Imogene Coca
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.
Known For
Credits
- 2018 · Mel Brooks: Unwrapped as Self (archive footage)
- 2012 · In the Beginning: The Caesar Years as Self
- 1999 · Television: The First Fifty Years as Self (archive footage)
- 1996 · Hollywood: The Movie as Roxy
- 1990 · Bobby's World as
- 1989 · Buy & Cell as Reggie's Mother
- 1988 · Monsters as
- 1987 · The Little Match Girl as Self - Host
- 1986 · Papa Was a Preacher as Missy B
- 1985 · Alice in Wonderland as Cook
- 1985 · Moonlighting as Clara DiPesto
- 1984 · Nothing Lasts Forever as Daisy Schackman
- 1983 · National Lampoon's Vacation as Aunt Edna
- 1983 · Reading Rainbow as Herself - Narrator (voice)
- 1983 · Mama's Family as
- 1981 · Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner as Molly - Bag Lady
- 1981 · The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies as Granny's Maw
- 1980 · The Big Show as Self
- 1979 · Trapper John, M.D. as
- 1978 · A Special Sesame Street Christmas as Herself
- 1978 · Rabbit Test as Madam Marie
- 1975 · Too Easy to Kill as Mrs. Bradshaw
- 1973 · Ten from Your Show of Shows as
- 1972 · Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes as Princess Jane Klockenlocher (voice)
- 1970 · Night Gallery as Wife (segment "The Merciful")
- 1969 · The Brady Bunch as
- 1967 · The Carol Burnett Show as Self - Guest
- 1966 · It's About Time as Shad
- 1964 · Bewitched as
- 1964 · The Hollywood Palace as Self - Host
- 1964 · The Hollywood Palace as Self - Sketch Actor
- 1963 · The Sound of Laughter as Miss Klutz (Ballerina)
- 1963 · Under the Yum-Yum Tree as Dorkus Murphy
- 1963 · The Danny Kaye Show as Self
- 1963 · Grindl as Grindl
- 1963 · Promises! Promises! as Woman Under Hair Dryer (uncredited)
- 1962 · The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self
- 1962 · The Merv Griffin Show as Self
- 1961 · The Mike Douglas Show as Self
- 1956 · The Steve Allen Show as Self - Guest Performer
- 1956 · Tony Awards as Self - Nominee/Performer
- 1954 · The Imogene Coca Show as Host
- 1953 · General Electric Theater as Virginia Odell
- 1952 · This Is Your Life as Self
- 1950 · The Colgate Comedy Hour as Self
- 1950 · The Bob Hope Show as Self
- 1950 · Your Show of Shows as Self - Regular Performer
- 1950 · What's My Line? as Self - Mystery Guest
- 1949 · The Admiral Broadway Revue as
- 1948 · Buzzy Wuzzy as
- 1948 · The Ed Sullivan Show as Self
- 1937 · Dime a Dance as Esmeralda
- Future · Shirley Temple’s Storybook: Madeline as
- 1937 · Bashful Ballerina as Miss Klutz