in the animated TV series, "The Jetsons". She guest-starred in some TV series ("The Twilight Zone" 1964 and "Murder, She Wrote" 1986). In 1966, she
led the first strike of Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, gaining improved working conditions. Singleton was elected president of AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists) in 1969 and was also a Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree, St. John's University (1974). This post was drafted on her birthday, but due to some technical error, I only managed to upload it last night.
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