Imogene Coca
Encyclopedia
Imogene Fernandez de Coca (November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar
on Your Show of Shows
.
Starting out in vaudeville
as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wished to have a serious career in music and dance, graduating to decades of stage musical revues, cabaret and summer stock. Finally in her 40s she began a celebrated career as a comedienne in television, starring in six series and guesting on successful television programs from the 1940s to the 1990s.
She was nominated for five Emmy awards for Your Show of Shows, winning Best Actress in 1951 and singled out for a Peabody Award
for excellence in broadcasting in 1953. Coca was also nominated for a Tony Award
in 1978 for On the Twentieth Century
and received a sixth Emmy nomination at the age of 80 for an episode of Moonlighting
.
She possessed a rubbery face capable of the broadest expressions—Life magazine compared her to Beatrice Lillie
and Charlie Chaplin
, and described her characterizations as taking "people or situations suspended in their own precarious balance between dignity and absurdity, and push(ing) them over the cliff with one single, pointed gesture"—the magazine noted a "particularly high-brow critic" as observing, "The trouble with most comedians who try to do satire is that they are essentially brash, noisy and indelicate people who have to use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly. Miss Coca, on the other hand, is the timid woman who, when aroused, can beat a tiger to death with a feather."
In addition to vaudeville, cabaret, theater and television, she appeared in film, voiced children's cartoons and was even featured in an MTV
video by a New Wave
band. Though her fame began late, she worked well into her 80s. Twice a widow, Coca died in 2001.
, Pennsylvania
, Coca's parents were veterans of the entertainment industry; her father, José Fernandez de Coca, was a well-known violinist and vaudeville orchestra conductor, and her mother, Sadie Brady, was a dancer and magician's assistant.
Coca took lessons in piano, dance, and voice as a child and while still a teenager moved from Philadelphia to New York City
to become a dancer. She got her first job in the chorus of the Broadway
musical When You Smile, and became a headliner in Manhattan nightclubs with music arranged by her first husband, Robert Burton. She gained prominence when she began to combine music with comedy; her first critical success was in New Faces of 1934.
on The Admiral Broadway Revue
(January to June 1949), and then in the sketch comedy program Your Show of Shows
, which was immensely popular from 1950 to 1954, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series in 1952 and 1953. The 90-minute show was aired live on NBC every Saturday night in prime time. She won the second-ever Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series
in 1951 and was nominated for four other Emmys for her work in the show. She was also singled out to win a 1953 Peabody award
for excellence in broadcasting. Writers for the show included Mel Brooks
, Neil Simon
and Woody Allen
. Her success in that program earned her her own series, The Imogene Coca Show, which ran from 1954 to 1955.
Prior to working with Caesar she had starred in an early ABC series, Buzzy Wuzzy, which lasted 4 episodes in 1948. She went on to star in two more series. In the 1963–64 TV season, Coca portrayed a comic temporary helper in the NBC sitcom Grindl
, with character actor James Millhollin
as her boss, Anson Foster. It competed with the second half of The Ed Sullivan Show
and lasted only one season. Coca later starred as a cave woman with Joe E. Ross
in the 1966–67 time-travel satire sitcom It's About Time.
She continued to appear on comedy and variety series throughout the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s including several appearances each on The Carol Burnett Show
, The George Gobel Show, The Hollywood Palace
and Ed Sullivan
's Toast of the Town, and Bob Hope
specials. She appeared on other shows and specials by Dean Martin
, Jackie Gleason
, Jerry Lewis
, Dick Clark, Danny Kaye
, and Andy Williams
. The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris Special won a 1967 Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special.
She made memorable guest appearances on sitcoms including two appearances on Bewitched
as Mary the Tooth Fairy, on The Brady Bunch
as Aunt Jenny, and on Mama's Family
as Gert in the episode "Gert Rides Again". Coca appeared with Milton Berle
and Your Show of Shows co-star Howard Morris
in "Curtain Call", a 1983 episode of Fantasy Island
.
