Dick Van Dyke Show Star Barbara Perry Dies at 97
Actress Barbara Perry — who had memorable roles on The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Hathaways, The Andy Griffith Show, Perry Mason, Bewitched, and Murphy Brown — died on Sunday in Los Angeles of natural causes. She was 97.
Family spokesman David Van Deusen did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, but he confirmed the news of Perry’s death to The Hollywood Reporter. His newsletter, The Walnut Times, is dedicated to fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
On the beloved sitcom, Perry played Pickles Sorrell, the wife of Morey Amsterdam’s joke-writer character Buddy Sorrell. She appeared alongside Amsterdam in two, first-season Dick Van Dyke Show episodes, that aired in 1961 and 1962.
The actress was born on June 22, 1921, in Norfolk, Virginia. The arts ran through Perry’s blood. Her father was a keyboardist and conductor and her mother was a choral singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Hollywood Reporter reported. By age 4, Perry was on stage, making her debut as Trouble in the Met’s production of Madame Butterfly.
Eventually, Perry’s family moved to Hollywood where she jumped into a career in dance. She found success in tap, and headlined at popular clubs like the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, the Chez Paris in Chicago, and the Café de Paris in London, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Movies were her next calling. Perry’s debut on the silver screen was in 1933, in William Wyler’s Counsellor at Law. Two years later, she had a role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Other parts throughout her career included Tap (1989), Father of the Bride (1991), Just Write (1997), Mr. Woodcock (2007) and The Back-up Plan (2010).
The star also appeared on Broadway — first in 1946’s Swan Song and later in If the Shoe Fits (1946), Happy as Larry (1950), Rumple (1957) and even a solo show she wrote and performed called Passionate Ladies (1981).
But the small screen is really where Perry found notoriety with dozens of TV appearances.
She was one of Murphy Brown’s secretaries in 1990 (secretary No. 39, to be exact); a neighbor who dolls out love advice to Ted for two episodes of How I Met Your Mother; and, most recently, a gift shop employee on a 2017 installment of FX’s Baskets.
In October, Perry was honored with the Founders Award from SAG-AFTRA.
Perry is survived by daughter, Laurel Lee, granddaughter Audrey Lee and stepdaughters Karin and Michele, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Her second husband, Disney animator Art Babbitt, died in 1992.
