| Jesslyn Fax | |
| Birth Date: | 4 January 1893 |
| Birth Place: | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Death Place: | Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Actress |
Jesslyn Fax (January 4, 1893 – February 16, 1975) was a Canadian-American actress. She is known for playing 'Miss Hearing Aid' in Rear Window (1954),[1] [2] Avis Grubb in The Music Man (1962), Miss Hemphill in The Man Who Died Twice (1958),[3] and Airline Passenger in The Family Jewels (1965).[4]
Fax was born in Toronto, the daughter of Jimmy Fax, a noted Canadian actor and comedian. She began working with her father as a singer, pianist, and monologist when she was 16, then left her father's troupe after five seasons to work in vaudeville and traveling stock companies. She moved to Hollywood in 1949.[5]
A short, cherubic-like character actress, Fax mainly appeared in cheerful small supporting roles as 'little old ladies'. All her known appearances occurred between 1950-1969, whether on television or in film. She served as an occasional comic foil to Jack Benny, Lucille Ball (in a guest appearance on I Love Lucy), and others. She also made appearances in numerous other popular television shows of the 1950s and 1960s such as Gunsmoke, Peter Gunn, Our Miss Brooks, The Jack Benny Program, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Perry Mason, The Joey Bishop Show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., and The Wild Wild West. Her film appearances include roles in the Don Knotts films The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) and The Love God? (1969), The Music Man (1962) with Robert Preston, The Family Jewels (1965) with Jerry Lewis, and the Andy Griffith film Angel in My Pocket (1969). In addition to appearing in his television shows, Fax acted in the Alfred Hitchcock murder/suspense films Rear Window (1954), which starred James Stewart and Grace Kelly, and North By Northwest(1959), which starred Cary Grant.[6]