Barbara Luddy

• Name — Barbara Luddy • Born — 25 May 1908 • Birthplace — Great Falls, Montana, U.S. • Died — 1 April 1979 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Known for — Original voice of Kanga from the first three Winnie The Pooh featurettes and in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Original voice of Lady in Lady and the Tramp Original voice of Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty • Years Active — 1927–1977 • Children — 2

Born in Great Falls, Montana on May 25, 1908, Luddy was the daughter of Will and Molly Luddy of Helena, Montana. She sang in Vaudeville as a child. She attended Ursuline Convent in Great Falls, Montana.

In 1929, Luddy toured with Leo Carrillo in Australia as part of a touring company that presented the play Lombardi, Ltd. A review in the Sydney Morning Herald cited Luddy's work portraying a mannequin as "a role in which Miss Barbara Luddy made a great hit by her pert audacity and vivaciousness."

Luddy was a member of the dramatic cast of the Chicago Theater of the Air. One of Luddy's better known roles on radio was being a regular performer on The First Nighter Program from 1936 until the series ended in 1953. In 1937, she and fellow First Nighter actor Les Tremayne set what a contemporary newspaper article called "a precedent... when these signed long term contracts calling for their exclusive services" on the program." She also played Veronica Gunn in the comedy Great Gunns. In soap operas, she played Judith Clark in Lonely Women Carol Evans Martin in The Road of Life, and Janet Munson in Woman in White.

Luddy guest starred in episodes of such television programs as Hazel, Dragnet, Adam-12, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Luddy married R. Ned LeFevre, an actor and announcer, on September 18, 1942. They had two children. On April 1, 1979, Luddy succumbed to lung cancer. She was 70-years-old at the time of her death, dying just one month before her 71st birthday.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1925 — An Enemy of Men — Janet • Sealed Lips — Alice Howard • Rose of the World — Cecilia Kirby • 1927 — Born to Battle — Barbara Barstow • Wilful Youth • 1928 — See You Later • 1930 — Headin' North — Mary Jackson • 1933 — Her Secret — Mae • 1955 — Lady and the Tramp — Lady — Voice • 1959 — Sleeping Beauty — Merryweather • 1961 — One Hundred and One Dalmatians — Rover • 1963 — Terrified — Mrs. Hawley • 1964 — Dear Heart — Miss Carmichael — Uncredited • 1966 — Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree — Kanga — Voice • 1968 — The Shakiest Gun in the West — Screaming Woman — Uncredited • Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day — Kanga — Voice • 1973 — Robin Hood — Mother Sexton (church mouse), Mother Rabbit — Voice, Uncredited • 1974 — Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! — Kanga — Voice • 1977 — The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh — Voice, Archive footage