Swoosie Kurtz
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| Swoosie Kurtz | |||||||||||
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 The Farm Sanctuary Gala, 22 January 2007 |
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| Born | September 6, 1944 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
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Swoosie Kurtz (born September 6, 1944) is an American award-winning actress. She currently stars as Lily Charles in the ABC series Pushing Daisies.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Kurtz was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the only child of author Margo (née Rogers) and Air Force Colonel Frank Kurtz, Jr., a much-decorated WWII American bomber pilot.[1][2] She got her unique first name "Swoosie" (which rhymes with Lucy, rather than woozy) from her father. It is derived from the sole surviving example, at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, of the B-17D Flying Fortress airplane, named "The Swoose" or simply "Swoose" - half swan, half goose - which her father piloted during World War II. Kurtz's first television appearance was on To Tell the Truth at age eighteen, introducing her father and two impostors. As a military brat, Kurtz moved frequently. Kurtz attended the University of Southern California, where she majored in drama. She then attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
[edit] Career
Kurtz first gained attention in the late 70s in Uncommon Women and Others, the breakthrough play by Wendy Wasserstein. Kurtz was soon was awarded Broadway's "triple crown" (the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards) for her portrayal of Gwen in Lanford Wilson's The Fifth of July. She won a second Tony for her performance as Bananas in a 1986 revival of The House of Blue Leaves by John Guare.
In 1978, she was part of the ensemble cast of Mary Tyler Moore's short lived variety series Mary, that also included David Letterman and Michael Keaton. Later, Kurtz had starring roles in the television series Love, Sidney and Sisters. She has also received an Emmy for her guest-starring performance on Carol Burnett's comedy series Carol & Company, playing a woman who attends her 20th high-school reunion and discovers her former sweetheart — a football player — has been through a sex change operation. Recently, Kurtz has had a recurring guest role as Judy Miller's mother on the CBS sitcom Still Standing, John Locke's mother, Emily Annabeth Locke, on Lost, and as Beth Huffstodt's mother on Huff. She stars in the current ABC television series, Pushing Daisies as Lily Charles.
Kurtz frequently received stellar reviews even in less praised projects, and she is widely respected as one of Hollywood's most sought-after supporting actresses, doing a lot of work she would rather not so as to pay the bills and be able to really act in the theatre.[citation needed]
She has never married or had children. During the 80's, Kurtz was mentioned in the press as having had a relationship with Brent Spiner.
[edit] Filmography
- As the World Turns (Unknown episodes, 1971)
- Ah, Wilderness! (1976)
- Kojak (1 episode, 1976)
- Slap Shot (1977)
- First Love (1977)
- Mary (Unknown episodes, 1978)
- Oliver's Story (1978)
- Walking Through the Fire (1979)
- Uncommon Women and Others (1979)
- Marriage Is Alive and Well (1980)
- The Mating Season (1980)
- Fifth of July (1982)
- The World According to Garp (1982)
- Love, Sidney (1 episode, 1983)
- A Caribbean Mystery (1983)
- Against All Odds (1984)
- Guilty Conscience (1985)
- A Time to Live (1985)
- Wildcats (1986)
- True Stories (1986)
- The House of Blue Leaves (1987)
- Trying Times (1 episode, 1987)
- Baja Oklahoma (1988)
- Vice Versa (1988)
- Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
- Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
- Carol & Company (1 episode, 1990)
- The Image (1990)
- Stanley and Iris (1990)
- A Shock to the System (1990)
- Walking the Dog (1991)
- Terror on Track 9 (1991)
- The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993)
- And the Band Played On (1993)
- Reality Bites (1994)
- One Christmas aka Truman Capote's One Christmas (1994)
- Storybook (1995)
- Betrayed: A Story of Three Women (1995)
- The Magic Schoolbus (1 episode, 1995)
- Citizen Ruth (1996)
- A Promise to Carolyn (1996)
- Sisters (1991) (106 episodes, 1991-1996)
- Party Girl (3 episodes, 1996)
- Little Girls in Pretty Boxes (1997)
- Liar Liar (1997)
- Suddenly Susan (3 episodes, 1996-1997)
- Touched by an Angel (1 episode, 1997)
- My Own Country (1998)
- Harvey (1998)
- ER (1 episode, 1998)
- More Tales of the City (1998)
- Outside Ozona (1998)
- Cruel Intentions (1999)
- Love & Money (1999)
- The White River Kid (1999)
- Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes (2000)
- The Outer Limits (1 episode, 2000)
- Get Over It (2001)
- The Fighting Fitzgeralds (1 episode, 2001)
- Bubble Boy (2001)
- The Wilde Girls (2001)
- That's Life (4 episodes, 2000-2001)
- Street Time (1 episode, 2002)
- The Rules of Attraction (2002)
- Duplex (2003)
- True (2005)
- Lost (1 episode, 2005)
- Nadine in Date Land (2005)
- Still Standing (2 episodes, 2005)
- Category 7: The End of the World (2005)
- Huff (8 episodes, 2004-2006)
- American Dad! (1 episode, 2006)
- Pushing Daisies (6 episodes, 2007)
- Superman: Doomsday (2007)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Swoosie Kurtz at the Internet Broadway Database
- Swoosie Kurtz at the Internet Movie Database
- Swoosie Kurtz - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, October 2006
- Leading Ladies Working in the Theatre video from American Theatre Wing, December 2006
- Performance Working in the Theatre video from American Theatre Wing, September 2003
- Performance Working in the Theatre video from American Theatre Wing, April 1999
- Performance Working in the Theatre video from American Theatre Wing, September 1986
- TonyAwards.com Interview with Swoosie Kurtz
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