Georgia Engel
Georgia Engel | |
|---|---|
 A photo of Engel from The Betty White Show, 1977 | |
| Born | Georgia Bright Engel July 28, 1948 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | April 12, 2019 (aged 70) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. |
Resting place | Cape Charles Cemetery, Cape Charles, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | Walter Johnson High School University of Hawaii at Manoa |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1969–2018 |
| Known for | |
Georgia Bright Engel (July 28, 1948 – April 12, 2019) was an American actress and comedian.
She played Georgette Franklin Baxter in the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1972 to 1977, Pat MacDougall on Everybody Loves Raymond from 2003 to 2005, and Mamie Sue on Hot in Cleveland from 2012 to 2015.[1][2] She was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards and a BAFTA award.
Early life
[edit]Georgia Engel was born on July 28, 1948, in Washington, D.C. She was the daughter of Ruth Caroline (née Hendron) and Benjamin Franklin Engel, who was a vice admiral in the United States Coast Guard.[3][4] Engel attended a school in Kodiak, Alaska, Walter Johnson High School in North Bethesda, Maryland, and the Academy of the Washington Ballet from which she graduated. She earned a theater degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.[1][2]
Career
[edit]
After college, Engel appeared in musical productions with Washington's American Light Opera Company. She moved to New York City in 1969, appearing off-Broadway in Lend an Ear, and for a year as Minnie Fay in the Broadway production of Hello, Dolly!, starting in December 1969.[5] A 1971 off-Broadway production of The House of Blue Leaves eventually played in Los Angeles, where Engel was seen by Mary Tyler Moore and her husband, producer Grant Tinker, her soon-to-be employers.[1][6]
Engel portrayed the character Georgette on The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1972 until the sitcom ended in 1977.[7] The role won her two Emmy nominations. After that sitcom ended, she teamed up with former Mary Tyler Moore Show co-star Betty White for The Betty White Show during its only (1977–78) season. She later co-starred on two short-lived 1980s sitcoms, Goodtime Girls as Loretta Smoot,[8] and in Jennifer Slept Here featuring Ann Jillian.[9]
Engel had a recurring role on Coach as Shirley Burleigh, and starred as the voice of Love-a-Lot Bear in The Care Bears Movie (1985). She played a good witch in a 2007 recurring role[10][11] of Esmeralda[12] on the now-defunct NBC soap opera Passions.[13] Engel received consecutive Emmy Award nominations as outstanding guest actress in a comedy series in 2003, 2004, and 2005 for her role on Everybody Loves Raymond as Robert Barone's mother-in-law, Pat MacDougall.[14]
Engel made her "big screen" debut in Miloš Forman's first English-language movie Taking Off (1971),[15] playing "Margot", a performance that earned her a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actress. Her other film appearances include The Outside Man (1973),[16] Papa Was a Preacher (1987),[17] Signs of Life (1989),[18] The Sweetest Thing (2002),[19] and the made-for-TV movies The Day the Women Got Even (1980)[20] and