Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 –
December 3, 1999) was a two-time Academy Award-nominated, four-time Golden Globe-nominated, and
an Emmy Award-winning American
actress, known primarily for her comedic roles. Director Mel
Brooks — who directed her in four films — said of her: "She is one of the most talented people that ever lived. I mean,
either in stand-up comedy, or acting, or whatever you want, you can't beat Madeline Kahn".
Early life
Madeline Kahn was born in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., as Madeline Gail Wolfson to Paula and Bernard Wolfson. Her mother was just 17 when Kahn was
born. Although Kahn's parents were high school sweethearts, they divorced after her father's return from World War II (Kahn was only two years old at the time). After the divorce was finalized, Kahn and her
mother moved to New York City. A few years later, her mother remarried and gave Kahn two
half-siblings (Jeffrey and Robyn).
In 1948, Kahn was sent to a progressive boarding school in Pennsylvania and stayed there until 1952. During that time, her mother
pursued her acting dream. Kahn soon began acting herself and performed in a number of school productions. In 1960, she graduated from the Martin Van Buren High School in Queens, NY, where she
earned a drama scholarship to Hofstra University. At Hofstra, she studied drama,
music, and speech therapy. After changing her major a number of times, Kahn graduated from Hofstra in 1964 with a degree in speech therapy.
Career
Kahn began auditioning for professional acting roles shortly after her graduation from Hofstra; on the side, she briefly
taught public school in Levittown, New York. Just before adopting the professional
name Madeline Kahn (Kahn was her stepfather's last name), she made her stage debut as a chorus girl in a revival of
Kiss Me, Kate, which led her to join the Actors' Equity. Her part in the flop How Now, Dow
Jones was written out before the 1967 show reached Broadway, as was her role
as Miss Whipple in the original production of Promises, Promises. She earned
her first break on Broadway with New Faces of 1968. That same year, she performed her
first professional lead in a special concert performance of the operetta Candide in honor of Leonard Bernstein's 50th birthday.
In 1969, she appeared off-Broadway in the revue Promenade.
She appeared in two Broadway musicals in the 1970s: a featured role in Richard
Rodgers' 1970 Noah's Ark-themed show Two by
Two (her silly waltz "The Golden Ram," capped by a high C, can be heard on the show's cast album) and a leading lady
turn as Lily Garland in 1978's On the Twentieth Century. She left (or
was fired from) the latter show early in its run, yielding the role to her understudy, Judy
Kaye, whose career it launched. She also starred in a 1977 Town Hall revival of She
Loves Me (opposite Barry Bostwick and original London cast member
Rita Moreno).
Kahn's film debut was in the 1968 short . Her feature debut was as
Ryan O'Neal's hysterical fiancé in Peter
Bogdanovich's screwball comedy What's Up, Doc? (1972) starring
Barbra Streisand. Her film career continued with Paper Moon (1973), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Kahn was cast in the role of Agnes
Gooch in the 1974 film Mame, but star Lucille
Ball fired Kahn due to artistic differences. (Note: several of Ball's biographies note that Kahn was eager to be released
from the role so that she could join the cast of Blazing Saddles, a film about to go into production; whether Kahn was
fired or left Mame under mutual agreement is undetermined).
A close succession of Kahn comedies — Blazing Saddles (1974),
Young Frankenstein (1974), and High
Anxiety (1977) — were all directed by Mel Brooks, who many Hollywood observers
claimed was able to bring out the best of Kahn's comic talents. Their last collaboration would be 1981's History of the World, Part I. For Blazing Saddles, she was again nominated for
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In the April 2006 issue of Premiere magazine, her performance as Lili von Shtupp in
Saddles was selected as #31 on its list of the 100 greatest performances of all time. In 1978, Kahn's comic screen persona
reached another peak with Neil Simon's The Cheap
Detective, a spoof of Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon directed by Robert Moore. In the film
she befuddles Peter Falk's gumshoe with an array of fake identities.
Kahn's roles were primarily comedic rather than dramatic, though the 1970s found her originating roles in two plays that had
both elements: 1974's In the Boom Boom Room and 1977's Marco Polo Sings a Solo. After her success in Brooks' films, she played in a number of less successful
films in the 1980s (perhaps most memorably as Mrs. White in the 1985 film Clue). She
also performed in the movie The Adventure of Sherlock
Holmes' Smarter Brother opposite Gene Wilder.
In 1983, she starred in her own short-lived TV sitcom, Oh Madeline, which ended after
only one season due to poor ratings. In 1987, Kahn won a Daytime Emmy award for her
performance in the ABC After school special, 'Wanted: The Perfect Guy'.
Late in her career, Kahn returned to the stage, first in Judy Holliday's role in a 1989
revival of Born Yesterday, then as Dr. Gorgeous in Wendy Wasserstein's 1993 play The Sisters
Rosensweig, a role that gained her a Tony Award. She played Angela Lansbury's role in a concert revival of Anyone Can
Whistle that was released on CD, and also continued to appear in movies, including the holiday farce
Mixed Nuts and a cameo in the 1978 "The Muppet
Movie".
In the early 1990s, Kahn recorded a voice for the animated movie The Magic 7. Her most notable role at that time was her recurring role on the sitcom Cosby as Pauline, the eccentric neighbor. She also voiced Gypsy the moth in A Bug's Life. Kahn received some of the best reviews of her career for her Chekhovian turn in the 1999
independent movie Judy Berlin, her final film.
Illness and death
Kahn was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in early 1999. She underwent treatment and
continued to work, even continuing her role on Cosby. However, the disease progressed
rapidly, and on December 3, 1999, Kahn died.
Theater
Movies
Television
External links
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