Coca appeared in a number of literary adaptations for children. In 1960 she appeared as Miss Clavel in Sol Saks' adaptation of Ludwig Bemelmans
' Madeline
for Shirley Temple's Storybook
. In 1972 she voiced the character of Princess Jane Klockenlocher in a Rankin/Bass
version of Hans Christian Andersen
's The Emperor's New Clothes
. In 1978 she appeared in A Special Sesame Street Christmas
alongside Muppets Big Bird
and Oscar the Grouch
and humans Henry Fonda
, Michael Jackson
and Ethel Merman
. In 1985 she appeared as The Cook in Alice in Wonderland
, an all-star TV miniseries adaptation of the book by Lewis Carroll
. Among her final roles was voicing characters in Garfield and Friends
, based on the Jim Davis
cartoon series (1994).
In 1988 Coca appeared as the mother of Allyce Beasley
's Agnes in the Moonlighting
episode "Los Dos Dipestos", written by David Steinberg
. Coca received her sixth Emmy nomination, as Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series, for the role. The same year she was the female recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy at the second annual American Comedy Awards
, alongside male recipient George Burns
.
Despite her television success, Coca appeared only sporadically in films such as The Incredible Incident at Independence Square filmed in her hometown of Philadelphia and other smaller comic character parts, including 1963's Under the Yum Yum Tree
, Joan Rivers
' Rabbit Test
(1978) and 1980s films Nothing Lasts Forever
, Papa Was a Preacher
and Buy & Cell
. A particularly memorable film role came in 1983 as Aunt Edna in National Lampoon's Vacation
.
After having appeared in several Broadway musical-comedy revues and plays between the 1930s and the 1950s, Coca returned to Broadway
at the age of 70 with a Tony Award
-nominated performance as religious zealot Letitia Primrose in On the Twentieth Century
, a 1978 stage musical adapted from the 1934 film Twentieth Century
. Coca's role — a religious fanatic who plasters decals onto every available surface — was a male in both the film and the original stage production and was rewritten specifically as a vehicle for Coca. She appeared in the Broadway run with Kevin Kline
and Madeline Kahn
, continued with the national tour starring Rock Hudson
and Judy Kaye
and returned for a later tour revival in the mid '80s with Kaye and Frank Gorshin
. She also co-starred with singer Maxine Sullivan
in the musical My Old Friends and touring productions including musicals Once Upon a Mattress
and Bells Are Ringing
and plays including Neil Simon
's The Prisoner of Second Avenue
and Murray Schisgal
's Luv
. Coca rejoined Sid Caesar in 1961-'62, 1977 and 1990-'91 for a traveling stage revue, and made an appearance with Caesar and Howard Morris at Comic Relief VI in 1994.
One of Coca's early stock characters on the Caesar series blended comedy with socially conscious pathos as a bag lady
, and she was frequently asked to reprise the role, including by Carol Burnett
for her 1960s series and by Red Skelton
as love interest to one of his own familiar characters in the 1981 TV special Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner. New Wave
group Ēbn-Ōzn
featured Coca as the title character in the music video
to their song "Bag Lady (I Wonder)", which was a top-40 dance hit in 1984.
In 1995 she was honored with the second annual Women in Film Lucy Award, honoring women's achievement in television and named after Lucille Ball
.
, from 1960 until his death in 1987. On a foggy night in 1973, while driving to their dinner theater performance in Florida, she and Donovan collided with another car. Donovan sustained a slight leg injury, but the rear-view mirror entered Coca's right eye, smashing her cheekbone. Plastic surgery and a cosmetic lens covered her now-blind eye for the rest of her career, which resumed with her long stint in Broadway's On the Twentieth Century
beginning in 1978.
On June 2, 2001, Coca died at her home in Westport, Connecticut
, of natural causes incidental to Alzheimer's Disease
.
Performers citing Coca as an influence include Burnett, Lily Tomlin
, Whoopi Goldberg
and Tracey Ullman
. Your Show of Shows is considered a television classic, and was the basis for a well-received 1982 film, My Favorite Year
, with the character Alice Miller loosely based on Coca. A 1992 musical version of the film—with the Miller character cut in previews due to a perceived similarity with the K. C. Downing character (loosely representing Mel Brooks' then-future wife Anne Bancroft
)—was unsuccessful.
Her Alibi (1989) uncredited in court room
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
on Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows is a live 90-minute variety show that appeared weekly in the United States on NBC , from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
.
