Betty Lou Bredemus

Betty Lou Bredemus (August 13, 1934 – February 19, 2015) was an American actress and acting coach. The matriarch of the Roberts family, which includes Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts, Academy Award-nominated actor Eric Roberts, and granddaughter Emma Roberts, she also served in the United States Air Force and received a National Defense Service Medal for her service, which was spent entertaining the troops in Air Force base theatrical productions.^[1]

Early life and education

Betty Lou Bredemus was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Wendell John Bredemus (1904-1955), a football player, and Elizabeth Ellen (née Billingsley).^[2] Betty Lou had one brother, John. She graduated from Austin High School in 1952. In school she sang in the choir, and performed in the drama club Dirk & Bobble, appearing in productions like You Can't Take It with You.

The summer after graduation, Bredemus joined a stock company and performed in several plays, and then returned to Austin, where she studied dramatic arts at the local junior college. She was forced to leave school after her father became ill. Her brother had his education paid for by joining the Army, which gave Bredemus the idea to join the United States Air Force. She signed up for two years, and started basic training in Texas in 1953. She spent her service at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi.

Career

Bredemus met her husband Walter Grady Roberts (1933-1977) while performing in the play George Washington Slept Here together, which was directed by Rance Howard, father of director Ron Howard. Howard and his wife Jean, Roberts and Bredemus became close friends, and decided to tour to a couple of USO bases performing plays. Bredemus and Roberts were married in 1955, and soon after their first child was born, actor Eric Roberts in April 1956. After the army, Walter decided to pursue a career as a playwright, so he moved the family to Louisiana so he could attend Tulane University. The family lived on campus in family housing. Walter left school just shy of graduating, and he moved the family to Decatur, Georgia in 1960. Bredemus soon began working at Emory University in the public relations area, while Walter worked in various theatrical jobs.^[3]

In 1965, Bredemus and Roberts created a children's show for the local network titled Bum Bum and His Buddies. In the first episode, Bredemus played the role of Bum Bum the clown. The Roberts' had previously created a short-lived series titled Creole Capers. After 15 episodes of Buddies, Bredemus and Roberts moved on to create the Actors and Writers Workshop, teaching classes to youth ages five to eighteen. Also in 1965 Bredemus gave birth to their daughter Lisa. The workshop became a huge success and popular among the children of Atlanta.

Among the children that enrolled were the children of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta. Their eldest daughter Yolanda King took acting classes taught by Walter. In 1967, their daughter Julia Roberts was born. Bredemus' pregnancy caused commotion within the workshop community as she temporarily had to stop performing the various tasks needed to put on a show. When Julia was born the Roberts' were experiencing financial difficulty, and Coretta Scott King offered to pay the hospital bill.^[4]

In 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, their children were taking classes at the workshop. The Kings had become friends of the Roberts' and donated money to the workshop, which was having trouble financially. The workshop eventually closed, and Roberts and Bredemus divorced. She married Michael Motes and gave birth to their daughter in 1976, and Walter died in 1977.

Later life and death

Bredemus encouraged her children's acting careers through the 1980s and 1990s but largely stayed out of the limelight. She divorced her second husband, Michael Motes, and went by her maiden name of Bredemus. Her daughter Nancy Motes died on February 9, 2014 at age 37.^[5]

Bredemus died on February 19, 2015, in Los Angeles after a battle with lung cancer. She was 80 years old, and is survived by her three children and six grandchildren.^[6]

References