Bio Full Biography »

b. Catherine Gloria Balotta, 20 November 1925, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. An actress and singer with a long and distinguished career in the theatre and on television and film, Ballard came from Italian descent, and entered showbusiness when she was 14 years old, appearing in a US production of Stage Door Canteen in Cleveland. She began her professional career in vaudeville in 1943, and three years later was in the revue Three To Make Ready in New York. In the late 40s she toured in various stock productions including Look Ma, I’m Dancin’ and Annie Get Your Gun, and was in the cast of the 1948 Harold Rome revue That’s The Ticket, which closed out of town in the dreaded ‘graveyard’ for Broadway-bound shows, Philadelphia. In 1950 Ballard made her London debut at the Prince of Wales Theatre in the revue Touch And Go, and also starred in that year’s Royal Variety Performance, before joining the US tour of Top Banana. In 1954, she was back on Broadway as Helen of Troy in The Golden Apple in whi...