Starting out in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wished to have a serious career in music and dance, graduating to decades of stage musical revues, cabaret and summer stock. Finally in her 40s she began a celebrated career as a comedienne in television, starring in six series and guesting on successful television programs from the 1940s to the 1990s.
She was nominated for five Emmy awards for Your Show of Shows, winning Best Actress in 1951 and singled out for a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
for excellence in broadcasting in 1953. Coca was also nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
in 1978 for On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Part operetta, part farce, part screwball comedy, the story involves the behind-the-scenes relationship of a temperamental actress and a director.-Background:Comden and Green based...
and received a sixth Emmy nomination at the age of 80 for an episode of Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
.
She possessed a rubbery face capable of the broadest expressions—Life magazine compared her to Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Gladys "Bea" Lillie was an actress and comedic performer. Following her 1920 marriage to Sir Robert Peel in England, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:...
and Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, and described her characterizations as taking "people or situations suspended in their own precarious balance between dignity and absurdity, and push(ing) them over the cliff with one single, pointed gesture"—the magazine noted a "particularly high-brow critic" as observing, "The trouble with most comedians who try to do satire is that they are essentially brash, noisy and indelicate people who have to use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly. Miss Coca, on the other hand, is the timid woman who, when aroused, can beat a tiger to death with a feather."
In addition to vaudeville, cabaret, theater and television, she appeared in film, voiced children's cartoons and was even featured in an MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
video by a New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band. Though her fame began late, she worked well into her 80s. Twice a widow, Coca died in 2001.
Early life
Born in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Coca's parents were veterans of the entertainment industry; her father, José Fernandez de Coca, was a well-known violinist and vaudeville orchestra conductor, and her mother, Sadie Brady, was a dancer and magician's assistant.
Coca took lessons in piano, dance, and voice as a child and while still a teenager moved from Philadelphia to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to become a dancer. She got her first job in the chorus of the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical When You Smile, and became a headliner in Manhattan nightclubs with music arranged by her first husband, Robert Burton. She gained prominence when she began to combine music with comedy; her first critical success was in New Faces of 1934.
Career
In the early days of live television, she played opposite Sid CaesarSid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
on The Admiral Broadway Revue
The Admiral Broadway Revue
The Admiral Broadway Revue is an American variety show that premiered on January 28, 1949, and was broadcast live simultaneously on both NBC and the now-defunct DuMont network.-Overview:...
(January to June 1949), and then in the sketch comedy program Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows is a live 90-minute variety show that appeared weekly in the United States on NBC , from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
, which was immensely popular from 1950 to 1954, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series in 1952 and 1953. The 90-minute show was aired live on NBC every Saturday night in prime time. She won the second-ever Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series
This is a list of winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. The award was first presented in 1953, but was not awarded again until 1959...
in 1951 and was nominated for four other Emmys for her work in the show. She was also singled out to win a 1953 Peabody award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
for excellence in broadcasting. Writers for the show included Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
, Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
and Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
. Her success in that program earned her her own series, The Imogene Coca Show, which ran from 1954 to 1955.
Prior to working with Caesar she had starred in an early ABC series, Buzzy Wuzzy, which lasted 4 episodes in 1948. She went on to star in two more series. In the 1963–64 TV season, Coca portrayed a comic temporary helper in the NBC sitcom Grindl
Grindl
Grindl is an American situation comedy that began in the fall of 1963 on NBC, originally sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The show, starring Imogene Coca in the title role, lasted for one season.-Synopsis:...
, with character actor James Millhollin
James Millhollin
James A. Millhollin was an American character actor known for his portrayal of nervous, excited, and befuddled men with pop eyes and peculiar mannerisms, usually occupying such positions as hotel clerks, government bureaucrats, military officers, or other authority figures. He portrayed Major...
as her boss, Anson Foster. It competed with the second half of The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
and lasted only one season. Coca later starred as a cave woman with Joe E. Ross
Joe E. Ross
Joe E. Ross was an American actor known for his trademark "Ooh! Ooh!" exclamation, which he used in many of his roles. He starred in such TV sitcoms as The Phil Silvers Show and Car 54, Where Are You?.-Career:...
in the 1966–67 time-travel satire sitcom It's About Time.
She continued to appear on comedy and variety series throughout the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s including several appearances each on The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
, The George Gobel Show, The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. It began as a mid-season replacement for the short-lived Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months...
and Ed Sullivan
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...
