Belle Dupree
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Belle Dupree was a fictional character in the television series Alice. She was played by actress Diane Ladd who, incidentally, played the character of Flo in the movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, on which the television show was based.
[edit] She "moves like the waves in the Ocean"
Isabelle, nicknamed Belle, was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, which underscored her strong southern accent. It was discovered that Belle was one of Mel Sharples's first waitresses when he started working in restaurants. For a while, he favored Belle. This situation did not endear her to her co-workers Alice Hyatt and Vera Louise Gorman-Novak. Belle, in fact, replaced Mel's sometime girlfriend, Marie Massey. It wasn't until Alice and Vera had a sit- down with Belle that she realized that Mel was as awful as she remembered!
After that, the three waitresses bonded. Belle was always known for her homespun homilies and her way of letting people know what was what. Although she was anything unlike Flo, she was a down-to-earth soul underneath. She even said that she had a little voice in her head which always referred to her as Isabelle, her given name. This little voice often gave her advice.
Belle had a natural tendency to diffuse tension, whenever there was a lot of it. This trait came into play when Mel had a tree over near his property that he wanted to cut down in order to expand his parking lot. This angered the nature loving Vera, and so forced herself to chain herself to said tree. Later on, Alice and Belle joined her, even though Mel called them all traitors. Even the contractors who he hired to cut it down, joined the waitresses in this plight. Mel, by this time was furious. So he went and cut the tree down himself, only to have the tree come crashing down through the roof of the diner, sending him into an absolute fit of rage. "MY DINER!" he wailed.
Belle, however, longed for a music career, and after a year of working with Mel, found her big break and went to Nashville, Tennessee, where, some years later, Alice herself ended up going. She was replaced by former trucker, Jolene Hunnicutt.
