Dodo Denney, September 3, 1927 - November 20, 2005.
Dodo Denney (born Dolores Teachenor in Kansas City, Missouri) was a stage, film and television actress best known for her role as know-it-all “Mrs. TeeVee” in the film classic "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory".
Dodo got her first big acting break locally in the mid-1950s. In August 1957, fifty-two classic Universal-International horror films were licensed (10 years for $20 mil) by Columbia Pictures’ Screen Gems division for television syndication under the package title of Shock! Theater.
Local TV stations around the country sought to create their own Vampira-esque late-night horror hosts. Kansas City's Channel 5 (KCMO TV) created "The Witching Hour" and hired Dodo Denney as "Marilyn The Witch". With her cackling laugh, old crone make-up, nd penchant for comedy – Dodo was a natural. She was featured in a 1958 TV Guide magazine article about Midwestern horror hosts.
Dodo as "Marilyn the Witch" was so well-liked that the station also gave her daytime spots where she gave advice on non-horror related things – like gardening.
In her personal life, Dodo was an avid gardener and became a champion grower of her hometown's official flower - the Iris. She also became an Emeritus Judge for the American Iris Society.
Dodo was married to Alan Denney, a successful Art Director and illustrator for Hallmark Greeting Cards. He designed those funny, tall & narrow, cartoon 'studio cards' that flourished in the 1960's and 70's when customers flocked to card shops weekly to laugh at the new releases. While the couple raised their two sons, Dodo
became a popular character actress in films and television.
Dodo made a memorable appearance in a 1966 Bewitched episode called "A Gazebo Never Forgets" in which she played a high-strung young mother whose toddler's polka-dotted elephant toy is the object of witchlet Tabitha's desire. Mid-episode, after Dodo gets hassled again for the elephant toy, she amusingly breaks the 4th wall and looks directly into the camera asking "What is it with that elephant?!"
The episode concludes with Dodo shrieking at the sight of a real polka-dotted elephant that materializes at the park.
Dodo would be called back to Bewitched again for the 1968 episode "Samantha Fights City Hall" and appeared in episodes of Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Get Smart and That Girl.
In 1970, Dodo was cast as Mrs. TeeVee, the prickly geography teacher who accompanies her television-addict son Mike to Willy Wonka's mythical factory's open-house.
Reportedly, Dodo was the producer's 2nd choice after actress Jean Stapleton. Dodo was at her zany best in the role and added several comedic moments to the film. The Munich-based Wonka shoot lasted from August 31 to November 19, 1970. Munich's Gas Works building and clock tower used for the exteriors of the factory were still standing (circa 2008) as a corporate office park at Emmy-Noether-Strasse 10, near the Westfriedhof U-Bahn station.
After Wonka, Dodo did more TV guest shots and roles in several ABC-TV After school Specials, including 1977's My Mom's Having a Baby - from which a generation of latch-key kids learned the nitty gritty of human reproduction.
Dodo was back on the big screen in 1978's American Hot Wax (as "Louise's Mom"), in 1980's The Gong Show Movie (as "Tourist Lady"), and in Ron Howard's 1984 hit comedy Splash as the Bloomingdale's sales lady helping mermaid Daryl Hannah to buy clothes.
Her sons, Dix and John, became professional musicians and founded their popular Los Angeles-based punk band The Weirdos.
Dodo moved back to Kansas City in 1985 and did occasional plays, under the name Nora Denney, at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre and the Unicorn Theatre.
In 1995, Hollywood came to Mrs. Denney when the HBO bio-pic of fellow-Missourian Harry Truman filmed locally and she landed the role of the President's mother.
In 1999, Mrs. Denney, now a widow, moved to the Lake Arrowhead area of the San Bernardino Mountains as she loved wildlife and nature and also wanted to be near her sons.
