Imogene Coca
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Nov 18, 1908
- Died
- Jun 2, 2001 (aged 92)
- Place of birth
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Credits
- 58
Imogene Fernandez de Coca (November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows.
Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wished to have a serious career in music and dance, graduating to decades of stage musical revues, cabaret and summer stock. Finally in her 40s she began a celebrated career as a comedienne in television, starring in six series and guesting on successful television programs from the 1940s to the 1990s.
She was nominated for five Emmy awards for Your Show of Shows, winning Best Actress in 1951 and singled out for a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting in 1953. Coca was also nominated for a Tony Award in 1978 for On the Twentieth Century and received a sixth Emmy nomination at the age of 80 for an episode of Moonlighting.
She possessed a rubbery face capable of the broadest expressions—Life magazine compared her to Beatrice Lillie and Charlie Chaplin, and described her characterizations as taking "people or situations suspended in their own precarious balance between dignity and absurdity, and push(ing) them over the cliff with one single, pointed gesture"—the magazine noted a "particularly high-brow critic" as observing, "The trouble with most comedians who try to do satire is that they are essentially brash, noisy and indelicate people who have to use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly. Miss Coca, on the other hand, is the timid woman who, when aroused, can beat a tiger to death with a feather."
In addition to vaudeville, cabaret, theater and television, she appeared in film, voiced children's cartoons and was even featured in an MTV video by a New Wave band. Though her fame began late, she worked well into her 80s. Twice a widow, Coca died in 2001.
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Known for
Filmography
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
2018Movie
Self (archive footage)
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
2012Movie
Self
Television: The First Fifty Years
1999Movie
Self (archive footage)
Caesar's Writers
1996Movie
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood: The Movie
1996Movie
Roxy
Bobby's World
1990TV
Buy & Cell
1989Movie
Reggie's Mother
Monsters
1988TV
The Old Woman
The Little Match Girl
1987Movie
Self - Host
Papa Was a Preacher
1986Movie
Missy B
Alice in Wonderland
1985TV
Cook
Moonlighting
1985TV
Clara DiPesto
Nothing Lasts Forever
1984Movie
Daisy Schackman
National Lampoon's Vacation
1983Movie
Aunt Edna
Reading Rainbow
1983TV
Self - Narrator (voice)
Mama's Family
1983TV
Freddie the Freeloader's Christmas Dinner
1981Movie
Molly - Bag Lady
The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies
1981Movie
Granny's Maw
The Big Show
1980TV
Self
Trapper John, M.D.
1979TV
A Special Sesame Street Christmas
1978Movie
Self
Rabbit Test
1978Movie
Madam Marie
Too Easy to Kill
1975Movie
Mrs. Bradshaw
Ten from Your Show of Shows
1973Movie
The Emperor's New Clothes
1972Movie
Princess Jane Klockenlocher (voice)
Night Gallery
1970TV
Wife (segment "The Merciful")
Love, American Style
1969TV
Doctor's wife
The Brady Bunch
1969TV
The Carol Burnett Show
1967TV
Self - Guest
It's About Time
1966TV
Shad
Bewitched
1964TV
The Hollywood Palace
1964TV
Self
The Sound of Laughter
1963Movie
Miss Klutz (Ballerina)
Under the Yum Yum Tree
1963Movie
Dorkus Murphy
The Danny Kaye Show
1963TV
Self
Grindl
1963TV
Grindl
Promises! Promises!
1963Movie
Woman Under Hair Dryer (uncredited)
The Merv Griffin Show
1962TV
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962TV
Self
The Mike Douglas Show
1961TV
Self
Shirley Temple's Storybook
1958TV
Miss Clavel
Made in Heaven
1956Movie
Elsa Meredith
The Steve Allen Show
1956TV
Self - Guest Performer
Tony Awards
1956TV
Self - Nominee / Performer
The Imogene Coca Show
1954TV
Host
General Electric Theater
1953TV
Virginia Odell
This Is Your Life
1952TV
Self
Danger
1950TV
The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950TV
Self
The Bob Hope Show
1950TV
Self
Your Show of Shows
1950TV
Self - Regular Performer
What's My Line?
1950TV
Self
The Admiral Broadway Revue
1949TV
Buzzy Wuzzy
1948TV
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948TV
Self
Dime a Dance
1937Movie
Esmeralda
Bashful Ballerina
1937Movie
Miss Klutz
Imogene Coca Screen Test
1936Movie