Hope Summers

Hope Summers
Hope Summers as Clara Edwards on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show
Born	Sarah Hope Summers (1896-06-07)June 7, 1896 Mattoon, Illinois, U.S.
Died	June 22, 1979(1979-06-22) (aged 83) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart failure
Resting place	Mountain View Cemetery Walla Walla, Washington, U.S.
Other names	Hope Sommers
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–1978
Spouse(s)	Claude James Witherell
Parent(s)	John W. Summers Jennie Summers

Sarah Hope Summers (June 7, 1896 – June 22, 1979), better known as Hope Summers, was an American character actress known for her work on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD, portraying Clara Edwards.

Life and career

Summers was born in Mattoon, Illinois,^[1] the daughter of U.S. Representative John W. Summers and Jennie (née Burks). She was reared in Illinois and later in Walla Walla, Washington. She graduated from Northwestern School of Speech at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and taught speech and diction there. From here, she became the head of the Speech Department at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.^[1] A regional actress who often performed in one-woman shows,^[2] she was past fifty when she came to Hollywood to begin her career as a character player. She made her television debut in 1951 on the series Hawkins Falls.^[1]

Summers first attracted attention in 1958 in the semi-regular role as Hattie Denton on the western series The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors. She guest starred on dozens of series including Maverick, Wagon Train, State Trooper, Rescue 8, Peter Gunn, Dennis the Menace, It's a Man's World, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Hazel, Gunsmoke, The Danny Thomas Show, My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, Love on a Rooftop, The Pruitts of Southampton, The Second Hundred Years, Adam-12 and The Paul Lynde Show, and was a regular in the cast of the short-lived 1978 situation comedy Another Day. She made thirty-six appearances on the Andy Griffith Show during the 1960s (in earlier episodes her character was called Bertha), and five appearances on the post-Griffith spinoff, Mayberry R.F.D..^[3]

Her film work usually was in quite small parts, often unbilled, but she had a credited part as Mrs. Gilmore, one of the kindlier members of the witches' coven at the heart of Roman Polanski's film classic Rosemary's Baby (1968).^[4]

Death

She acted until 1978, a year before her death from congestive heart failure in 1979, aged 83, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. She is interred at Mountain View Cemetery in Walla Walla, Washington in the Masonic Section.^[3]

Selected filmography

References

External links

• Hope Summers at the Internet Movie Database
• Hope Summers at Find a Grave
• Peorian Article