Vicki Lawrence, born March 26, 1949 in Inglewood, California, is a singer, dancer, and comedian who appeared on the Carol Burnett Show. She also starred in the spin-off series Mama's Family.
In 1973, she released an album which spawned the #1 hit song, The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia. She hosted the talk show Vicki! from 1992-1994.
She won a Primetime Emmy in 1976 for Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Variety or Music for her work on the Carol Burnett Show.
Valerie Perinne, voluptuous actress born September 3, 1943 in Galveston, Texas, passed away from Parkinson's disease in Los Angeles. Her first film was Slaughterhouse-Five in 1972. It was her performance in Lenny that gained her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
She portrayed Lex Luthor's moll Miss Eve Tessmacher in Superman I and Superman II. She had the lead role in Can't Stop the Music with the Village People, which was a spectacular failure at the box office.
She continued acting until her retirement 2016, a year after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015.
Phyllis Coates, born January 15, 1927 in Wichita Falls, Texas, had a movie career that spanned many decades, but she is best known for her role as Lois Lane in the Adventures of Superman. She appeared in 24 episodes from 1952-1953, after which she was replaced by Noel Neill.
Prior to Superman, Coates appeared along side Neill in the Cold War movie Invasion, U.S.A., in which they play ticket agents for an airline.
Her last appearance was in 1996 in Hollywood: The Movie. She passed away in October 2023 at 96 in Los Angeles.
I first fell in love with Sheila McCarthy, born January 1, 1956 in Toronto, Canada, when I saw her brief appearance in Day After Tomorrow. Later I saw her in Little Mosque on the Prairie and became a fan.
She has won numerous awards and nominated for many more. I looked at her filmography and she's appeared in film I've seen but don't remember her performance. I'll just have to back and rewatch those.
She voiced the part of Amelia Voght in the 1995 X-Men animated series. She's appeared in Star Trek: Discovery and The Murdoch Mysteries.
Katy Jurado, born Maria Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado Garcia January, 16, 1924 in Mexico City, is the first Latin American actress to win a Golden Globe for her work in High Noon in 1952. She is the first Latin American actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Broken Lance in 1954.
She began her film career in 1943 appearing in the Mexican film No mataras. She appeared in 16 more films over the next seven years in what has been named the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.
Jurado made her American cinema debut in Bullfighter and the Lady. Although she was not interested in appearing in American films, she worked on numerous American western films. She appeared in High Noon with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. She starred in Arrowhead with Charlton Heston and Jack Palance.
Jurado was married to Ernest Borgnine for four years, and had a romantic relationship with Western novelist Louis L'Amour.
She continued acting until 2002 when she appeared in her final film Un secreto de Esperanza, which was released after her death from kidney failure and pulmonary disease in July 2002.
Dame Maggie Smith, one of the most accomplished actresses of all time, passed away yesterday from undisclosed causes. She began her acting career at 17 as Viola in Twelfth Night at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952. She made her television debut in Oxford Accents in 1954. Smith made her Broadway debut playing in the New Faces of '56 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre from June to December 1956. In 1956, she appeared in her firsts film in an uncredited role in Child in the House.
Dame Smith won her first Academy Award in 1969 for Best Actress for her performance in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Her second Oscar was in 1978 for Best Supporting Actress for her work in California Suite.
She won four Primetime Emmy Awards, three of them for her role in Downton Abbey. She won a Tony Award in 1990 for her work in Lettice and Lovage. She is one of few performers to win the Triple Crown of Acting: Oscar, Tony, Emmy.
Her final film The Miracle Club was released last year.
This clip from the Carol Burnett Show is one of my favorites to show her comedic talent.
Jennifer Saunders, born July 8, 1958 in Lincolnshire, England, is best known for her comedy duo act with Dawn French (French and Saunders), and for her sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, which was born from a French and Saunders skit.
She wrote every episode of Ab Fab and I think she one of the funniest, most talented comedic writer ever. Absolutely Fabulous won four BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards and nominated for ten more.
She auditioned for the voice of Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid, but Steven Spielberg liked her voice and cast her for the Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2.
One of my favorite actresses of all time, Cloris Leachman, born April 30, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa, has won nine Emmy Awards, including a Daytime Emmy, more than any other performer. She won the title of Miss Chicago 1946 and competed in the Miss America pageant. She appeared in a handful of movies during the 1950s and 1960s, but mainly appeared on television. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Last Picture Show.
Leachman appeared in three Mel Brooks movies: Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, and The History of the World: Part 1. She won her first Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her work in A Brand New Life. She won eight Primetime Emmys, a Daytime Emmy, and a Golden Globe among the many other awards she's received.
She remained acting until her passing in January 2021 from complications from a stroke with COVID-19 as a contributing factor.
Sonequa Martin-Green, born March 21, 1985 in Russellville, Alabama, is currently appearing as Commander Michael Burnham on the series Star Trek: Discovery. She previously appeared in the zombie series The Walking Dead. She has won acting awards for both roles, including two Saturn Awards for her work on Star Trek: Discovery.
