Stearns MaryKay

American actress best known for portraying the fictional version of herself on the sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny from 1947 until 1950, in which she co-starred with her husband, Johnny Stearns. On the show the pair portrayed a newlywed couple, also named Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns, who were trying to make it in New York. Mary Kays counterpart was an everyday, run-of-the-mill, zany housewife and Johnnys counterpart was a bank employee. The series was the first sitcom to air on television, contrary to popular belief that I Love Lucy which premiered four years later was the first. It was also the first television series to feature a pregnancy, (the Stearnses real life son Christopher), whose birth and character were written into the show in December 1948. It was also the first to feature a couple sharing a bed. She later stated that she never was particularly fond of television and largely did those shows as a means to earn a paycheck while she tried to make it big on Broadway. She was widowed on 16 December 2001 when Johnny died at the age of 85. They had three children together, Christopher, Jonathan and Melinda. Stearns died in Newport Beach, California on 17 November 2018 at the age of 93. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less