Kelly Bishop

Carole “Kelly” Bishop (born February 28, 1944) is an American actress, who may be best-known for her role as matriarch Emily Gilmore on the series Gilmore Girls.

Early life

Bishop was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado to Jane Karen Lenore (née Wahtola, of Finnish origin) and Lawrence Boden Bishop.^[1] She grew up in Denver, Colorado, where she trained to be a ballet dancer, attending the American Ballet Theatre School and the San Jose Ballet School.^[2] At eighteen, she headed to New York City and landed her first job dancing in a year-round ballet company at Radio City Music Hall. Bishop continued to dance in Las Vegas, summer stock and on television until she was cast in 1967 in Golden Rainbow, her first Broadway role.

Career

Bishop's big break came when she was cast as the sexy, hard-edged Sheila in the Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Her performance earned her the 1976 Tony Award as "Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical)", as well as the 1976 Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Actress in a Musical". She also acted in the Broadway productions of Six Degrees of Separation, Neil Simon's Proposals, the Tony Award-winning The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Bus Stop. It wasn't long before she was cast opposite Jill Clayburgh in Paul Mazursky's big-screen drama An Unmarried Woman (1978).

In 1986, Bishop was initially cast in a much smaller part in the film Dirty Dancing, but was then called upon to play Mrs. Houseman when Lynne Lipton, the actress assigned the role, fell ill during the first week of shooting. The role was then re-assigned to Bishop. (Some scenes shot with Lipton can be viewed on the 20th anniversary Dirty Dancing 2007 DVD.)

Bishop went on to play "mom" to several high-profile stars in numerous features: Howard Stern's in the Betty Thomas-directed comedy Private Parts (1997), and Tobey Maguire's in Wonder Boys (2000). Her additional feature credits include Ich und Er (USA: Me and Him, 1988), Queens Logic (1991), Café Society (1995), Miami Rhapsody (1995) and Blue Moon (2002). On television, Bishop starred in the Mike Nichols' The Thorns opposite Tony Roberts and Marilyn Cooper. She also played Lisa Ann Walter's mother on My Wildest Dreams. She has guest-starred on Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Murphy Brown.

From 2000 to 2007, Bishop starred in the CW Television Network series Gilmore Girls as the third "girl," Emily Gilmore, the mother of Lorelai and grandmother of Rory, a wealthy matriarch in New England.

Bishop was most recently seen off-Broadway in the play, Becky Shaw at the Second Stage Theatre.

Personal life

Bishop resides in South Orange, New Jersey, where she lives with her husband, TV talk show host Lee Leonard.^[3][4]

References

External links

• Kelly Bishop at Allmovie
• Kelly Bishop at the Internet Broadway Database
• Kelly Bishop at the Internet Movie Database
• Kelly Bishop at TV.com
• Kelly Bishop cast bio on The CW
• Unofficial Kelly Bishop Website