's Toast of the Town, and Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
specials. She appeared on other shows and specials by Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
, Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
, Dick Clark, Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
, and Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
. The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris Special won a 1967 Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special.
She made memorable guest appearances on sitcoms including two appearances on Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
as Mary the Tooth Fairy, on The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
as Aunt Jenny, and on Mama's Family
Mama's Family
Mama's Family is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 22, 1983. It was cancelled in May 1984, but NBC would continue to air reruns until September 1985. In September 1986, Mama's Family returned in first-run syndication, where it aired for an additional four seasons,...
as Gert in the episode "Gert Rides Again". Coca appeared with Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
and Your Show of Shows co-star Howard Morris
Howard Morris
Howard Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...
in "Curtain Call", a 1983 episode of Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
.
Coca appeared in a number of literary adaptations for children. In 1960 she appeared as Miss Clavel in Sol Saks' adaptation of Ludwig Bemelmans
Ludwig Bemelmans
Ludwig Bemelmans was an Austrian author, an internationally known gourmet, and a writer and illustrator of children's books. He is most noted today for his Madeline books, six of which were published from 1939-1961...
' Madeline
Madeline
Madeline is a children's book series written by Ludwig Bemelmans, an Austrian author. The books have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning telefilms, television series and a live action feature film...
for Shirley Temple's Storybook
Shirley Temple's Storybook
Shirley Temple's Storybook is an American children's anthology series hosted and narrated by Shirley Temple. The series features adaptations of fairy tales and other family-oriented stories performed by well-known actors, although one episode, an adaptation of The House of the Seven Gables, was...
. In 1972 she voiced the character of Princess Jane Klockenlocher in a Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass
Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
version of Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...
's The Emperor's New Clothes
The Emperor's New Clothes
"The Emperor's New Clothes" is a short tale by Hans Christian Andersen about two weavers who promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent...
. In 1978 she appeared in A Special Sesame Street Christmas
A Special Sesame Street Christmas
A Special Sesame Street Christmas was a low-budget 1978 CBS Christmas special, made the same year as the legendary and still popular Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. The special was first broadcast on Friday, December 8, 1978 at 8 PM ET on CBS, pre-empting Wonder Woman that week.The special features...
alongside Muppets Big Bird
Big Bird
Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
and Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body , has no nose , and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing in life is trash; evidence for this is the song "I Love Trash". A running theme is his compulsive hoarding of seemingly useless items...
and humans Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
and Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
. In 1985 she appeared as The Cook in Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1985 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a two-part film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice books. An Irwin Allen production, it was a special made for television and used a huge all-star cast of notable actors and actresses. The title role was played by 10-year-old Natalie Gregory, who wore a blonde wig for this...
, an all-star TV miniseries adaptation of the book by Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
. Among her final roles was voicing characters in Garfield and Friends
Garfield and Friends
Garfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with...
, based on the Jim Davis
Jim Davis (cartoonist)
James Robert Davis is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the comic strip Garfield, which he signs as Jim Davis. He has also worked on other strips: Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, U.S. Acres and a strip about Mr...
cartoon series (1994).
In 1988 Coca appeared as the mother of Allyce Beasley
Allyce Beasley
Allyce Beasley is an American actress. She is known for her role as rhyming, love-struck receptionist Agnes DiPesto in the television series Moonlighting. For several years , she has been the announcer on Playhouse Disney, a morning lineup of programming for toddlers on The Disney Channel...
's Agnes in the Moonlighting
Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
episode "Los Dos Dipestos", written by David Steinberg
David Steinberg
David Steinberg is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was one of the best-known stand-up comics in the United States...
. Coca received her sixth Emmy nomination, as Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series, for the role. The same year she was the female recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy at the second annual American Comedy Awards
American Comedy Awards
The American Comedy Awards were a group of awards presented annually in the United States from 1987 to 2001 recognizing performances and performers in the field of comedy, with an emphasis on television comedy and comedy films...
, alongside male recipient George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
.
