Portrait of Betsy Palmer

Birthday profile

Betsy Palmer

Betsy Palmer, American actress and game show panelist (died 2015)

Born
November 1, 1926
Died
May 29, 2015
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1926

About Betsy Palmer

Betsy Palmer was an American actress known for her many film and Broadway roles, television guest-starring appearances, as a panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret, and later for playing Pamela Voorhees, the antagonist and mother of Jason Voorhees, in the first Friday the 13th film (1980). Palmer was the last surviving member of the I've Got a Secret first version's cast. In 1953, she created the role of Virginia in the original teleplay version of Paddy Chayefsky's Marty. Palmer got her first television acting job in 1951 when she joined the cast of the 15-minute weekday television soap opera Miss Susan, which was produced in Philadelphia, and all actors traveled each day from New York City by train.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Betsy Palmer timeline

  1. Palmer got her first television acting job in 1951 when she joined the cast of the 15-minute weekday television soap opera Miss Susan, which was produced in Philadelphia, and all actors traveled each day from New York City by train.
  2. In 1953, she created the role of Virginia in the original teleplay version of Paddy Chayefsky's Marty.

The world when Betsy Palmer was born

Betsy Palmer was born in 1926. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1926

  • #1 song"Bye Bye Blackbird"
  • Top movieThe General (Buster Keaton)
  • Best-selling bookThe Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentGertrude Ederle swims the English Channel
  • Top headlineA.A. Milne publishes Winnie-the-Pooh
  • Technology milestoneFirst demonstration of television
  • Defining fadFlagpole sitting
  • Notable inventionPop-up toaster
  • World population2.01 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population117.4M

1926 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Betsy Palmer's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19262026
Gas$0.23$3.45/gal
Average home$6,000$435,000
Average income$3,620$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population117.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.