IC
Imogene Coca
Actor
Born November 18, 1908Died June 2, 2001 (92 years)
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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Imogene Coca, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Imogene Coca, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
| 1996 | Hollywood: The Movie · as Roxy |
| 1990 | Bobby's World (TV Series) |
| 1988 | Monsters (TV Series) |
| 1988 | Garfield and Friends (TV Series) · as Esmeralda |
| 1988 | Buy & Cell · as Reggie's Mother |
| 1985 | Papa Was a Preacher · as Missy B |
| 1985 | Alice in Wonderland (1985) (TV Series) · as Cook |
| 1985 | Moonlighting (TV Series) · as Clara Dipesto |
| 1984 | Nothing Lasts Forever · as Daisy Schackman |
| 1983 | National Lampoon's Vacation · as Aunt Edna |
| 1983 | Mama's Family (TV Series) |
| 1981 | Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner · as Molly - Bag Lady |
| 1981 | The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies · as Granny's Maw |
| 1979 | Trapper John, M.D. (TV Series) |
| 1978 | Rabbit Test · as Madam Marie |
| 1977 | Fantasy Island (TV Series) · as Martha Holly |
| 1973 | |
| 1973 | Wide World of Mystery (TV Series) · as Mrs. Bradshaw |
| 1972 | The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes · as Princess Jane Klockenlocher (voice) |
| 1970 | The Tim Conway Comedy Hour (TV Series) · as Various |
| 1969 | Night Gallery (TV Series) · as Wife (segment "the Merciful") |
| 1969 | Love, American Style (TV Series) · as Doctor's Wife |
| 1969 | The Brady Bunch (TV Series) |
| 1968 | One Life to Live (TV Series) · as Gladys Mason (1983-1984) |
| 1966 | It's About Time (TV Series) · as Shad |
| 1964 | Bewitched (TV Series) |
| 1963 | Under the Yum Yum Tree · as Dorkus Murphy |
| 1963 | Grindl (TV Series) · as Grindl |
| 1963 | Promises..... Promises! · as Woman Under Hair Dryer (uncredited) |
| 1958 | The Sid Caesar Show · as Arline Phillips |
| 1958 | Shirley Temple's Storybook (TV Series) · as Miss Clavel |
| 1956 | Playhouse 90 (TV Series) · as Elsa Meredith |
| 1956 | As The World Turns (TV Series) · as Alice Hammond (1983) |
| 1955 | The Jane Wyman Show (TV Series) · as Janet Blaine |
| 1954 | Producers' Showcase (TV Series) · as Effie Floud |
| 1953 | The United States Steel Hour (TV Series) · as Jackie Connors |
| 1953 | General Electric Theater (TV Series) · as Virginia Odell |
| 1941 | They Meet Again · as Lulu Ford |