Portrait of Kathleen Freeman

Birthday profile

Kathleen Freeman

Kathleen Freeman, American actress and singer (died 2001)

Born
February 17, 1919
Died
August 23, 2001
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1919

About Kathleen Freeman

Kathleen Freeman was an American actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed acerbic maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors and relatives, almost invariably to comic effect. In film, she is perhaps best remembered for appearing in 12 Jerry Lewis comedies in the 1950s and 1960s and The Blues Brothers (1980). In 1948, Peggy Webber saw Freeman on stage at the Circle Theatre, and hired her for Webber's live local series "Treasures of Literature", her first television job. Beginning with the 1954 film 3 Ring Circus, Freeman became a favorite foil of Jerry Lewis, playing opposite him in 11 films. For her role as Jeannette Burmeister, the company's pianist, she was nominated for a 2001 Tony Award and won a Theatre World Award, which is usually given to younger performers. After college, Freeman joined the Circle Players on Santa Monica Boulevard. "I became part of a theater group that came from ULCA, the Circle Players, which got to be at one point fairly internationally famous.

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

Kathleen Freeman timeline

  1. In 1948, Peggy Webber saw Freeman on stage at the Circle Theatre, and hired her for Webber's live local series "Treasures of Literature", her first television job.
  2. Beginning with the 1954 film 3 Ring Circus, Freeman became a favorite foil of Jerry Lewis, playing opposite him in 11 films.
  3. For her role as Jeannette Burmeister, the company's pianist, she was nominated for a 2001 Tony Award and won a Theatre World Award, which is usually given to younger performers.

The world when Kathleen Freeman was born

Kathleen Freeman was born in 1919. 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 1919

  • Best-selling book"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" – Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBlack Sox scandal — 1919 World Series fixed
  • Top headlineTreaty of Versailles signed — 18th Amendment (Prohibition)
  • Technology milestoneFirst nonstop transatlantic flight (Alcock & Brown)
  • Defining fadOuija boards
  • Notable inventionPop-up toaster
  • World population~1.79B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWoodrow Wilson
  • U.S. population103.2M

1919 versus 2026

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

Measure19192026
Gas$0.25$3.45/gal
Average home$5,000$435,000
Average income$2,000$67,500
Movie ticket$0.15$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population103.2M341 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.