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BIOGRAPHY OF DODY GOODMAN

(b. Oct 28, 1915 Columbus, OH, USA - d. Jun 22, 2008 New Jersey, USA )

Dody Goodman first struck out in show business as a dancer, hoofing it through a series of 1940s Broadway musicals including Viva O'Brien, Something for the Boys, One Touch of Venus, Laffing Room Only and Miss Liberty (all as Dolores Goodman). The 1950s brought her Call Me Madam, Wonderful Town and My Darlin' Aida.. In 1955, she made a splash in Off Broadway's Shoestring Revue with the novelty song called "Someone's Been Sending Me Flowers" by Sheldon Harnick and David Baker.

Her airhead persona, buttressed by curly hair, wide childlike blue eyes and a long, loopy grin, attracted the attention of Jack Paar, then the host of "The Tonight Show." Beginning in 1957, he had Ms. Goodman on the show as a regular several times, in with she essentially played herself. She parlayed a distracted air, and a hesitant, befuddled delivery into laughter and soon became very popular with audiences. Ms. Goodman was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1957 as Best Continued Performance in a Series by a Comedienne. According to accounts, however, her willingness to upstage Paar and ad-lib too freely got her banished from the show soon after.

Ms. Goodman kept up her visibility with appearances on "Toast of the Town," "The Phil Silvers Show" and "The Merv Griffin Show." She headlined the 1960 Off-Broadway revue Parade, which first brought the songs of Jerry Herman to the public's attention. In 1970, she returned to "The Tonight Show," then under the control of Johnny Carson. She infrequently returned to Broadway, appearing in such flops as A Rainy Day in Newark, My Daughter, Your Son and a 1969 revival of The Front Page. She provided support as Mrs. Ella Spofford to Carol Channing's Lorelei Lee in the 1974 musical Lorelei.

Fame and good fortune returned in the late '70s when she took on the role of Martha Shumway in the widely praised, if short-lived, mock soap opera "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," and made a much-commented-upon supporting turn in the film of "Grease." A semi-regular role on "Diff'rent Strokes" followed. She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in an 1984 revival of Ah, Wilderness!. She also spent a great deal of time in productions of Nunsense and its sequels.

Nunsense creator Danny Goggin called Ms. Goodman "totally irreplaceable." He told Playbill.com on June 23, "I first met Dody when she starred in the national tour of Nunsense in 1989. She played Sister Amnesia and toured for two years. Dody and I became fast friends and when she said she'd like to play Mother Superior, we put her in the New York company Off-Broadway. She went on to play Mother Superior in companies all over the country and toured in Nuncrackers, our Christmas musical, at age 85. In a comic scene portraying the Sugar Plum Fairy she was still able to get her leg up over her head! We gave her her own nun's habit, shoes and rosary and was always ready to perform at a moment's notice. Her comedy was unique and her timing was impeccable. And she was the ultimate professional. As I told a friend, she was the only performer I knew who could walk on stage as Mother Superior and say, 'Are you ready to start?,' and have the audience in stitches. She didn't even need a funny line. She was the embodiment of comedy."

source: Playbill Online



Starring Roles

Alvin & the Chipmunks (1983) - Miss Beatrice Miller (1986-1990)
Texas (1980) - Mavis Cobb (1982)
The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979) - Ruby Bell
Forever Fernwood (1977) - Martha Shumway
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976) - Martha Shumway
One Life to Live (1968) - Molly McDermott(1985)
Search for Tomorrow (1951) - Althea Franklin (1968)

Guest Starring Roles

Boston Common - Mrs. Gunderson - I.D. Endow (1997)
Murder, She Wrote - Beverly Overwise - If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly (1987)
Crazy Like A Fox - Unknown - The Duke Is Dead (1986)
Diff'rent Strokes - Aunt Sophia - The Wedding (2) (1984)
St. Elsewhere - Gretchen Parks - Blizzard (1984)
St. Elsewhere - Gretchen Parks - All About Eve (1983)
Just Our Luck - - Uncle Harry (1983)
Diff'rent Strokes - Aunt Sophia - Have I Got a Girl for You (1982)
Diff'rent Strokes - Aunt Sophia - Green Hair (1982)
Diff'rent Strokes - Aunt Sophia - The Car (1982) Part II
Diff'rent Strokes - Aunt Sophia - Fire (1982)
Diff'rent Strokes - Aunt Sophia - Hello, Daddy (1982)
Diff'rent Strokes - Aunt Sophia - The Ancestors (1981)
Diff'rent Strokes - Aunt Sophia - Junk Food Junkie (a.k.a.) Junk Food (1981)
Fantasy Island - Mona Boggs - High Off the Hog / Reprisal (1981)
The Love Boat - Patricia Seldon - Julie's Dilemma/Who's Who?/Rocky (1978)
The Ed Sullivan Show - Guest - Johnny Mathis / Rod Steiger / Henny Youngman (1959)
The Ed Sullivan Show - scheduled guest - scheduled: Itzhak Perlman; Dody Goodman; Jack Carter; Jane Morgan (1959)
The Ed Sullivan Show - Herself - From Alaska: Dody Goodman; Jill Corey; Dick "Lord" Buckley (1958)
The Ed Sullivan Show - scheduled guest - scheduled: William Shatner; Lou Costello; Dody Goodman (1958)

Co Starring Roles

Alvin & the Chipmunks - Miss Miller (telephone only) - Alvin & the Chipmunks Meet the Wolf Man (2000)
Alvin & the Chipmunks - Miss Miller - The Chipmunk Adventure (1987)
The Jack Paar Tonight Show - Regular Performer (1957-1958)

Movie/Mini-Series/Special Roles

Grease 2 (1982) - Blanche
The Chipmunk Adventure (1987) - Rebecca Miller (voice)
Private Resort (1985) - Mrs. Rawlings
Splash (1984) - Allen Bauer's secretary, Mrs. Stimler
Grease (1978) - Blanche

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