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Julie K. Payne
Encyclopedia
Julie K. Payne is an American
television, film and stage actress who, in a career lasting over four decades, has specialized primarily in comedy roles as well as voice acting
. She was a cast member in three short-lived network sitcoms during 1983–86, and appeared in about twenty feature films and over a hundred episodes of TV series as well as providing voices for scores of TV animated shows.
, Julie Payne was born in the small city of Sweet Home
, near the lake and river areas adjoining the Cascade Range
. Growing up in the state's second-largest city, Eugene
, she attended South Eugene High School
where she performed in a number of school productions, including The Music Man
, The Madwoman of Chaillot
, The Lark and Once Upon a Mattress
. Graduating in 1964, she moved to California
, where she attended Santa Clara University
, majoring in drama, and San Francisco State University
, majoring in French
. Leaving without a degree, she traveled to Europe, where she hitchhiked through various locations and, upon returning to San Francisco during the 1967 Haight-Ashbury "Summer of Love
", became a member of the improvisational comedy/satire
group, The Committee
, remaining with it, on and off, until 1974.
During her years with The Committee, she began appearing in films (her on-screen debut occurred as part of the group's performance at the September 1969 Big Sur
Folk Festival, held a month after Woodstock
, and is included in the 1971 concert film, Celebration at Big Sur
). At the start of the 1970s, she was seen in bit parts, without the group, in The Strawberry Statement
and The Candidate
, as well as on television (The Flip Wilson Show
, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
, The Midnight Special
, The Streets of San Francisco
and others). In 1976, two years after leaving The Committee, she and another former member of the group, Ruth Silveira, wrote and starred in People Pie, their two-woman satirical revue which they premiered in Los Angeles
and took on the road, including to Eugene, its initial stop, and her first visit to the city since leaving it in 1964.
' hour-long 1983 humorous fantasy, Wizards and Warriors
, she played good queen Lattinia, one of many characters in a large ensemble cast, but the special-effects-laden expensive series was a Saturday-night ratings failure, lasting only from February 26 to May 14. In 1984, she was Aggie, the mean, nasty business manager who longed to be in charge of The Duck Factory
, NBC
's Jim Carrey
vehicle, which, again, lasted a mere few weeks, from April 12 to July 11. Similarly, CBS
' 1986 sitcom, Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills
, the Steve Martin
-created showcase for Harvey Korman
and Valerie Perrine
, provided her with a showy part as ditzy/nutty maid, Lucille, but it, too, was canceled after running for a few episodes, from April 25 to June 6.
Starting in mid-1980s, television voice work began to occupy a significant amount of Julie Payne's time. She was heard in the animated segments of The Tracey Ullman Show
and provided various voices, primarily those of "Dr. Liz Wilson" and "Lanolin" in a series of specials starring the animated feline, Garfield
, as well as in the later series, Garfield and Friends
. She is also playing the voice of Liz in the new series, "The Garfield Show
". Approaching the fourth decade of her career, she was seen, between 2000 and 2005, in the recurring character of Larry David
's acerbic mother-in-law on his long-running HBO satirical comedy series, Curb Your Enthusiasm
.
and combined her credits with those of an earlier actress, six-years-older Julie Payne, born in Los Angeles in 1940, the daughter of 1930s and 1940s Hollywood stars John Payne
and Anne Shirley. That Julie Payne had appeared in episodes of TV series as well as in films between 1959 and 1967, the year she relinquished her acting career. Ten years later, in 1977, she married Academy Award-winning screenwriter
(for 1974's Chinatown) Robert Towne
, and they became the parents of future actress Katharine Towne
(born 1978). Certain aspects of the two actresses' biographical details have become conflated, including the indication of birth year as 1940 as well as marriage details.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television, film and stage actress who, in a career lasting over four decades, has specialized primarily in comedy roles as well as voice acting
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
. She was a cast member in three short-lived network sitcoms during 1983–86, and appeared in about twenty feature films and over a hundred episodes of TV series as well as providing voices for scores of TV animated shows.
Early years and start of career
A native of OregonOregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Julie Payne was born in the small city of Sweet Home
Sweet Home, Oregon
Sweet Home is a city in Linn County, Oregon, United States. The population was 8,016 at the 2000 census. Sweet Home is sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to the Santiam Playground", due to its proximity to nearby lakes, rivers and the Cascade Mountains....
, near the lake and river areas adjoining the Cascade Range
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
. Growing up in the state's second-largest city, Eugene
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
, she attended South Eugene High School
South Eugene High School
South Eugene High School is a public high school located in Eugene, Oregon, United States.-History:It was founded as Eugene High School around 1900, and was located at Willamette Street and West 11th Avenue in a brick building that later served as Eugene's city hall. In 1915, Eugene High moved to a...
where she performed in a number of school productions, including The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
, The Madwoman of Chaillot
The Madwoman of Chaillot
The Madwoman of Chaillot is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play has two acts and follows the convention of the classical unities...
, The Lark and 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...
. Graduating in 1964, she moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where she attended Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...
, majoring in drama, and San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, majoring in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Leaving without a degree, she traveled to Europe, where she hitchhiked through various locations and, upon returning to San Francisco during the 1967 Haight-Ashbury "Summer of Love
Summer of Love
The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...
", became a member of the improvisational comedy/satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
group, The Committee
The Committee (improv group)
The Committee is a San Francisco based improvisational comedy group founded by Alan Myerson and Jessica Myerson . The Myersons were both alums of The Second City in Chicago. The Committee opened April 10, 1963 at 622 Broadway in a 300 seat Cabaret theater that used to be an indoor bocce ball court...
