Betty Lou Bredemus (August 13, 1934 - February 19, 2015) was an American actress and acting coach.

Spouse(s :)

Walter Grady Roberts (divorced)
Michael Motes (divorced)

Children :

Julia Roberts
Eric Roberts
Lisa Roberts Gillan
Nancy Motes (1976-2014)

Relatives - Emma Roberts (granddaughter)

The matriarch of the Roberts family, which includes Academy Award-winning actress Julia Roberts, Eric Roberts, and granddaughte rEmma Roberts. Betty also served in the United States Air Force and received a National Defense Service Medal for her service, which was spent entertaining the troops in Air Force base theatrical productions.

Life and career

She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Elizabeth Ellen (néeBillingsley) and Wendell John Bredemus (1904-1955), a football player. She had one brother, John. She graduated from Austin High School in 1952. In school she sang in the choir, and performed in the drama club Dirk & Bobble, appearing in productions like You Can't Take It With You.

The summer after graduation, Betty joined a stock company and performed in several plays, and then returned to Austin, where she studied dramatic arts at the local junior college. She was forced to leave school after her father became ill. Her brother had his education paid for by joining the Army, which gave Betty the idea to join the United States Air Force. She signed up for two years, and started basic training in Texas in 1953. She spent her service at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi.

Betty met her husband Walter Grady Roberts (1933-1977) while performing in the play George Washington Slept Heretogether, which was directed by Rance Howard, father of director Ron Howard. Rance and his wife Jean and Walter and Betty became close friends, and decided to tour to a couple of USO bases performing plays. Betty and Walter were married in 1955, and soon after their first child was born, actor Eric Roberts in April 1956. After the army, Walter decided to pursue a career as a playwright, so he moved the family to Louisiana so he could attend Tulane University. The family lived on campus in family housing. Walter left school just shy of graduating, and he moved the family to Decatur, Georgia in 1960. Betty soon began working at Emory University in the public relations area, while Walter worked in various theatrical jobs.

In 1965, Betty and Walter created a children's show for the local network titled Bum Bum and His Buddies. In the first episode, Betty played the role of Bum Bum the clown. The Roberts' had previously created a short-lived series titled Creole Capers. After 15 episodes of Buddies, Betty and Walter moved on to create the Actors and Writers Workshop, teaching classes to youth ages five to eighteen. Also in 1965 Betty gave birth to their daughter Lisa. The workshop became a huge success and popular amongst the children of Atlanta. Among the children that enrolled were the children of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King. Their eldest daughter Yolanda King took acting classes taught by Walter. In 1967, their daughter Julia Roberts was born. Betty's pregnancy caused commotion within the workshop community as she temporarily had to stop performing the various tasks needed to put on a show. When Julia was born the Roberts' were experiencing financial difficulty, and Coretta Scott King offered to pay for the hospital bill.

In 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, their children were taking classes at the workshop. The Kings had became friends of the Roberts' and donated money to the workshop, which was having trouble financially. The workshop eventually closed, and Walter and Betty divorced. She married Michael Motes and gave birth to their daughter in 1976, and Walter died in 1977.

Later life and death

Betty encouraged her children's acting careers through the 80s and 90s but largely stayed out of the limelight. She divorced her second husband, Michael Motes, and went by her maiden name of Bredemus. Her daughter Nancy Motes died on February 9, 2014 at age 37.

Betty Lou Bredemus died on February 19, 2015, in Los Angeles after a battle with lung cancer. She was 80 years old.