Madeline Kahn
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person
Madeline Gail Kahn (née Wolfson; September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an American actress, comedian, and singer. She was known for her comedic roles in films directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Mel Brooks, including What's Up, Doc? (1972), Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World, Part I (1981), and her Academy Award–nominated roles in Paper Moon (1973) and Blazing Saddles (1974).
Kahn made her Broadway debut in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1968, and received Tony Award nominations for the play In the Boom Boom Room in 1974 and for the original production of the musical On the Twentieth Century in 1978. She starred as Madeline Wayne on the short-lived sitcom Oh Madeline (1983–84) and won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1987 for an ABC Afterschool Special. She received a third Tony Award nomination for the revival of the play Born Yesterday in 1989, before winning the 1993 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the comedy The Sisters Rosensweig. Her other film appearances included The Cheap Detective (1978), Yellowbeard (1983), City Heat (1984), Clue (1985), and Nixon (1995).
Early life and education
Kahn was born on September 29, 1942 in Boston, the daughter of Bernard B. Wolfson, a garment manufacturer, and his wife Freda (née Goldberg).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Madison">Template:Cite web</ref> She was raised in a nonobservant Jewish family.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her parents divorced when Kahn was two, and she moved with her mother to New York City. In 1953, Freda married Hiller Kahn, who later adopted Madeline; Freda eventually changed her own name to Paula Kahn.<ref name="Madison" /> Madeline Kahn had two half-siblings: Jeffrey (from her mother's marriage to Kahn) and Robyn (from her father's second marriage).<ref>Biography tvguide.com, accessed February 16, 2015.</ref>
In 1948, Kahn was sent to the progressive Manumit School, a boarding school in Bristol, Pennsylvania. During that time, her mother pursued her acting dream. Kahn soon began acting and performed in a number of school productions.<ref name=master/> In 1960, she graduated from Martin Van Buren High School<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Queens, New York, and then earned a drama scholarship to Hofstra University on Long Island. At Hofstra, she studied drama, music, and speech therapy. Kahn graduated from Hofstra in 1964 with a degree in speech therapy.<ref name=master/> She was a member of a local sorority on campus, Delta Chi Delta. Template:Citation needed She later studied singing in New York City with Beverley Peck Johnson.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Career
When asked on television by Kitty Carlisle and Charles Nelson Reilly how she began the opera aspect of her career, Kahn said:
It's so hard to determine exactly when I began or why, singing. The Muse was definitely not in attendance. I'll tell you exactly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
To earn money while a college student, Kahn was a singing waitress at a Bavarian restaurant named Bavarian Manor, a Hofbrau in New York's Hudson Valley. She also sang musical comedy numbers during shows.<ref name="youtube">Template:YouTube (video clip).</ref>
There was a really important customer there, a big Italian man, who shouted out to me 'Sing Madame Butterfly', and of course he didn't mean the whole opera. He meant that one very popular aria, "Un Bel Di". So, if I was to come back the next summer to earn more money during the next year, I'd better know that aria. You know, and I didn't know anything about it; I just learned that one aria and a few others and then one thing led to another and I studied that, and I discovered that I could sing that, sort of, that way. But my first actual thing that I did was Candide for Leonard Bernstein's 50th birthday at Philharmonic Hall<ref>Online programme Candide November 10, 1968 [1] retrieved 2013-10-17.</ref>—at the time that's what it was called.<ref>audio clip Philharmonic Hall performance, Nov 1968 Template:YouTube retrieved 2013-10-17.</ref> And I don't know if that was an opera, but it was very hard to sing. I actually have done Musetta in La Bohème a long time ago in Washington, DC. I mean, utterly terrifying. I mean, basically I feel as though I was asked to do it and I did it.<ref name="youtube" />
1960s
Kahn began auditioning for professional acting roles shortly after graduating from Hofstra; on the side, she briefly taught public school.<ref name=master/> Just before adopting the professional name Madeline Kahn (Kahn was her stepfather's surname), she made her stage debut as a chorus girl in a revival of Kiss Me, Kate,<ref name=tcm1>"Kahn Milestones" tcm.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref> which led her to join Actors' Equity. Her part in the musical How Now, Dow Jones was written out before the 1967 show reached Broadway.<ref>Mandelbaum, Ken. Not Since Carrie August 15, 1992, Macmillan,Template:ISBN, p. 201.</ref>
