Marlin Hurt

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Radio Personality Born May 27, 1905 in Du Quoin, Ill.

Marlin Hurt played the character Beulah on the radio.

At the time of his death in 1946, Hurt had been on the radio since 1929. He was cast in his own show after making a hit as the giggling maid on the "Fibber McGee & Molly" show.

He had previously played "Dick" of the radio team Tom, Dick and Harry, one of radio's earliest trios.

According radio historian John Dunning, Hurt created a "mild sensation" as a white man acting as a black woman, a character Hurt said was based on his childhood nursemaid.

"Listeners couldn't believe he was actually a man," according to Dunning's encyclopedia of radio "Tune in Yesterday."

— Los Angeles Times March 22, 1946, with additional material