Beverly Washburn is a former child actress who is most noted for her role as Lisbeth Searcy in the 1957 Walt Disney classic Old Yeller (as seen at right). Outside of that film, she had numerous appearances in a wide array of over 50 TV shows and films over a span of nearly twenty years. Among them the initial Superman film Superman and the Mole-Men, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, Dragnet, The Patty Duke Show, and Star Trek. Her acting work these days is limited but her face still turns up now and then.
When my friend Bob obtained a signed photo of Beverly Washburn in the late 1990’s from one of the Hollywood Collectors Show, the photo that I chose to have her sign was a rather interesting one. It came from the Wagon Train episode The Tobias Jones Story, which starred Lou Costello in a dramatic role. I knew very little about Beverly Washburn, but I couldn’t pass up the Abbott and Costello connection.
I finally got my chance to meet Beverly when she appeared at the Lone Pine Film Festival during my visit on October 11, 2008. She participated in a question and answer session and photo signing during the event. Although I already had a signed photo of her, I didn’t have it with me. Therefore, it seemed to be with quiet hesitation that she agreed to pose for a picture with me. Still, I’m not complaining. The same lady who once posed with Lou Costello was now posing with me!
The celebrities of Lone Pine 2008 will continue…
I met Beverly Washburn at the 2008 Memphis Film Festival. She was a very pleasant and chatty person. We talked about her work in Superman, Old Yeller, and Star Trek. We laughed about knowing which characters in each Star Trek episode were going to die, when they beamed down to a planet, by the color of their tunic. I had her sign the photo of her death from that series; her face wrinkled from age which she called her ‘glamour shot’.
Dave Chasteen
July 11th, 2009