Norma MacMillan

Norma MacMillan was a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was there that she met, worked with and married her producer/manager husband Thor Arngrim. Arngrim had started the now-legendary (but short-lived) Totem Theatre company in 1951. Upon its demise (1954), he, his partner Stuart Baker, and MacMillan set out for Toronto, where Norma landed voice over-work with the CBC, due to her vocal versatility. On morning radio, Norma did more saccharine roles, while in the evening her talents were used playing the 'disturbed children' roles, as she said. Later on, after she and her husband moved to New York, MacMillan culled from the cartoon industry the voice of Casper the Friendly Ghost. She also lent her voice to many; from well-known characters Davey and Goliath (1960) to The Gumby Show (1956), and many more. In addition to these roles, MacMillan was the voice of John-John and Caroline Kennedy in the perhaps infamous recordings of the early 60s First Family comedy albums. Perhaps her most visible acting role was the part she played in the 1980's as the sweet, demure, naive aunt Martha opposite Ruth Manning's aunt Harriet, for Kraft Foods mayonnaise commercials. Though Norma died at 79, she never quit working. Even upon returning to Vancouver with her husband in the mid-1990's, MacMillan joined Co-Op's Radio's Sunday show for senior citizens and was a board member of the local 411 Seniors Centre. Interestingly, both her children enjoyed the limelight as children: her daughter, Alison Arngrim, played Nellie in Little House on the Prairie (1974); and her son, Stefan Arngrim, played Barry Lockridge on the short-lived 1968 television show Land of the Giants (1968).