Lurene Tuttle (August 29, 1907 – May 28, 1986) was an American character actress, who made the transition from vaudeville to radio, and later films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses. Often appearing in 15 shows a week, comedies, dramas, thrillers, soap operas, and crime dramas, she became known as the "First Lady of Radio".

Biography

Tuttle married Melville Ruick, an actor whom she had met during her radio years; the couple had a daughter, Barbara Ruick, a musical comedy actress who married famed film composer John Williams before dying unexpectedly in 1974. Tuttle and Ruick eventually divorced. She married Frederick W. Cole, an engineer, November 27, 1950, in Pasadena, California; she sued him for divorce January 4, 1956.

She became a respected acting coach and teacher—something she had always done, even at the height of her acting career (she often re-trained radio actors who had been away from the craft during service in World War II).

Tuttle had a hobby of collecting toy dogs. A 1930 newspaper article reported, "Her dressing room shelf is filled with more than 200 miniature replicas of every variety of dog known.