In 1968, Kahn performed her first professional lead in a special concert performance of the operetta Candide in honor of Leonard Bernstein's 50th birthday.<ref name="master">"Kahn Biography" masterworksbroadway.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref> She made her Broadway debut in 1968 with Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1968<ref>New Faces Production playbillvault.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref> and also appeared off-Broadway in the musical Promenade.<ref>Promenade Production Template:Webarchive lortel.org, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref>
1970s and 1980s
Kahn appeared in two Broadway musicals in the 1970s: a featured role in Richard Rodgers' 1970 Noah's Ark–themed show Two by Two<ref name=tcm1/> (singing a high C)<ref name=master/> and a lead turn as Lily Garland in 1978's On the Twentieth Century.<ref name=tcm1/> She left (or, reportedly, was fired from) the latter show early in its run, yielding the role to understudy Judy Kaye.<ref>The New York Times, April 25, 1978, p. 46.</ref><ref>Corry, John. "Broadway; Terrence McNally has a comedy about stage due in fall", The New York Times, May 5, 1978, p. C2.</ref> She starred in a 1977 Town Hall semi-staged concert version of She Loves Me (opposite Barry Bostwick and original London cast member Rita Moreno).<ref name=master/><ref>Madison, William V. She Loves Me Madeline Kahn: Being the Music, A Life, (books.google.com), Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2015, Template:ISBN</ref>
Kahn's film debut was in the 1968 short De Düva (The Dove). Her feature debut was as Ryan O'Neal's character's hysterical fiancée in Peter Bogdanovich's screwball comedy What's Up, Doc? (1972) starring Barbra Streisand.<ref>" What's Up, Doc? Production" tcm.com, accessed February 14, 2015.</ref> Her film career continued with Bogdanovich's Paper Moon (1973), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.<ref name=tcm1/>
Kahn was cast in the role of Agnes Gooch in the 1974 film Mame, but star Lucille Ball fired Kahn due to artistic differences. (Several of Ball's biographies say Kahn was eager to be released from the role so that she could join the cast of Blazing Saddles, a film about to go into production. Kahn stated in a 1996 interview with Charlie Rose that she was fired.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) Ball's version was that Kahn had already been offered Blazing Saddles and thus deliberately got herself fired by poorly acting in the first few days of shooting for Mame.<ref>https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-madeline-kahn-1130594.html. Retrieved 4 December 2024.</ref>
A close succession of comedies—Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), and High Anxiety (1977)—were all directed by Mel Brooks,<ref name=tcm1/> who was able to bring out the best of Kahn's comic talents.<ref>"Kahn Biography" tcm.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref> Their last collaboration was 1981's History of the World, Part I. For Blazing Saddles, she was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.<ref name=tcm1/> In the April 2006 issue of Premiere, her performance in Blazing Saddles as Lili von Shtupp was selected as number 74 on its list of the 100 greatest performances of all time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1975, Kahn again teamed with Bogdanovich to co-star with Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd in the musical At Long Last Love. The film was a critical and financial disaster, but Kahn largely escaped blame for the failure. At Long Last Love was one of three films in which Kahn worked alongside the character actress Eileen Brennan, the other two being The Cheap Detective and Clue. In that same year, she again teamed with Gene Wilder, this time for his comedy The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. In 1978, Kahn's comic screen persona reached another peak with her portrayal of Mrs. Montenegro in Neil Simon's The Cheap Detective (1978),<ref name=tcm1/> a spoof of both Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, directed by Robert Moore. That role was followed by a cameo in 1979's The Muppet Movie.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Kahn's roles were primarily comedic rather than dramatic, although the 1970s found her originating roles in two plays that had elements of both: 1973's In the Boom Boom Room on Broadway<ref>In the Boom Boom Room Production playbillvault.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref> and 1977's Marco Polo Sings a Solo off-Broadway.<ref>Marco Polo Sings a Solo Production Template:Webarchive lortel.org, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref>
