Early life

Born Judith Clare Boutin in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, she was a talented figure skater who became a professional star performer with the Ice Follies

Ice Follies

Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies was a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1937 by Eddie Shipstad, Roy Shipstad, and Oscar Johnson, who also skated in the show. In later years, Olympic skaters such as Donald Jackson, Barbara...

. All this changed when she broke her back in an accident. Even after recovering, she continued until she broke her knee cap and was advised by doctors to stop skating.

Acting career

Meredith was performing in stock until she was spotted by George Burns

George Burns

George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...

, an American comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

, who cast her in the recurring role of Bonnie Sue McAfee on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1957), and the next year as herself on The George Burns Show. That year, 1958, saw Meredith's film debut, Wild Heritage.

In the 1959-1960 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 season, Meredith played Monique Deveraux, a young French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 woman, in the CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 series Hotel de Paree

Hotel de Paree

Hotel de Paree is a Western television series that aired on the CBS Friday schedule from October 2, 1959, until June 3, 1960, under the alternate sponsorship of Liggett & Myers and Kellogg's....

, with Earl Holliman

Earl Holliman

-Early life:Earl Holliman was born at Delhi in Richland Parish of northeastern Louisiana. Holliman’s biological father died before he was born, and his biological mother, living in poverty with several other children, gave him up for adoption at birth...

, Jeanette Nolan

Jeanette Nolan

Jeanette Nolan was an American radio, film and television actress. Nolan was nominated for four Emmy Awards.-Early life:...

, and Strother Martin

Strother Martin

Strother Martin was an American actor in numerous films and television programs. Martin is perhaps best known as the prison "captain" in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, where he uttered the line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate."-Early life:Strother Martin Jr. was born in Kokomo,...

. From the late 1950s through the 1960s, Meredith appeared in several TV series' including Wagon Train

Wagon Train

Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...

, Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....

, Have Gun – Will Travel, Bonanza

Bonanza

Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

, Mannix

Mannix

Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...

, and Hawaii Five-O

Hawaii Five-O

Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...

.

Selected filmography

• Wild Heritage (1958)
• Money, Women and Guns (1958)
• Summer Love (1958)
• Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
• The Raiders (1963)
• The Night Walker
  The Night Walker (film)
  The Night Walker is a black-and-white psychological suspense thriller by genre specialist William Castle, with a screenplay by Robert Bloch, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor, Hayden Rorke, Judi Meredith, and Lloyd Bochner as "The Dream." The film was one of the last black and white...
  
  (1964)
• Dark Intruder
  Dark Intruder
  Dark Intruder is a 1965 television movie that was released theatrically. It is a horror film starring Leslie Nielsen, Mark Richman and Judi Meredith set in San Francisco in 1890 concerning playboy sleuth Brett Kingsford...
  
  (1965)
• Queen of Blood
  Queen of Blood
  Queen of Blood horror/science fiction film released by American International Pictures. The director, Curtis Harrington, crafted this B-movie with footage from the Russian films Mechte Navstrechu and Nebo Zovyot. It was released as part of a double bill with the AIP movie Blood Bath...
  
  (1966)
• Something Big
  Something Big
  Something Big is a 1971 American motion picture produced by Andrew V. McLaglen and James Lee Barrett . The film stars Dean Martin and Brian Keith.-Description:...
  
  (1971)

External links

• Judi Meredith biography from Allmovie
• At Yahoo movies