Anita Gillette
American actress and singer (born 1936) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American actress and singer (born 1936) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anita Gillette (née Luebben;[3] born August 16, 1936[4]) is an American actress and singer. She has performed numerous roles on Broadway, American television, and in feature films.
Anita Gillette | |
|---|---|
_1_(cropped).jpg) Gillette in 1960 | |
| Born | Anita Luebben August 16, 1936 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. William Gillette (1957–1967) (2 children, divorced) Armand Coullet (1982–1999) (his death)[1][2] |
| Children | 2[citation needed] |
Her Broadway credits include performing in musical productions of Gypsy, Carnival!, Guys and Dolls, They're Playing Our Song, Mr. President, and Cabaret. In 1978, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Neil Simon's Chapter Two.
Raised in suburban Rossville, Gillette graduated from Kenwood High School and went on to study at the Peabody Conservatory[5]
Gillette's first television appearance was on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963. She joined the cast of The Edge of Night in 1967, leaving the next year. Gillette's biggest exposure on a national scale came as a celebrity guest on various New York City-based game shows, mostly those produced by Goodson-Todman and Bob Stewart. She served as a semi-regular on the syndicated What's My Line?, Match Game and the various Pyramid series, among others. She also appeared with Robert Alda as a panelist on Fast Draw.[6]
Gillette's roles in the 1970s included the short-lived series Me and the Chimp with Ted Bessell and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice with a then-unknown Robert Urich and a young Jodie Foster. She also appeared in Norman Lear's All That Glitters (1977), and TV movies such as A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975) and It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977).
The 1980s marked Gillette's transition from Broadway and television into film. Prior to this transition, she had sizeable television roles as Nancy Baxter on the national run of The Baxters, Quincy's second wife Dr. W. Emily Hanover on the last season of Quincy M.E. (having previously portrayed his deceased first wife Helen Quincy in a flashback[7]), and a role on Search for Tomorrow at the end of that series' long run, as well as the David Chase series Almost Grown (1988–1989).
After the end of Search for Tomorrow in late 1986, and appearing with Robert Reed and Bert Convy on Super Password, Gillette transitioned to film with a variety of notable roles such as that of Mona in 1987's Moonstruck. Many of these roles had her as an on-screen mother to characters played by prominent actors; she played Jack Black's mother in Bob Roberts (1992), Mary-Louise Parker's mother in Boys on the Side (1995), Bill Murray's mother in Larger than Life (1996), Jennifer Aniston's mother in She's The One (1996), and the mother of Bobby Cannavale's love interest in The Guru (2002). Her return to television in 2000's short-lived Normal, Ohio had her playing the mother of John Goodman's character (coincidentally with fellow former game show regular Orson Bean as her on-screen husband).
In the 1990s, Gillette starred in two Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, The Summer of Ben Tyler (1996) with James Woods and A Christmas Memory (1997) with Patty Duke. In 2004, Gillette appeared as Miss Mitzi, the lonely alcoholic owner of a struggling dance studio in Shall We Dance?, opposite Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon. She made several appearances as Grandma Betty on Fox's The War at Home (2005–2007); as Lily Flynn, the mother of criminalist Catherine Willows, in four episodes of CSI (2005–2007/2012); and the mother of Liz Lemon in two episodes of 30 Rock (2007/2010). She starred in the 2006 film Hiding Victoria.
Since 2010 she has had several guest-starring roles in such shows as: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2010), Shake it Up (2012), Modern Family (2013), Blue Bloods (2013), Elementary (2015), Public Morals (2015) and Chicago Med (2016).[citation needed] She played Rose Fitzgerald in the 2012 film The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, written, directed by, and starring Edward Burns.
She made her Broadway debut in Gypsy in 1959. Additional Broadway credits include Carnival!, All American, Mr. President, Kelly, Jimmy, Guys and Dolls, Don't Drink the Water, Cabaret, They're Playing Our Song, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Chapter Two, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She received a 1960 Theatre World Award for her performance in Russell Patterson's Sketchbook. On February 17, 2020, Gillette was bestowed Honorary Member of The Lambs, America's oldest professional theatrical association.