After her success in Brooks' films, Kahn appeared in a number of films in the 1980s. She played Mrs. White in 1985's Clue,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> First Lady Constance Link in the 1980 spoof First Family, a twin from outer space in the Jerry Lewis sci-fi comedy Slapstick of Another Kind (1982), the love interest of Burt Reynolds in the crime comedy City Heat (1984), and Draggle in the animated film My Little Pony: The Movie (1986). She voiced the character Gussie Mausheimer in the animated film An American Tail. According to animator Don Bluth, she was cast because he was "hoping she would use a voice similar to the one she used as a character in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1983, Kahn starred in her own short-lived TV sitcom, Oh Madeline,<ref name=master/> which ended after one season due to poor ratings. In 1986, she starred in ABC Comedy Factory's pilot of Chameleon, which never aired on the fall schedule.<ref>Terrace, Vincent. Chamelon Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed., McFarland, 2008, Template:ISBN, p. 175.</ref> In 1987, Kahn won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance in the ABC Afterschool Special Wanted: The Perfect Guy.<ref name=master/>
Kahn returned to the stage as Billie Dawn in the 1989 Broadway revival of Born Yesterday, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.<ref>Born Yesterday Production playbillvault.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref>
1990s
Kahn played the mother of Molly Ringwald's character in the 1990 film Betsy's Wedding,<ref>"Betsy's Wedding Cast and Crew" tcm.com, accessed March 28, 2015.</ref> and shortly after she recorded a voice for the animated movie The Magic 7, which, as of 2024, has still not been released.<ref>" The Magic 7 Cast and Crew" tcm.com, accessed March 28, 2015.</ref> In 1994, she portrayed suicide hotline worker Blanche Munchnik in the holiday farce Mixed Nuts. Kahn played the corrupt mayor in a benefit concert performance of Anyone Can Whistle in 1995.<ref>" "Anyone Can Whistle' Concert, 1995" sondheimguide.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref> She appeared in Nixon as Martha Beall Mitchell (1995).<ref>Nixon Cast nytimes.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref>
On stage, Kahn played Dr. Gorgeous in Wendy Wasserstein's 1993 Broadway play The Sisters Rosensweig, a role for which she earned a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.<ref>"Madeline Kahn, Credits and Awards" playbillvault.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref> She was a member of the cast of Cosby (1996–1999) as Pauline, the eccentric friend and neighbor.<ref name="master" />
Kahn participated in a workshop reading of Dear World at the Roundabout Theatre Company in June 1998, reading the part of Gabrielle.<ref>" Dear World Reading" roundabouttheatre.org, accessed February 14, 2015.</ref> She also voiced Gypsy the moth in A Bug's Life (1998).<ref>A Bug's Life Cast nytimes.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref>
Kahn received good reviews for her Chekhovian turn in the 1999 independent movie Judy Berlin, her final film.<ref>Holden, Stephen. Judy Berlin Overview nytimes.com, accessed February 13, 2015.</ref> Before her death, she also voiced Mrs. Shapiro on the first two episodes of Little Bill, the second of which ("Just a Baby" / "The Campout") was dedicated to her memory. Kathy Najimy succeeded her in the role following Kahn's death.
Illness and death
Kahn was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in September 1998. She underwent treatment, continued to work on Cosby, and married John Hansbury in October 1999.<ref>Variety, p. 7, December 6, 1999.</ref> However, the disease spread rapidly, and she died on December 3, 1999, at age 57.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
She was cremated on December 6, at Garden State Crematory in North Bergen, New Jersey.<ref name="Wilson2016">Template:Cite book</ref> A bench dedicated to her memory was erected in Central Park by her husband John and her brother Jeffrey.<ref name="Wilson2016"/> The bench is located near the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir on West 87th Street.<ref name="Wilson2016"/>
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Roles | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | The Dove | Sigrid | Short subject |
| 1972 | What's Up, Doc? | Eunice Burns | |
| 1973 | Paper Moon | Trixie Delight | |
| From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler | Schoolteacher | ||
| 1974 | Blazing Saddles | Lili Von Shtupp | |
| Young Frankenstein | Elizabeth Benning | ||
| 1975 | At Long Last Love | Kitty O'Kelly | |
| The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother | Jenny Hill | ||
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Estie Del Ruth | |
| 1977 | High Anxiety | Victoria Brisbane | |
| 1978 | The Cheap Detective | Mrs. Montenegro | |
| 1979 | The Muppet Movie | El Sleezo Patron | |
| 1980 | Simon | Dr. Cynthia Mallory | |
| Happy Birthday, Gemini | Bunny Weinberger | ||
| Wholly Moses! | The Witch | ||
| First Family | Mrs. Constance Link | ||
| 1981 | History of the World, Part I | Empress Nympho | |
| 1982 | Slapstick of Another Kind | Eliza Swain / Lutetia Swain | |
| 1983 | Yellowbeard | Betty | |
| Scrambled Feet | Madeline | ||
| 1984 | City Heat | Caroline Howley | |
