Kathleen Claypool(1917-2003)
- Actress
Katie, as she was known to most friends was a gifted comedienne who was very proud of having performed in 49 of our 50 states. She also performed in many of the Pacific Islands while touring with the USO company of The Late Christopher Bean at the end of WWII. That tour was like a honeymoon for her and her husband Fredric Meyer who was also in that company. Most of her hundreds of credits are in legitimate theatre which was her first love. Included among these were many years at the Timbers Playhouse, later the Mt Gretna Playhouse where she was the leading lady for years, and her run of more than 1,000 performances as Betty Meeks in The Foreigner at The Astor Place Theatre in New York. For 17 years she was the Production Director of Plays for Living, a division of Family Services Association where she maintained more than twenty plays and their casts. In her last theatrical appearance she graced the stage of INTAR in Curtains on Teatre Row in New York and won an Obie award for part of the Best Ensemble. She also appeared in the same venue a few years earlier in the New York premiere of Alan Ayckbourne's Relatively speaking, directed by her son Rick Meyer.
