| Hope Summers | |
|---|---|
 Hope Summers as Clara Edwards on "The Andy Griffith Show". She made a guest appearance as Nurse Meg Cratty in the Season 2 M*A*S*H episode "The Trial of Henry Blake", before being replaced in the role by Ann Doran in the Season 4 episode "The Kids". | |
| Personal Information | |
| Gender: | Female |
| Born: | June 7, 1896 |
| Birthplace | Mattoon, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died: | June 22, 1979 (aged 83) |
| Deathplace | Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation/ Career: |
Actress |
| Years active: | 1950–1978 |
| Character information | |
| Appeared on/in: | M*A*S*H |
| Episodes appeared in: | "The Trial of Henry Blake" in Season 2 |
| Character(s) played: | Nurse Meg Cratty |
Hope Summers (June 7, 1896 – June 22, 1979) made a guest appearance in the Season 2 episode "The Trial of Henry Blake" She was replaced by Ann Doran in the Season 4 episode of the CBS-TV series M*A*S*H titled "The Kids" as Nurse Meg Cratty, who ran an orphanage near the camp. Hope was a veteran character actress known for her work on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD, where she played the role of Clara Edwards, friend of Aunt Bee Taylor.
Life and career[]
Born Sarah Hope Summers in Mattoon, Illinois to John and Jennie (née Burks) Summers, Hope was reared in Illinois and later in Walla Walla, Washington. A regional actress who often performed in one-woman shows, she was past fifty when she came to Hollywood to begin her career as a character player. She made her television debut in 1951 on the series Hawkins Falls.
Hope first attracted attention in 1958 in the semi-regular role as Hattie Denton on the western series The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors. She guest starred on dozens of series including Wagon Train, State Trooper, Rescue 8, Peter Gunn, Dennis the Menace, It's a Man's World, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Hazel, Gunsmoke, The Danny Thomas Show, My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, Love on a Rooftop, The Pruitts of Southampton, The Second Hundred Years, Adam-12 and The Paul Lynde Show. She made thirty-six appearances on The Andy Griffith Show during the 1960s (in earlier episodes her character was called Bertha), and five appearances on the post-Griffith spinoff, Mayberry R.F.D..
Her film work usually was in quite small parts, often unbilled, but she had a credited part as Mrs. Gilmore, one of the kindlier members of the witches' coven at the heart of Roman Polanski's film classic Rosemary's Baby (1968).
Death[]
Hope acted until 1978, a year before her death from congestive heart failure in 1979, aged 83, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. She is interred at Mountain View Cemetery in Walla Walla, Washington in the Masonic Section.
External links[]
Hope Summers at the Internet Movie Database- Hope Summers at Find a Grave memorial
