Cara Williams Passes On

Cara Williams, who played Gladys in the sitcom Pete and Gladys and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Defiant Ones (1958), died on December 9 2021 at the age of 96.

Cara Williams was born Bernice Kamiat in Brooklyn, New York on June 29 1925. Her parents divorced when she was very young, and her mother moved the family to Los Angeles. Bernice Kamiat took an interest in acting while very young and chose "Cara Williams" as her stage name. She attended the Hollywood Professional school and began acting on radio. She was only 16 years old when she was signed by 20th Century Fox.

Cara Williams made her film debut in a small role in Wide Open Town in 1941. She appeared in small, often uncredited roles in such films as Girls' Town (1942), In the Meantime, Darling (1944), and Laura (1944). She had her first major role in Boomerang (1947). For the remainder of the Forties she appeared in such films as Sitting Pretty (1948), The Saxon Charm (1948), and Knock on Any Door (1949). She made her television debut in an episode of Theatre of Romance in 1949. The following year she appeared in the shows The Clock, The Philco Television Playhouse, The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre, The Web, Starlight Theatre, The Billy Rose Show, and Suspense.

In the Fifties Cara Williams made several guest appearances on the TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1960 she began playing Gladys on the sitcom Pete and Gladys, opposite Harry Morgan as Pete. She guest starred on the show Robert Montgomery Presents, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Broadway Television Theatre, Steve Randall, Matinee Theatre, On Trial, Lux Video Theatre, Jane Wyman Presents Fireside Theatre, Date with the Angels, Naked City, Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, and Zane Grey Theatre. She appeared in the movies The Girl Next Door (1953), Monte Carlo Baby (1953), The Great Diamond Robbery (1954), Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), The Helen Morgan Story (1957), The Defiant Ones (1958), and Never Steal Anything Small (1949).

In the Sixties she continued to star on Pete and Gladys. She also starred in the single season sitcom The Cara Williams Show. She guest starred on Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine, The Red Skelton Show, and Valentine's Day. She appeared in the movie The Man from Diner's Club (1963). In the Seventies she guest starred on Rhoda, Medical Center, and Visions. She appeared in the movies Doctor's Wives (1971), The White Buffalo (1977), and The One Man Jury (1978). She made her last appearance on film in the TV movie In Security in 1982.

Chances are good that Cara Williams might be best remembered as Gladys, Pete's scatter-brained wife on Pete and Gladys, but she played a wide variety of role throughout her career. She played waitress Irene Nelson, a witness to murder, in Boomerang. In The Defiant Ones she played a mother who takes in two escaped convicts (Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis), a role for which she was nominated for an Oscar. In The Man form the Diner's Club she played a gangster's moll who becomes involved with the meek Diner's Club clerk (Danny Kaye) of the title. Cara Williams was equally adept at comedy and drama, and always gave a good performance, no matter small her role.