Imogene Coca (born Emogeane 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. In her 40s, she began a celebrated career as a comedian on television, starring in six series and guest-starring 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.[1]
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."[2] Aside from vaudeville, cabaret, film, theater, and television, she voiced children's cartoons and was even featured in the 1984 MTV music video "Bag Lady" by the band EBN-OZN, ultimately working well into her 80s. In a 1999 interview, Robert Ozn said that during the shoot, she was required to sit on the sidewalk in snow for hours during a blizzard with 15-degree (F) temperatures. "While the rest of us 20-somethings were moaning about the weather, warming ourselves by a heater, this little 75-year-old lady never once complained — put us all to shame. She was the most professional artist I've ever worked with."[3]
^Cite error: The named reference imdbprofile was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Havemann, Ernest (February 5, 1951). "Girl with a Rubber Face". Life Magazine. 30 (6): 53+.
ImogeneCoca (born Emogeane Coca; November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on Your Show...
wife ImogeneCoca and two more the next year. Previously married and the father of three children, Donovan married actress/ comedian ImogeneCoca on October...
from February 25, 1950, through June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and ImogeneCoca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Bill Hayes...
newcomers Werner Klemperer as C.D. Medford, Ray Young as Jethro Bodine and ImogeneCoca as Granny's 100-year-old mother; original cast members Irene Ryan (Granny)...
the position of Director. Dody Goodman played Winnifred at first, then ImogeneCoca picked up the role. Carol Arthur understudied them both, and played the...
starring Jack Lemmon, Carol Lynley, Dean Jones, and Edie Adams, with ImogeneCoca, Paul Lynde, and Robert Lansing in supporting roles. The film received...
by Procter & Gamble. The show, starring ImogeneCoca in the title role, lasted for one season. Grindl (Coca) worked for Foster's Temporary Employment...
Mirada and Long Beach. She also worked alongside Sid Caesar "as his new ImogeneCoca" at the Rainbow Grill in New York City. In the 1960s and early 1970s...
NBC, which led to Caesar's first series, Admiral Broadway Revue with ImogeneCoca. The Friday show was simultaneously broadcast on NBC and the DuMont network...
is based on Brooks. Your Show of Shows ended in 1954 when performer ImogeneCoca left to host her own show. Caesar then created Caesar's Hour with most...
Fuller, the cast starred John Cullum and Madeline Kahn, and featured ImogeneCoca and Kevin Kline. The show won Tony Awards for best score and best book...
died in 1980. The script acknowledged Granny's passing, but featured ImogeneCoca as Granny's mother. Max Baer decided against reprising the role that...
Vanity Fair, Nichols and May said their comic heroes were Sid Caesar, ImogeneCoca, Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl. In Vanity Fair, Woody Allen declared, "Individually...
producer he has worked with Julie Andrews, Mel Tormé, Sid Caesar and ImogeneCoca. Johnny Baseball (2010 musical) (American Repertory Theater) The Dinosaur...
a young actress and dancer, Yvonne Othon appeared in shows starring ImogeneCoca and Carol Burnett. While she was studying in London, Othon appeared in...
Starring Johnny Carson Guest / Himself 19 episodes 1967 The Sid Caesar, ImogeneCoca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special Himself TV special 1968–78 The Hollywood...
Woodstock, Illinois, with Paul Newman, and then summer stock in Chicago with ImogeneCoca. Having saved $400, she told her parents she was changing her name to...
Cake) Roy Clark (Barn Dance) Kevin Clash (Elmo from Sesame Street) ImogeneCoca (Imogene's Antlers) James Coco (Perfect the Pig) Tim Conway (The Secret Shortcut)...
variety program Your Show of Shows which starred comedians Sid Caesar and ImogeneCoca. He also helped handle talent for the show's producer, Max Liebman. In...
Sérgio Mendes Polly Bergen Rudy Schweitzer The Solokhins Sid Caesar and ImogeneCoca (guest hosts) Bee Gees Lou Rawls Jane Morgan Chita Rivera Gelina Adaskina...
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