image of Imogene Coca
Birthday: Nov 18, 1908
Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

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.

Filmography
Movie Cast Year
National Lampoon's Vacation Aunt Edna 1983
The Sound of Laughter Miss Klutz (Ballerina) 1963
Under the Yum-Yum Tree Dorkus Murphy 1963
The Little Match Girl Self - Host 1987
Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner Molly - Bag Lady 1981
Rabbit Test Madam Marie 1978
Papa Was a Preacher Missy B 1986
Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes Princess Jane Klockenlocher (voice) 1972
The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies Granny's Maw 1981
Ten from Your Show of Shows 1973
Too Easy to Kill Mrs. Bradshaw 1975
Nothing Lasts Forever Daisy Schackman 1984
Buy & Cell Reggie's Mother 1989
Television: The First Fifty Years Self (archive footage) 1999
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped Self (archive footage) 2018
Dime a Dance Esmeralda 1937
A Special Sesame Street Christmas Self 1978
Promises! Promises! Woman Under Hair Dryer (uncredited) 1963
Hollywood: The Movie Roxy 1996
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years Self 2012
Bashful Ballerina Miss Klutz 1937
Series Cast Year
Trapper John, M.D. 1979
The Colgate Comedy Hour Self 1950
The Brady Bunch 1969
Moonlighting Clara DiPesto 1985
Mama's Family 1983
It's About Time Shad 1966
The Merv Griffin Show Self 1962
Night Gallery Wife (segment "The Merciful") 1970
Bewitched 1964
General Electric Theater Virginia Odell 1953
The Ed Sullivan Show Self 1948
Monsters 1988
The Hollywood Palace Self - Host 1964
The Big Show Self 1980
This Is Your Life Self 1952
Your Show of Shows Self - Regular Performer 1950
The Admiral Broadway Revue 1949
Grindl Grindl 1963
The Steve Allen Show Self - Guest Performer 1956
Buzzy Wuzzy 1948
Alice in Wonderland Cook 1985
The Imogene Coca Show Host 1954
Tony Awards Self - Nominee/Performer 1956
Bobby's World 1990
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Self 1962
The Bob Hope Show Self 1950
Reading Rainbow Herself - Narrator (voice) 1983
The Carol Burnett Show Self - Guest 1967
The Hollywood Palace Self - Sketch Actor 1964
The Mike Douglas Show Self 1961
What's My Line? Self - Mystery Guest 1950
The Danny Kaye Show Self 1963
Love, American Style Doctor's wife 1969
Shirley Temple's Storybook Miss Clavel 1958
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