Sandra Gould
Sandra Gould was an
actress, born in the
New York City on
July 23,
1916 and died immediately following heart surgery on
July 20,
1999, three days before her 83rd birthday.
Gould began acting in films with an uncredited role in
T-Men (1947). She continued to do uncredited film work for the remainder of the 1940s. Finally, she appeared in the movie
The Story of Molly X (1949) with a credit to her name in the role of Vera, a con-artist. She continued to take minor film roles throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, some roles bigger than others.
In
1953, Gould appeared as a guest in an episode of
Letter to Loretta with
Loretta Young. She continued to guest star in the 1950s and 1960s as various characters in shows such as:
I Love Lucy,
December Bride,
Maverick,
The Flintstones,
The Twilight Zone,
The Lucy Show,
Burke's Law,
I Dream of Jeannie, and
Mister Ed. Gould, however, did not have her big television break until
1966, after appearing in the comedy
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.
Gould found an eternal spot in
pop culture when she landed the part of nosy neighbour
Gladys Kravitz in the classic sitcom,
Bewitched, which premiered in
1964. The first two seasons of the show had
Alice Pearce in the role, however she died of
ovarian cancer in 1966, which is when Gould took over. Gould looked nothing like
Alice Pearce, however her whiny voice and over-the-top performance secured her the part. The show would go through a more dramatic transformation years later, when
Dick Sargent took over the main part of Darrin Stevens from
Dick York.
After the end of
Bewitched, Gould made a few appearances on TV in shows like
The Brady Bunch and
Punky Brewster. In
1977, Gould reprised her role as
Gladys Kravitz on the unsuccessful
Bewitched spin-off series,
Tabitha. Gould would also make guest appearances on sitcoms such as
Friends and
Veronica's Closet, during the 1990s.
Gould was one of the few cast members with a regular role on
Bewitched who did
not die of cancer. At the time of her death she left only
Alice Ghostley,
Bernard Fox,
Erin Murphy, and
Kasey Rogers as surviving cast members. Rogers died on July 6, 2006 at USC University Hospital from
throat cancer and a stroke.
Gould also wrote two books,
Always Say Maybe and
Sexpots and Pans, published by
Golden Press.
Twice married, she was the widow of broadcasting executive Larry Berns, she had one son, Michael; she died in 1999 of a
stroke following
bypass surgery, three days before her 83rd birthday.
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