| 1985 | Clue | Mrs. White | |
| 1986 | My Little Pony: The Movie | Draggle | Voice |
| An American Tail | Gussie Mausheimer | ||
| 1990 | Betsy's Wedding | Lola Hopper | |
| 1994 | Mixed Nuts | Mrs. Munchnik | |
| 1995 | Nixon | Martha Mitchell | |
| 1998 | A Bug's Life | Gypsy | Voice |
| 1999 | Judy Berlin | Alice Gold | Final film role |
Television
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Harvey | Nurse Ruth Kelly | TV movie |
| 1973 | Adam's Rib | Doris | 2 episodes |
| 1975 | The Carol Burnett Show | Mavis Danton | Episode: #10.4 |
| 1976–1995 | Saturday Night Live | Host | 3 episodes |
| 1977 | The Muppet Show | Special Guest Star | Episode 209<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> |
| 1978–1997 | Sesame Street | Herself / various | 12 episodes |
| 1981 | Fridays | Host | Episode 35 |
| 1983–1984 | Oh Madeline | Madeline Wayne | 19 episodes; Also creator, producer, and writer |
| 1986 | Comedy Factory CTV | Violet Kinsey | Episode 6: "Chameleon" |
| 1987–1988 | Mr. President | Lois Gullickson | 14 episodes |
| 1988 | Sesame Street, Special | Herself | TV special |
| 1991 | Road to Avonlea | Pigeon Plumtree | Episode: "It's Just a Stage" |
| 1992 | Lucky Luke | Esperanza | Season 1, episode 1<ref>" Lucky Luke Cast" imdb.com, accessed February 14, 2015.</ref> |
| For Richer, for Poorer | Billie | TV movie | |
| 1993 | Monkey House | Grace Anderson | Episode: "More Stately Mansions"<ref>Goudas, John N. A Look Inside Vonnegut's 'Monkey House'" LA Times, February 21, 1993.</ref><ref>Monkey House Cast and Episodes" imdb.com, accessed February 14, 2015.</ref> |
| Dr. Seuss Video Classics: Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book | Narrator | VHS special | |
| 1995 | New York News | Nan Chase | 13 episodes |
| 1996 | Ivana Trump's For Love Alone | Sabrina | TV movie |
| London Suite | Sharon Semple | TV movie<ref>Koehler, Robert. "NBC Puts 'London Suite' Through a 'Seinfeld' Filter" LA Times, September 14, 1996.</ref> | |
| 1996–1999 | Cosby | Pauline Fox | 84 episodes |
| 1999 | Little Bill | Mrs. Shapiro (voice) | Ep: "Just a Baby/The Campout" |
Theater
| Year | Production | Role | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Kiss Me, Kate | Chorister | Concert, Off-Broadway |
| Just for Openers | Performer | Upstairs at the Downstairs, Off-Broadway<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 1966 | Mixed Doubles | ||
| Below the Belt | |||
| 1967 | How Now, Dow Jones | Performer (replacement) | Lunt-Fontaine Theatre, Broadway |
| 1968 | Candide | Cunegonde | New York Concert, Off-Broadway |
| New Faces of 1968 | Performer | Booth Theatre, Broadway | |
| 1969 | Promenade | Servant | Promenade Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1970 | Two by Two | Goldie | Imperial Theatre, Broadway |
| 1973 | In the Boom Boom Room | Chrissy | Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway |
| 1977 | She Loves Me | Amalia Balash | Town Hall Concert |
| 1978 | Marco Polo Sings a Solo | Dianna McBride | The Public Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| On the Twentieth Century | Lily Garland | St. James Theatre, Broadway | |
| 1983 | Blithe Spirit | Madame Arcati | Santa Fe Festival Theater<ref>"Madeline Kahn of Manhattan Is Now on a Santa Fe High and That Town's Blithest Spirit" People Magazine, accessed May 17, 2020.</ref> |
| 1985 | What's Wrong with this Picture? | Shirley | Manhattan Theatre Club, Broadway |
| 1989 | Born Yesterday | Billie Dawn | 46th Street Theatre, Broadway |
| 1992 | Hello, Dolly! | Dolly | Limited Tour<ref>"Hello, Dolly!, Tour" ovrtur.com, accessed February 14, 2015.</ref> |
| Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall | Performer | Concert at Carnegie Hall<ref>"Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" Template:Webarchive sondheimguide.com, accessed February 14, 2015.</ref> | |
| 1993 | The Sisters Rosensweig | Gorgeous Teitelbaum | Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway |
| 1995 | Anyone Can Whistle | Cora | Concert at Carnegie Hall |
| 1998 | Dear World | Gabrielle | Roundabout Theatre Company Workshop<ref>" Dear World 1998 Workshop Cast"
broadwayworld.com, accessed February 14, 2015.</ref> |
Awards and nominations
- Year given is year of ceremony
References
External links
- 1942 births
- 1999 deaths
- 20th-century American actresses
- 20th-century American comedians
- 20th-century American Jews
- 20th-century American singers
- 20th-century American women singers
- Actresses from Boston
- Actresses from New York City
- American film actresses
- Jews from Massachusetts
- Jews from New York (state)
- American musical theatre actresses
- American stage actresses
- American television actresses
- American voice actresses
- American women comedians
- Comedians from Boston
- Comedians from New York City
- Daytime Emmy Award winners
- Deaths from ovarian cancer in New York (state)
- Drama Desk Award winners
- Hofstra University alumni
- Jewish American actresses
- Jewish American comedians
- Jewish women comedians
- Martin Van Buren High School alumni
- Tony Award winners