In 2012, she was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal Off-Broadway.[8]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Moonstruck | Mona | |
| 1988 | Bum Rap | Drunk woman | |
| 1991 | Undertow | Marlene | |
| 1992 | Bob Roberts | Mrs. Davis | |
| 1995 | Boys on the Side | Elaine | |
| 1996 | Larger than Life | Mom | |
| She's the One | Carol | ||
| 1998 | Charlie Hoboken | Stepmother | |
| 2001 | Dinner and a Movie | Heddie | |
| Early Bird Special | Betty | ||
| 2002 | The Guru | Mrs. McGee | |
| 2004 | Shall We Dance? | Miss Mitzi | |
| 2005 | The Great New Wonderful | Lainie | |
| 2006 | The Last Adam | Betty Adams | |
| Hiding Victoria | Althea Jaffery | ||
| 2012 | The Fitzgerald Family Christmas | Rosie Fitzgerald |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Edge of Night | Franki | — |
| 1961 | Route 66 | Nancy | Episode: "The Thin White Line" |
| 1963 | The Ed Sullivan Show | Singer | 1 episode |
| 1968 | Pinocchio | Blue Fairy | Television film |
| 1970 | George M! | Ethel Levey | |
| 1971–1974 | Love, American Style | Pat O'Brien | 4 episodes |
| 1972 | Me and the Chimp | Liz Reynolds | 13 episodes |
| 1973 | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice | Alice Henderson | 12 episodes |
| 1975 | A Matter of Wife... and Death | Helen Baker | Television film |
| 1977 | All That Glitters | Nancy Langston | 2 episodes |
| It Happened at Lakewood Manor | Peggy Kenter | Television film | |
| 1979 | Trapper John, M.D. | Teresa Duvall | Episode: "Taxi in the Rain" |
| 1979–1983 | Quincy, M.E. | Dr. Emily Hanover / Helen Quincy | 17 episodes |
| 1980 | Marathon | Anita | Television film |
| 1982 | Another World | Loretta Shea | Episode #1.4498 |
| 1985 | Brass | Sister Mary Elizabeth | Television film |
| 1986 | St. Elsewhere | Maureen Westphall | Episode: "Time Heals: Part 1" |
| Search for Tomorrow | Wilma Holliday | Episode: "Finale" | |
| You Again? | Sue | Episode: "Henry the Kissinger" | |
| 1987 | Brothers | Flo Waters | Episode: "Love and Learn" |
| 1988–1989 | Almost Grown | Vi Long | 13 episodes |
| 1992 | All My Children | Dee Dee Dunstin | 3 episodes |
| 1994 | Mad About You | Claire Wicker | Episode: "When I'm Sixty-Four" |
| 1996 | Law & Order | Cookie Costello | Episode: "Remand" |
| ABC Afterschool Special | Aunt Rita | Episode: "Through Thick & Thin" | |
| The Summer of Ben Tyler | Suellen | Television film | |
| Jules | Herky | ||
| 1997 | A Christmas Memory | Callie | |
| 2000 | Frasier | Mrs. Wojadubakowski | Episode: "Whine Club" |
| Sex and the City | Mrs. Adams | Episode: "Hot Child in the City" | |
| Normal, Ohio | Joan Gamble | 12 episodes | |
| 2001 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Loretta Marlon | Episode: "Poison" |
| 2003 | Queens Supreme | Mrs. DeSipio | Episode: "Case by Case" |
| 2005–2007 | The War at Home | Betty | 5 episodes |
| 2005–2010 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Lily Flynn | 4 episodes |
| 2007 | Women's Murder Club | Winnie Spencer | Episode: "Grannies, Guns and Love Mints" |
| 2007, 2010 | 30 Rock | Margaret Lemon | 2 episodes |
| 2009 | Cold Case | Grace Stearns '09 | Episode: "The Crossing" |
| 2010 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Judge Sheila Tripler | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | Shake It Up | Edie Wilde | Episode: "Rock and Roll It Up" |
| 2013 | Modern Family | Annie | Episode: "Goodnight Gracie" |
| Blue Bloods | Colleen McGuire | Episode: "Bad Blood" | |
| 2015 | Elementary | Claire Renziger | Episode: "A Stitch in Time" |
| Public Morals | Eileen | 2 episodes | |
| 2016 | Chicago Med | Ruth | Episode: "Extreme Measures" |
| 2018–2019 | After Forever | Frannie | 7 episodes |
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