Our Legendary Line of Long-Legged Lovelies
At age 17 Judy Bell
Since she came yodeling out of the hills of West Virginia, Judy Bell has enjoyed an impressive career spanning nearly her entire 73 years.
Her own musical comedy revue, The Judy Bell Show, was featured at the MGM hotels in Reno and Las Vegas; Harrah's hotels in Lake Tahoe and Reno; the Flamingo, Sahara and Frontier hotels in Las Vegas, and the Cinegrill at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
The veteran songstress has played the lead in stage productions of Annie Get Your Gun, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Lily Langtry at Disneyland. She was also voted "Best Las Vegas Female Performer" four times.
She has raised a son and a daughter, and revels over her five grandchildren.
She is in her 17th season at the Follies.
What is your favorite Follies memory? "Meeting Betty Hutton after the show was a lifetime thrill. I've always been a huge fan."
MORE FUN FACTS:
- Her son, Dan Bell, is a famous stuntman. Her daughter, Beverly Bond, owns and operates a day spa in Helena, Montana. Cody Kaufman, one of Beverly's five children, is a cadet at West Point Military Academy.
- Judy's mama provided her favorite quote: "Life is like a roll of toilet paper; the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes."
- In 1991, along with vocalist Nancy Wilson, Judy was inducted into the West High School Hall of Fame in Columbus, Ohio. "I've lived a Cinderella life," she says, "with more blessings than I would have ever thought."
- When Judy was a small child, her grandmother used to pick her up and place her on the dining table, "where I started singing and dancing –and waiting for the applause."
- Her son talked her into auditioning for the Follies, and "within an hour, I had the job."
- Her favorite songs are those solos she warbles each season in the Follies. Her favorite TV shows are Dancing with the Stars and American Idol.
- Single now, she says, "I am married to the job. If a man were to receive the dedication, commitment and love I give to the Follies, he'd be the luckiest SOB in the world!"
- Her advice to fellow old folks: "Life is full of things to do on a continual basis. There is no such thing as quitting."