, remaining with it, on and off, until 1974.
During her years with The Committee, she began appearing in films (her on-screen debut occurred as part of the group's performance at the September 1969 Big Sur
Big Sur
Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the Central Coast of California where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big...
Folk Festival, held a month after Woodstock
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
, and is included in the 1971 concert film, Celebration at Big Sur
Celebration at Big Sur
Celebration at Big Sur is a film of the 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival in Big Sur, California, featuring Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young , Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and others....
). At the start of the 1970s, she was seen in bit parts, without the group, in The Strawberry Statement
The Strawberry Statement (film)
The Strawberry Statement is a 1970 cult film about the counterculture and student revolts of the 1960s, loosely based on the non-fiction book by James Simon Kunen about the Columbia University protests of 1968.-Cast:* Bruce Davison: Simon...
and The Candidate
The Candidate (1972 film)
The Candidate is a 1972 American film starring Robert Redford. Its themes include how the political machine corrupts. There are many parallels between the then-recent 1970 California Senate election between John V. Tunney and George Murphy; however, Redford's character Bill McKay is a political...
, as well as on television (The Flip Wilson Show
The Flip Wilson Show
The Flip Wilson Show is a variety show that aired in the U.S. on NBC from September 17, 1970 to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs starring a black person in the title role to become highly successful with a...
, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
, The Midnight Special
The Midnight Special (TV series)
The Midnight Special is an American musical variety series that aired on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981...
, The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
and others). In 1976, two years after leaving The Committee, she and another former member of the group, Ruth Silveira, wrote and starred in People Pie, their two-woman satirical revue which they premiered in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and took on the road, including to Eugene, its initial stop, and her first visit to the city since leaving it in 1964.
As comedy actress and voice performer
In succeeding years, Julie Payne continued to write, act and accept an ever-increasing number of voice assignments. Between February 1983 and June 1986, she was a regular in three network series, but each lasted less than three months. In CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' hour-long 1983 humorous fantasy, Wizards and Warriors
Wizards and Warriors (TV series)
Wizards and Warriors was a CBS television series from 1983, starring Jeff Conaway, Julia Duffy, Walter Olkewicz, Duncan Regehr, and Clive Revill. Only eight one hour episodes were made of this offbeat fantasy-comedy. The series was created by Don Reo for Warner Bros. Television and most of the...
, she played good queen Lattinia, one of many characters in a large ensemble cast, but the special-effects-laden expensive series was a Saturday-night ratings failure, lasting only from February 26 to May 14. In 1984, she was Aggie, the mean, nasty business manager who longed to be in charge of The Duck Factory
The Duck Factory
The Duck Factory is a 1984 NBC television series produced by MTM Enterprises that is perhaps most notable for being Jim Carrey's first lead role in a Hollywood production....
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
vehicle, which, again, lasted a mere few weeks, from April 12 to July 11. Similarly, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' 1986 sitcom, Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills
Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills
Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills was a 1986 situation comedy broadcast in the United States by CBS starring Harvey Korman and Valerie Perrine and their lovable monkey Bernard...
, the Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
-created showcase for Harvey Korman
Harvey Korman
Harvey Herschel Korman was an American comedic actor who performed in television and movie productions beginning in 1960...
and Valerie Perrine
Valerie Perrine
- Life and career :Perrine was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of Winifred , a dancer who appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities, and Kenneth Perrine, a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. Owing to her father's career, Perrine lived in many locations as the family moved to different...
, provided her with a showy part as ditzy/nutty maid, Lucille, but it, too, was canceled after running for a few episodes, from April 25 to June 6.
Starting in mid-1980s, television voice work began to occupy a significant amount of Julie Payne's time. She was heard in the animated segments of The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
and provided various voices, primarily those of "Dr. Liz Wilson" and "Lanolin" in a series of specials starring the animated feline, Garfield
Garfield (character)
Garfield is a fictional character and the title protagonist from the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis.-Personality:Garfield is an anthropomorphic ginger cat. He loves eating , and sleeping. He is teased about being overweight. He is also selfish...
, as well as in the later series, 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...
. She is also playing the voice of Liz in the new series, "The Garfield Show
The Garfield Show
The Garfield Show is a CGI animated television series that premiered in France on France 3 on December 22, 2008. English-language episodes started airing on Boomerang UK on May 5, 2009. It premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on November 2, 2009 at 3:00pm...
". Approaching the fourth decade of her career, she was seen, between 2000 and 2005, in the recurring character of Larry David
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
's acerbic mother-in-law on his long-running HBO satirical comedy series, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
.
Credits and other data confused with those of same-named actress
Some references listing Julie Payne have given her place of birth as Terre Haute, IndianaTerre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
and combined her credits with those of an earlier actress, six-years-older Julie Payne, born in Los Angeles in 1940, the daughter of 1930s and 1940s Hollywood stars John Payne
John Payne (actor)
John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia...
and Anne Shirley. That Julie Payne had appeared in episodes of TV series as well as in films between 1959 and 1967, the year she relinquished her acting career. Ten years later, in 1977, she married Academy Award-winning screenwriter
Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...
(for 1974's Chinatown) Robert Towne
Robert Towne
Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. His most notable work may be his Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown .-Film:...
, and they became the parents of future actress Katharine Towne
Katharine Towne
Katharine Payne Towne is an American actress.Towne was born in Hollywood, California, the daughter of actress Julie Payne and Robert Towne, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, director, and actor....
(born 1978). Certain aspects of the two actresses' biographical details have become conflated, including the indication of birth year as 1940 as well as marriage details.