Finally, Lucy gained a new best friend, Mary Jane Lewis (Mary Jane Croft). Croft had prior experience performing with Ball and was the wife of former executive producer Elliott Lewis. In 1954, she made her first appearance on "I Love Lucy" playing Cynthia Harcourt, a rich, haughty friend of Lucy Ricardo in the episode "Lucy Is Envious". In 1956, she returned to the series playing Evelyn Bigsby, a bewildered traveler seated next to Lucy on an airplane in the fifth season finale, "Return Home from Europe". During the 1950s, Croft also had occasional roles on "I Married Joan" and "Our Miss Brooks". She was also the voice of Cleo, the basset hound in the sitcom "The People's Choice". In 1957, Croft joined the cast of "I Love Lucy" during its final season playing Lucy Ricardo's new friend and neighbor Betty Ramsey for the program's last thirteen episodes. Croft then portrayed Lucy Carmichael's friend Audrey Simmons during the 1962–64 episodes of "The Lucy Show". In the third season, with the departure of Elliott Lewis as executive producer, Croft had also left the series, although her character of Audrey was still referred to in a few episodes but never seen. At this time, Croft had also been a regular for ten years on the long-running ABC-TV sitcom "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet", which was in its final year of production in 1965. In returning to "The Lucy Show" in the fall of 1965 as a new character, Croft was clearly replacing Vivian Vance as Lucy's pal and co-conspirator; she did not, however, get co-star billing – like Roy Roberts, who played Mooney's boss at the bank, Mr. Cheever, she received featured billing despite playing a regular character.