Marj Dusay, born February 20, 1936 in Hays, Kansas, had a lengthy career in soap operas or daytime dramas such as All My Children and The Guiding Light, but to us Trekkies, we know here from the infamous Star Trek episode Spock's Brain, widely considered to be the worst of the original series.
In the first episode of the third season, the crew of the Enterprise has to deal with a woman who has abducted Spock's brain for her planet's 'controller'. The woman Kara, played by Dusay, utters the phrase "Brain and brain! What is brain?"
A dubious role to become famous, but it worked for Marj.
She passed away in New York City in 2020 at age 83.
Elizabeth Olsen, born February 16, 1989 in Los Angeles, California, is noted for her roles as Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the 2014 reboot of the Godzilla franchise. She has twin older sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen who were child stars, but even though no longer acting are still busy with many projects such as fashion design.
In 2021, Elizabeth was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her performance in WandaVision.
One of my favorite actresses/comediennes Andrea Martin, born January 15, 1947 in Portland, Maine, has won Primetime Emmys and Tony Awards, and many more nominations for her comedy and acting. She won an Emmy in 1982 and 1983 for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for her work on SCTV, and received 8 more nominations. She has won two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, the first in 1993 for My Favorite Year, and in 2013 for Pippin. She has been nominated for four more Tonys.
She appeared in one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where she appeared as Quark's mom in Family Business.
In this clip, she performs with Carol Burnett in a Star Trek parody. I think she showcases her talent beautifully here.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the shrewish wife with the shrill, cackly voice on the Benny Hill Show was also the flat voice of Mother, the computer in Alien. Helen Horton, born November 21, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, appeared in the Poirot episode One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Superman III, and Miss Marple's At Bertram's Hotel.
Helen passed away in September 2007 in Vero Beach, Florida.
Diedre Hall, born October 31, 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is best known for her work on Days of Our Lives, for which she has won numerous awards. However, I know her best as her role as Electra Woman on the Saturday morning TV show Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, a campy, low-budget superhero show that ran for 16 episodes in late 1976, with Judy Strangis as Dyna Girl. The show has become a cult classic.
She also appeared in an episode of Murder, She Wrote.
Lara Parker, best known for her role as the vengeful witch Angelique in Dark Shadows, passed away October 12 from cancer. Her death was announced by her friend and ex-co-star Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans).
Born October 27, 1938 in Knoxville, Tennessee, she was cast in Dark Shadows in 1967. She appeared as Bruce Banner's wife in the pilot for The Incredible Hulk. She had a cameo in the Johnny Depp movie version of the series, along with Jonathan Frid, Scott, and David Selby.
She also wrote four novels based on the Angelique character, with the most recent being published in 2016.
Irene Ryan, born Jessie Irene Noblitt in El Paso, Texas October 17, 1902, is best know for her role as the feisty mother-in-law to Buddy Ebsen's Jed Clampett in the long-running comedy Beverly Hillbillies. Ryan was only six years older than Ebsen at the time. She was already established as a celebrity for her work in vaudeville, radio, and movies.
In 1963 and 1964, she received two Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead).
When the series ended, Ryan fulfilled her life-long dream of performing on Broadway. She appeared in the musical Pippin, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical).
A month after the ceremony, Ryan passed away from heart disease in April 1973.
Yulia Peresild, born September 5, 1984 in the former Soviet Union, is an actress and astronaut. She went into space aboard Soyuz MS-19, launched October 5, 2021 to the International Space Station. She traveled with her producer/director Klim Shipenko. They stayed aboard the ISS for over 11 days, filming scenes for the Russian movie The Challenge. She had to train to be a cosmonaut in order to do the movie.
She returned to Earth on Soyuz MS-18 October 17, 2021.
Marion Lorne, who played the lovable, bumbling Aunt Clara on television's Bewitched, was born August 12, 1883, in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. She was nominated five times for a Primetime Emmy, twice for her performance in Bewitched, winning once.
She won for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy in 1968, just ten days after she passed away from a heart attack. Elizabeth Montgomery accepted on her behalf, giving a touching acceptance speech.
Anna May Wong, born January 3, 1905 as Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles California, is the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood and the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. She began acting early and her first role (uncredited) was Dinty in 1920. She starred in The Toll of the Sea, a silent movie and one of the first to be filmed in color.
In the late 1920s, she traveled to Europe, becoming frustrated by the stereotypical roles she reluctantly played. In 1935, she was refused for the leading role in the movie adaption of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. She was also refused the role of the Asian blackmailer in W. Somerset Maugham's The Letter, in both the Bette Davis version and the television role in 1956.
She is the first Asian American to appear on US Currency.
She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February 1960. Wong passed away in February 1961 from a heart attack.
Jolene Blalock, born March 5, 1975 in San Diego, California, is best known for her role as T'Pol in the Star Trek series Enterprise. She began her career as a model, but then turned to acting when she began to appear in commercials.
In 2002, she won two Saturn Awards (Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films) for Best Supporting Actress andCinescape Genre Face of the Future Award for her work on Star Trek: Enterprise.
