Imogene Coca
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Imogene Coca (born November 18, 1908 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – died June 2, 2001 in Fairfield, Connecticut) born Imogene Fernandez de Coca was an American comic actress. Her parents were veterans of the entertainment industry; her father, José Fernandez de Coca, was a conductor. Her mother, Sadie Brady, 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.
In the early days of live television, she played opposite Sid Caesar in a sketch comedy program, Your Show of Shows which was immensely popular from 1950 to 1954. She also briefly had her own series, The Imogene Coca Show.
Burton died in 1955 and in 1960 Coca married actor King Donovan.
She was nominated for a Tony Award for her final Broadway performance as religious zealot Letitia Primrose in On the Twentieth Century.
Coca starred as a cavewoman with Joe E. Ross in the 1966-67 TV sitcom It's About Time and made memorable guest appearances on the sitcoms Bewitched as "Mary the Tooth Fairy", The Brady Bunch as "Aunt Jenny", and on Mama's Family as Gert in the episode "Gert Rides Again". Her later years were spent in relative solitude with only occasional TV guest appearances on Moonlighting and in small movie roles, including her memorable role as "Aunt Edna" in National Lampoon's Vacation.
Coca died of natural causes incidental to Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 92 in Fairfield, Connecticut.
[edit] Television Work
- Buzzy Wuzzy (1948) (canceled after 4 weeks)
- The Admiral Broadway Revue (1949-1950)
- Your Show of Shows (1950-1954)
- The Imogene Coca Show (1954-1955)
- Sid Caesar Invites You (1958) (U.S. version) (canceled after 5 months)
- Sid Caesar Invites You (1958) (UK version) (canceled after 13 episodes)
- Grindl (1963-1964)
- It's About Time (1966-1967)
- The Emperor's New Clothes (1972)
- Freddy the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner (1981)
- The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies (1981)
- One Life to Live (cast member from 1983-1984)
- As the World Turns (cast member in 1983)
- Alice in Wonderland (1985)
[edit] Filmography
Features:
- They Meet Again (1941)
- Promises! Promises! (1963)
- Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963)
- 10 from Your Show of Shows (1973)
- Rabbit Test (1978)
- National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
- Nothing Lasts Forever (1984)
- Papa Was a Preacher (1985)
- Buy & Cell (1989)
- Hollywood: The Movie (1996)
Short Subjects:
- Bashful Ballerina (1937)
- Dime a Dance (1937)
[edit] External links
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Categories: American actor stubs | 1908 births | 2001 deaths | American comedians | American film actors | American television actors | American stage actors | Deaths from Alzheimer's disease | Emmy Award winners | Irish-American actors | People from Philadelphia | Peabody Award winners | People from Westport, Connecticut | Spanish-American actors | Hollywood Walk of Fame
