Betsy Palmer

Betsy Palmer (November 1, 1926 – May 29, 2015) was an American actress, known as a regular panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret, and later for playing the murderous serial killer mother, Pamela Voorhees in the slasher film Friday the 13th.

Early life

Palmer was born Patricia Betsy Hrunek in East Chicago, Indiana, the daughter of Marie (née Love), who launched the Chicago Business College, and Rudolph Vincent Hrunek, an industrial chemist who was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. She graduated from DePaul University, where she studied theater.

Acting career

Palmer got her first acting job in 1951 when she joined the cast of the 15-minute weekday television soap opera Miss Susan, which was produced in Philadelphia. She was "discovered" for this role while attending a party in the apartment of actor Frank Sutton (Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.). She had been in Manhattan less than one week.

A life member of The Actors Studio, Palmer's stage work included a tour of South Pacific (as Nellie Forbush) and the title role in Maggie, a 1953 musicalization of What Every Woman Knows.