Despite her television success, Coca appeared only sporadically in films such as The Incredible Incident at Independence Square filmed in her hometown of Philadelphia and other smaller comic character parts, including 1963's Under the Yum Yum Tree
Under the Yum Yum Tree
Under the Yum Yum Tree is a 1963 comedy movie that stars Jack Lemmon, Carol Lynley, Paul Lynde, Dean Jones and Edie Adams.This sex comedy was one of the successful small comic movies that Lemmon despised making . It first ran on Broadway in 1960-1961.-Plot:Jack Lemmon stars as the playboy landlord...
, Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
' Rabbit Test
Rabbit test
The rabbit test was an early pregnancy test developed in 1927 by Bernhard Zondek and Selmar Aschheim. The original test actually used mice. The test consisted of injecting the tested woman's urine into a female rabbit, then examining the rabbit's ovaries a few days later, which would change in...
(1978) and 1980s films Nothing Lasts Forever
Nothing Lasts Forever (film)
Nothing Lasts Forever is a 1984 movie starring a number of high profile Hollywood actors. It was directed by Tom Schiller, who had previously worked on Saturday Night Live....
, Papa Was a Preacher
Papa Was a Preacher
Papa Was a Preacher is a book written by Alyene Porter and published in 1944 by Abingdon Press. It was subsequently adapted into a stage play and screenplay .-External links:*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089770/...
and Buy & Cell
Buy & Cell
Buy & Cell is a 1987 comedy film directed by Robert Boris. The original music score was composed by Mark Shreeve.-Plot:Herbie Altman is framed by his business partner and sent to jail where he sets up "Con Inc." an investment company with the help of those around him.-Principal...
. A particularly memorable film role came in 1983 as Aunt Edna in National Lampoon's Vacation
National Lampoon's Vacation
Vacation, sometimes referred as National Lampoon's Vacation, is a 1983 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall...
.
After having appeared in several Broadway musical-comedy revues and plays between the 1930s and the 1950s, Coca returned to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the age of 70 with a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-nominated performance as religious zealot Letitia Primrose in On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Part operetta, part farce, part screwball comedy, the story involves the behind-the-scenes relationship of a temperamental actress and a director.-Background:Comden and Green based...
, a 1978 stage musical adapted from the 1934 film Twentieth Century
Twentieth Century (film)
Twentieth Century is a 1934 American screwball comedy film. Much of the film is set on the 20th Century Limited train as it travels from Chicago to New York. The film was directed by Howard Hawks, stars John Barrymore and Carole Lombard, and features Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns and Edgar Kennedy...
. Coca's role — a religious fanatic who plasters decals onto every available surface — was a male in both the film and the original stage production and was rewritten specifically as a vehicle for Coca. She appeared in the Broadway run with Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
and Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...
, continued with the national tour starring Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
and Judy Kaye
Judy Kaye
Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime and Mamma Mia!-Biography:...
and returned for a later tour revival in the mid '80s with Kaye and Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...
. She also co-starred with singer Maxine Sullivan
Maxine Sullivan
Maxine Sullivan , born Marietta Williams, was an American blues and jazz singer.She was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, and married jazz musician John Kirby in 1938 , and stride pianist Cliff Jackson in 1956...
in the musical My Old Friends and touring productions including musicals Once Upon a Mattress
Once Upon a Mattress
Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...
and Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
and plays including Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's The Prisoner of Second Avenue
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
The Prisoner of Second Avenue is an American black comedy play by Neil Simon, later made into a film released in 1975.The play ran on Broadway from November 1971 until September 1973, with Peter Falk and Lee Grant starring as Mel and Edna Edison, and Vincent Gardenia as Mel's brother Harry. The...
and Murray Schisgal
Murray Schisgal
Murray Schisgal is an American playwright and screenwriter.Native New Yorker Schisgal won his first recognition for the 1963 off-Broadway double-bill The Typists and The Tiger, which won him the Drama Desk Award. His 1965 Broadway debut, Luv, earned him Tony Award nominations for Best Play and...
's Luv
Luv
Luv or LUV may refer to:* An intentional misspelling of love, sometimes used to show an affection that is more endearing than the word love shows.-Entertainment:*LUV , a Korean pop group*Luv', a Dutch pop group...
. Coca rejoined Sid Caesar in 1961-'62, 1977 and 1990-'91 for a traveling stage revue, and made an appearance with Caesar and Howard Morris at Comic Relief VI in 1994.
