Muriel Landers

Birthday: Oct 27, 1921

Bio: Comedienne/singer Muriel Landers had a 20 year career in television and movies, the most memorable aspects of which were built around the mixture of her plump physique, sexy voice, and seemingly boundless energy. Born in Chicago in 1921, she made her small-screen performing debut in 1950, surprisingly -- given her subsequent established flair for comedy -- in a… More Bio: Comedienne/singer Muriel Landers had a 20 year career in television and movies, the most memorable aspects of which were built around the mixture of her plump physique, sexy voice, and seemingly boundless energy. Born in Chicago in 1921, she made her small-screen performing debut in 1950, surprisingly -- given her subsequent established flair for comedy -- in a pair of dramas on the anthology series The Clock and Lux Video Theater. In the years immediately following, she would exploit her gifts for humor working on the big screen with the Three Stooges (#"Sweet And Hot") and on series such as Make Room For Daddy and The Jack Benny Program, as well as one Bob Hope special. Her girth was, of course, a frequent source of humor surrounding her performances -- she could have been the Totie Fields or the Wendie Jo Sperber of her era -- but Landers carried it well, and could look extremely attractive, and also had a sultry singing voice that she used on occasion to great effect. Jules White, the producer/director in charge of Columbia Pictures' B-movie unit, even proposed a new line of short subjects built around Landers, to be called "Girlie Whirls," but ended the project after a single such effort and, instead, put her to work alongside the Three Stooges. Landers continued performing until the start of the 1970s, when ill-health, caused by hyper-tension, forced her retirement. She passed away in 1977 age 55. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi