Phyllis Avery, Longtime Television Actress Known for Meet Mr. McNulty and More

Phyllis Avery, an actress who played the wife of Ray Milland in 75 episodes of the 1953-55 CBS comedy Meet Mr. McNulty, died May 19, 2011, of heart failure at her home in Los Angeles. She was 88.

In Meet Mr. McNulty (later called The Ray Milland Show), Milland played a professor at a women’s college; Avery was his wife, Peggy.

Avery, whose career spanned 50 years, also co-starred in the 1960-62 CBS daytime drama The Clear Horizon and on such series as Peter Gunn, Have Gun -- Will Travel, The Rifleman, The Millionaire, Rawhide and Perry Mason.

In the mid-'60s, she began selling real estate in West Los Angeles but continued to appear on television, including appearances on All in the Family, Maude, Charlie's Angels and Baretta. In the 1990s, she appeared on the series Coach and in the 1993 film Made in America.

Her other feature film credits included Queen for a Day, Ruby Gentry and The Best Things in Life Are Free.

The daughter of screenwriter Stephen Morehouse Avery, Avery, New York City native, made her Broadway debut in the 1937 production of Orchids Preferred. After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she played one of the featured ingenues in the 1940 stage production Charley's Aunt with Jose Ferrer.

Avery was married to actor Don Taylor. They divorced in 1955.

Survivors include daughters Avery and Anne and granddaughter Martine.