One of Coca's early stock characters on the Caesar series blended comedy with socially conscious pathos as a bag lady
Bag Lady
"Bag Lady" is the first single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song is about a woman trying to begin anew in a relationship, but who has too much emotional "baggage" and can't get close to people. The message of the song is to "pack light" and have hope for the future...
, and she was frequently asked to reprise the role, including by Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
for her 1960s series and by Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
as love interest to one of his own familiar characters in the 1981 TV special Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner. New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
group Ēbn-Ōzn
Ebn Ozn
Ēbn-Ōzn was a 1980s music duo composed of Ned "EBN" Liben and Robert "OZN" Rosen . The duo is best known for the 1983 hit single, "AEIOU, Sometimes Y."-Career:...
featured Coca as the title character in the music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
to their song "Bag Lady (I Wonder)", which was a top-40 dance hit in 1984.
In 1995 she was honored with the second annual Women in Film Lucy Award, honoring women's achievement in television and named after Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
.
Life and legacy
Coca had no children, but had been married twice; for twenty-one years to Bob Burton, from 1934 until his death in 1955, and later for 27 years to King DonovanKing Donovan
King Donovan was an American film, stage, and television actor, as well as a film and television director.-Film:...
, from 1960 until his death in 1987. On a foggy night in 1973, while driving to their dinner theater performance in Florida, she and Donovan collided with another car. Donovan sustained a slight leg injury, but the rear-view mirror entered Coca's right eye, smashing her cheekbone. Plastic surgery and a cosmetic lens covered her now-blind eye for the rest of her career, which resumed with her long stint in Broadway's On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Part operetta, part farce, part screwball comedy, the story involves the behind-the-scenes relationship of a temperamental actress and a director.-Background:Comden and Green based...
beginning in 1978.
On June 2, 2001, Coca died at her home in Westport, Connecticut
Westport, Connecticut
-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....
, of natural causes incidental to Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
Performers citing Coca as an influence include Burnett, Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
, Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
and Tracey Ullman
Tracey Ullman
Tracey Ullman is a British stage and television actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author ....
. Your Show of Shows is considered a television classic, and was the basis for a well-received 1982 film, My Favorite Year
My Favorite Year
My Favorite Year is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin which tells the story of a young comedy writer. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Lou Jacobi, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell, and Gloria Stuart. O'Toole was...
, with the character Alice Miller loosely based on Coca. A 1992 musical version of the film—with the Miller character cut in previews due to a perceived similarity with the K. C. Downing character (loosely representing Mel Brooks' then-future wife Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
)—was unsuccessful.
Television
- Buzzy Wuzzy (1948) (canceled after 4 weeks)
- The Admiral Broadway RevueThe Admiral Broadway RevueThe Admiral Broadway Revue is an American variety show that premiered on January 28, 1949, and was broadcast live simultaneously on both NBC and the now-defunct DuMont network.-Overview:...
(1949–1950) - Your Show of ShowsYour Show of ShowsYour Show of Shows is a live 90-minute variety show that appeared weekly in the United States on NBC , from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
(139 episodes 1950-1954) - The Imogene Coca ShowThe Imogene Coca ShowThe Imogene Coca Show is a half-hour NBC television series starring Imogene Coca in both situation comedy and variety show formats. The program debuted on October 2, 1954, after the ending of Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, on which Coca had been a popular regular performer.The first two episodes...
(1954–1955) - Playhouse 90Playhouse 90Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
("Made in Heaven" 1956) - General Electric TheaterGeneral Electric TheaterGeneral Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...
("Cab Driver" 1957) - Sid Caesar Invites You (1958, U.S.)
- Sid Caesar Invites You (1958, UK [BBC])
- The George Gobel Show (4 episodes 1959-1960)
- Shirley Temple's StorybookShirley Temple's StorybookShirley Temple's Storybook is an American children's anthology series hosted and narrated by Shirley Temple. The series features adaptations of fairy tales and other family-oriented stories performed by well-known actors, although one episode, an adaptation of The House of the Seven Gables, was...
: MadelineMadelineMadeline is a children's book series written by Ludwig Bemelmans, an Austrian author. The books have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning telefilms, television series and a live action feature film...
" (1960) - GrindlGrindlGrindl is an American situation comedy that began in the fall of 1963 on NBC, originally sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The show, starring Imogene Coca in the title role, lasted for one season.-Synopsis:...
(32 episodes 1963-1964) - It's About Time (18 episodes 1966-1967)
- The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special (1967)
- The Carol Burnett ShowThe Carol Burnett ShowThe Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
(4 episodes 1967-1969) - Love, American StyleLove, American StyleLove, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...
(2 episodes 1970, 1972) - BewitchedBewitchedBewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
(2 episodes 1971) - The Emperor's New ClothesThe Emperor's New Clothes"The Emperor's New Clothes" is a short tale by Hans Christian Andersen about two weavers who promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent...
(1972) - The Brady BunchThe Brady BunchThe Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
(1972) - Trapper John, M.D.Trapper John, M.D.Trapper John, M.D. is an American television medical drama and spin-off of the film MASH, concerning a lovable surgeon who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, California. The show ran on CBS from September 23, 1979, to September 4, 1986....
("Quarantine" 1980) - Freddy the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981)
- The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies (1981)
- Fantasy IslandFantasy IslandFantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
("Curtain Call" 1983) - Mama's FamilyMama's FamilyMama's Family is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 22, 1983. It was cancelled in May 1984, but NBC would continue to air reruns until September 1985. In September 1986, Mama's Family returned in first-run syndication, where it aired for an additional four seasons,...
("Aunt Gert Rides Again" 1983) - One Life to LiveOne Life to LiveOne Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
(cast member from 1983–1984) - As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
(cast member in 1983) - Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland (1985 film)Alice in Wonderland is a two-part film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice books. An Irwin Allen production, it was a special made for television and used a huge all-star cast of notable actors and actresses. The title role was played by 10-year-old Natalie Gregory, who wore a blonde wig for this...
(1985) - MoonlightingMoonlighting (TV series)Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...
("Los Dos Dipestos" 1988) - MonstersMonsters (TV series)Monsters is a syndicated horror anthology series which originally ran from 1988 to 1991 and reran on the Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s. As of 2011, Monsters airs on NBC Universal's horror/suspense-themed cable channel Chiller in sporadic weekday marathons.In a similar vein to Tales from the...
("The Face" 1989) - Garfield and FriendsGarfield and FriendsGarfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with...
(Voice, 14 episodes 1994) - Comic Relief VI (1994)
Film
- Bashful Ballerina (1937)
- Dime a Dance (1937)
- They Meet Again (1941)
- Promises! Promises!Promises! Promises!Promises! Promises! is a 1963 unrated sex comedy film, released after the demise of the Hays code and before the MPAA film rating system became effective, produced by Tommy Noonan . It was the first Hollywood motion picture release of the sound era to feature a mainstream star—Jayne Mansfield—in...
(1963) - Under the Yum Yum TreeUnder the Yum Yum TreeUnder the Yum Yum Tree is a 1963 comedy movie that stars Jack Lemmon, Carol Lynley, Paul Lynde, Dean Jones and Edie Adams.This sex comedy was one of the successful small comic movies that Lemmon despised making . It first ran on Broadway in 1960-1961.-Plot:Jack Lemmon stars as the playboy landlord...
(1963) - 10 from Your Show of Shows (1973)
- Rabbit TestRabbit Test (film)Rabbit Test is a 1978 comedy motion picture about the world's first pregnant man, directed by Joan Rivers and starring Billy Crystal.Its title is derived from the rabbit test previously used to determine pregnancy.-Plot:...
(1978) - National Lampoon's VacationNational Lampoon's VacationVacation, sometimes referred as National Lampoon's Vacation, is a 1983 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall...
(1983) - Nothing Lasts ForeverNothing Lasts Forever (film)Nothing Lasts Forever is a 1984 movie starring a number of high profile Hollywood actors. It was directed by Tom Schiller, who had previously worked on Saturday Night Live....
(1984) - Papa Was a Preacher (1985)
- Buy & CellBuy & CellBuy & Cell is a 1987 comedy film directed by Robert Boris. The original music score was composed by Mark Shreeve.-Plot:Herbie Altman is framed by his business partner and sent to jail where he sets up "Con Inc." an investment company with the help of those around him.-Principal...
