Glenn Turnbull

Glenn Turnbull, longtime resident of Newport Beach,

passed away on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. Glenn was

an accomplished actor and dancer and a highly regarded

tennis professional. Tennis and dancing intertwined as dual

paths throughout his life. He worked in Hollywood film and

television for twenty years prior to moving to Orange County.

Glenn’s acting and dancing credits include film, stage, and

television appearances from the 1940s through the 1960s.

His long career in television included roles as actor, dancer

and choreographer in several episodes of the Jack Benny

Show between 1958 and 1964 and on shows such as Red

Skelton and Dick Van Dyke. Glenn taught master classes in

tap dancing at Orange Coast College beginning in the late

1980s and continued working with private students into the

1990s.

Glenn’s introduction to the tennis industry came under

the tutelage of Charlie Eaton at the old Palisades Tennis

Club. From there he went to the Newport Beach Tennis

Club from1964 to 1968, where he served as tennis director.

In 1969 he began as tennis director at the Balboa Bay Club

Racquet Club, where he remained until his retirement in

1988. On the senior tennis circuit he was a ranking player

in the Southern California Tennis Association tournaments

for twenty years. For his many years as an advisor to the Roy

Emerson Adoption Guild Classic of Orange County, Glenn

was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2008.

He served in the Army for two years in World War II in

Asia, Europe and North Africa.

Glenn was born in 1919 in Youngstown, Ohio. He is

survived by his wife Betty, to whom he was married for 66

years; by his daughter Glenda Winterbotham; son Mark;

grandchildren Calvin, Mimi, and Rory Turnbull and Ian

Winterbotham (Bree); and great-granddaughter Shayla

Winterbotham. Memorial services are pending.