Audree Norton

Audree Norton was born in Great Falls, Montana and attended the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Gallaudet University in 1952. That same year she married Kenneth Norton in Houston, Texas. Her first appearance on television was in the mid-1950s doing live commercials for Royal Crown Cola on a Houston television station. She gave birth to a daughter, Nikki, in 1953; a son, Kurt, in 1954; and another son, Dane, in 1957. In 1967 she was a founding member of the National Theatre of the Deaf and appeared with the company on Broadway, across the United States and around the world. She was the first Deaf actor to appear on an American network television series with her featured appearance in 1968 on the CBS crime drama, "Mannix." She followed that with an appearance on "Family Affair," "A Man and the City," "The Streets of San Francisco" and numerous commercials. In the 1970s she left acting and began teaching media, English and psychology at Ohlone Community College in Fremont, California. She received a Masters in Rhetoric and Public Address from California State University at Hayward in 1976. Audree retired as a Professor Emeritus from Ohlone College in 1992. She was very honored and thrilled to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Gallaudet University in 2012. She was married to Kenneth Norton for 63 years and she died peacefully in their home in Fremont, California surrounded by her loving family. Audree was a devoted and loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.