Audrey Meadows was born the youngest of four children as Audrey Cotter on February 8, 1926 in Wu'chang China. Her family settled in New England when Audrey was 6 and Jayne and Audrey attended and all girls boarding school. After high school, Jayne went to NYC with the goal of being an actress, and Jayne finally convinced her little sister to join her in showbusiness, but as a singer instead of an actress. Audrey spent months working on the Broadway show "Top Banana" and then got a job on The Bob And Ray Show. She then replaced Pert Kelton as the most famed and most loved Alice Kramden of "The Honeymooners". After The Honeymooners ended, she went on to do films like Take Her, She's Mine, That Touch Of Mink, and even portrayed Ted Knight's mother in law in the 80s sitcom "Too Close For Comfort". But her heart--and ours--will forever remain in that two burner stove, Chauncey street kitchen.
The Jackie Gleason Show (1952): $750/week

Best remembered for her continuing role as Alice Kramden, wife of Ralph Kramden (played by Jackie Gleason), in TV's "The Honeymooners." (The same role had been played earlier by Pert Kelton, and later by Sheila MacRae.) Sister of actress Jayne Meadows. Kramden (played by Jackie Gleason), in TV's "The Honeymooners." In one sense, Audrey and her agent, were smarter than the usually visionary Jackie Gleason. Audrey was the only one of the Honeymooners cast whose contract required payments to her for TV re-runs and sales of the episodes. Father, Rev. Francis James Meadows Cotter was an Episcopal priest and mother, Ida, was a missonary. Was a chain smoker. Debuted at Carnegie Hall as a mezzo soprano. She and sister Jayne had nicknames for each other when they were little... Audrey was Sara and Jayne was Elinor. Played field hockey in school Late husband, Bob Six, was CEO of Continental Airlines and was once married to Ethel Merman. Brother-in-law is the late Steve Allen. The youngest of four children. Both Audrey and Jayne Meadows competed against members of the William F. Buckley family in local talent shows. In 1944, three of Bill Buckley's sisters were accused of vandalizing the church where Audrey and Jayne's father was rector. Her last word was reportedly "Jayne!" Her sister rushed to her bedside when she heard of her impending death, and after saying this last word, Jayne took her little sister's hand and Audrey squeezed it. She slipped into a coma and never said another word, passing away on February 3rd, 1996 in Room 8102 of Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Audrey and Joyce Randolph (who played neighbor Trixie in the Honeymooner's sketches) knew each other before the classic TV show. They once worked together in a summer stock production of "No, No, Nanette." Became the first woman director of the First National Bank of Denver in post-acting years. Known for being one of entertainment's more glamorous personalities, Audrey got the dressed-down part of "Alice Kramden" by hiring a photographer to take pictures of herself as frumpy, weary and slatternly, and rushed them to the highly skeptical Jackie Gleason. Impressed, he hired her. One of many of her character's famous quips to Gleason's Ralph Kramden: "Go for the gold, Ralph, you've already got the pot!" Parents were missionaries which explains why she was born in China. Audrey spoke nothing but Chinese until coming to the U.S. She returned once to the Honeymooners in 1966 for the last black-and-white sketch entitled "The Adoption" which was broadcast in Miami. Jackie Gleason was short and had a Napoleon complex so he hired short actors to work with. One of the few exceptions was Audrey, who was 5' 9" but wore flats. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 401-403. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Although not a comedienne by nature, Audrey appeared with many of Hollywood's top comic royalty during her "Golden Age of TV" years including Red Skelton, George Gobel, Jack Benny, Sid Caesar, and Carol Burnett.