Sweet Oddball - The Story of Alice Pearce

by Fredrick Tucker

Alice Pearce, once called "the adenoidal lass with the most beautiful homely face on Broadway," carved a unique career playing wallflowers, nitwits, nags, and other oddball characters, all of whom contrasted sharply with their portrayer. As the shy daughter of an international banker, she experienced a privileged upbringing, attending exclusive schools in both Europe and the United States. Against her parents' wishes, she pursued acting, eventually enlivening thirteen Broadway productions and winning acclaim for her smash act at New York's chicest nightclub, the Blue Angel. Although Alice's Hollywood career was comparatively fleeting, the Emmy-winning actress was featured in fourteen films and in dozens of top television series. She achieved her greatest fame-ironically, at the very end of her brief life-for playing Gladys Kravitz, the snoopy neighbor on the TV sitcom Bewitched. Sweet Oddball , exhaustively researched and illustrated with 225 rare photos, chronicles the public and private lives of a lady much beloved by her fellow actors and fans.The book also contains almost seventy pages of end notes which provide source documentation as well as extra commentary on topics and individuals addressed in the main narrative.  In addition, there is an extensive appendix listing Pearce's professional credits and a comprehensive index.

472 pages, Hardcover

Published May 18, 2021

Reviews

[David L. Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget whatever preconceived notions you may have about Alice Pearce, most famous for her role as nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz in the first two seasons of “Bewitched.” She was a much more refined, funny, and loved lady who we now get to know much better via the extensive and detailed biography about the “chinless wonder.” Filled with many interviews with friends and family as well as rare photos, author Fredrick Tucker gives us such a well-rounded view of this marvelous lady whose life was so short due to ovarian cancer. No bookshelf devoted to actresses or “Bewitched” should be without this great addition!

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed the author's excellent biography of actress Verna Felton, so was looking forward even more to this one - it does not disappoint! A wonderful read, well-written, excellently researched & chock full of photographs! The double-column text was initially daunting, but it was well worth the read! Five plus stars!