(1987) - Hollywood: The Movie (1996)
Her Alibi (1989) uncredited in court room
Broadway
- When You Smile (1925) Imogene
- Garrick Gaieties (1930)
- Shoot the Works (1931)
- Flying Colors (1932-'33) Jo-Jo, Miss Maris
- New Faces of 1934 (1934, with Henry FondaHenry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
) - Fools Rush In (1934-'35)
- New Faces of 1936 (1936)
- Who's Who (1938)
- The Straw Hat Revue (1939, with Danny KayeDanny KayeDanny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
, Jerome RobbinsJerome RobbinsJerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...
) - All In Fun (1940) Dancer, Esther, Mrs. Burton, Nymph, The Derelict
- Concert Varieties (1945)
- Janus (1955-'56) Jessica
- The Girls in 509 (1958-'59) Mimsy
- On The Twentieth CenturyOn the Twentieth CenturyOn the Twentieth Century is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Part operetta, part farce, part screwball comedy, the story involves the behind-the-scenes relationship of a temperamental actress and a director.-Background:Comden and Green based...
(1978-'79) Letitia Primrose
Selected regional theater, national tours
- Bubbling Over (1926)
- Queen HighQueen HighQueen High is the title of an early musical-comedy produced by Paramount Pictures in 1930.Based upon a stage musical by Buddy DeSylva, Lewis Gensler, and Laurence Schwab, the storyline loosely concerns a rivalry between two businessmen that results in a game of poker...
(1928) - Up to the Stars (1935)
- Calling All Men (1937)
- A Night at the Folies Bergere (1940)
- Happy BirthdayHappy Birthday (play)Happy Birthday is a play written by Anita Loos. It opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 31, 1946 and closed on March 13, 1948, after 564 performances. It starred Helen Hayes, for whom it was written. The story involves Addie, a mousy librarian who becomes enamoured of a handsome...
(1948) - Wonderful TownWonderful TownWonderful Town is a musical with a book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein...
(1954) Ruth - The Great Sebastians (1957)
- Once Upon a MattressOnce Upon a MattressOnce Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...
(1960-'61) - A Thurber CarnivalA Thurber CarnivalA Thurber Carnival is a revue by James Thurber, adapted by the author from his stories, cartoons and casuals , nearly all of which originally appeared in The New Yorker. It was directed by Burgess Meredith...
(1961-'62) - Caesar-Coca Revue (1961-'62)
- Bells Are RingingBells Are Ringing (musical)Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
(1962) - LuvLuvLuv or LUV may refer to:* An intentional misspelling of love, sometimes used to show an affection that is more endearing than the word love shows.-Entertainment:*LUV , a Korean pop group*Luv', a Dutch pop group...
(1967) - You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's RunningYou Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's RunningYou Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running is a collection of four unrelated one-act comedy plays by Robert Anderson.In The Shock of Recognition, playwright Jack Barnstable auditions Richard Pawling for a role that requires nudity and discovers the overeager actor is more than willing to...
(1968-'69) - Why I Went Crazy (1969)
- A Girl Could Get Lucky (1970)
- The RivalsThe RivalsThe Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...
(1972) Mrs. Malaprop - The Prisoner of Second AvenueThe Prisoner of Second AvenueThe Prisoner of Second Avenue is an American black comedy play by Neil Simon, later made into a film released in 1975.The play ran on Broadway from November 1971 until September 1973, with Peter Falk and Lee Grant starring as Mel and Edna Edison, and Vincent Gardenia as Mel's brother Harry. The...
(1973-'74, with husband King Donovan) - Makin' Whoopee (1981, with Mamie Van DorenMamie Van DorenMamie Van Doren is an American actress and singer; who rose to popularity as Universal Pictures's version of 20th Century Fox's Marilyn Monroe....
) - The Gin GameThe Gin GameThe Gin Game is a two-person, two-act play by D.L. Coburn that premiered at American Theater Arts in Hollywood in September 1976, directed by Kip Niven. It was Coburn's first play, and the theater's first production.-Plot:...
(1984) - My Old Friends (1985)
- On The Twentieth CenturyOn the Twentieth CenturyOn the Twentieth Century is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Part operetta, part farce, part screwball comedy, the story involves the behind-the-scenes relationship of a temperamental actress and a director.-Background:Comden and Green based...
(1986-'87) Letitia Primrose