Alice Playten
Encyclopedia
Alice Playten was an American
actress and singer.
, Playten began her career in the Broadway
musical
Gypsy
(1959). Her other Broadway credits included Oliver!
, Henry, Sweet Henry
, Hello, Dolly!
, Rumors
, Seussical
, and Caroline, or Change
.
Her many off-Broadway
credits include Promenade
, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac
, Up from Paradise
, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You
, Spoils of War
, Four Short Operas, First Lady Suite
, A Flea in Her Ear
, National Lampoon's Lemmings
and Shlemiel the First.
Playten's screen credits include Ladybug Ladybug
, I.Q.
, and Legend
. She wore heavy makeup and prosthetics in Legend
to portray the character of 'Blixx', a major minion of the Lord of Darkness; she also dubbed the voice of Gump. She did voice work in several animated features, including Felix the Cat
, Really Rosie
, Heavy Metal
, Doug
, Doug's 1st Movie
and My Little Pony: The Movie
.
She was a regular on the children's television
series The Lost Saucer
and That's Cat
, appeared in National Lampoon's Disco Beaver from Outer Space
during the early days of HBO, and had guest shots on Frasier
, Law & Order
, Third Watch
, and As the World Turns
, among others.
She performed a romantic dialog with Rupert Holmes
in his song "Our National Pastime" on his 1974 debut album Widescreen.
Playten may have been best-known for her role of the newlywed who makes a gigantic dumpling as the first meal she cooks for her husband (Terry Kiser
) in a classic 1970 Alka-Seltzer
commercial.
in Manhattan from heart failure after a lifetime of juvenile diabetes, complicated by pancreatic cancer
. She was 63 years old.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress and singer.
Life and career
Born Alice Plotkin in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Playten began her career in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Gypsy
Gypsy: A Musical Fable
Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business...
(1959). Her other Broadway credits included Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
, Henry, Sweet Henry
Henry, Sweet Henry
Henry, Sweet Henry is a musical with a book by Nunnally Johnson and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill.Based on the novel The World of Henry Orient by Johnson's daughter Nora and the subsequent film of the same name, the plot focuses on Valerie and Marian, two wealthy, love-struck teenagers who stalk...
, Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! (musical)
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
, Rumors
Rumors
Rumors is a farcical play by Neil Simon.At its start, several affluent couples gather in the posh suburban residence of a couple for a dinner party celebrating their hosts' tenth anniversary. When they arrive, they discover there are no servants, the hostess is missing, and the host - the deputy...
, Seussical
Seussical
is a musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty based on the books of Dr. Seuss that debuted on Broadway in 2000. The play's story is a rather complex amalgamation of many of Seuss's most famous books. After a Broadway run, the production spawned two US national tours and a UK tour...
, and Caroline, or Change
Caroline, or Change
Caroline, or Change is a through-composed musical with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner and score by Jeanine Tesori that combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, and Jewish klezmer and folk music....
.
Her many off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
credits include Promenade
Promenade (musical)
Promenade is an experimental musical with book and lyrics by María Irene Fornés and music by Rev. Al Carmines. The show itself, although a musical comedy, originally produced off-broadway by Edgar Lansbury & Joseph Beruh, falls more into the category of Theatre of the Absurd...
, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac
The Last Sweet Days of Isaac
The Last Sweet Days of Isaac is an American Off-Broadway rock musical by Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford, which premiered in 1970. It starred Austin Pendleton and Fredricka Weber, and later Alice Playten. It received positive reviews, and won three Obies, a Drama Desk Award, and an Outer Critics...
, Up from Paradise
Up from Paradise
Up from Paradise is a musical with a book and lyrics by Arthur Miller and music by Stanley Silverman.In 1972, Miller's comedy The Creation of the World and Other Business closed after only twenty performances...
, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You is a play by Christopher Durang first performed on December 14, 1979, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City. It was performed on a bill with one-act plays that included works by David Mamet, Marsha Norman, and Tennessee Williams...
, Spoils of War
Spoils of War
Botín de guerra is a 2000 Argentine documentary film directed and written by David Blaustein with Luis Alberto Asurey. The film premiered on 11 April 2000 in Buenos Aires...
, Four Short Operas, First Lady Suite
First Lady Suite
First Lady Suite is a chamber musical by Michael John LaChiusa. The musical contains four separate segments about four of the First Ladies of the United States of America and the people surrounding them. They are: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman, and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy...
, A Flea in Her Ear
A Flea in Her Ear
A Flea in Her Ear is a play by Georges Feydeau written in 1907, at the height of the Belle Époque.-Plot:...
, National Lampoon's Lemmings
National Lampoon's Lemmings
National Lampoon's Lemmings, a spinoff of the humor magazine National Lampoon, was a 1973 stage show which helped launch the performing careers of John Belushi, Christopher Guest, and Chevy Chase. The show was co-written and co-directed by a number of people including Sean Kelly...
and Shlemiel the First.
Playten's screen credits include Ladybug Ladybug
Ladybug Ladybug (film)
Ladybug Ladybug is a 1963 American motion picture, directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Frank Perry. The film is a commentary about the psychological effects of the Cold War, the title deriving from the classic nursery rhyme...
, I.Q.
I.Q. (film)
I.Q. is a 1994 American romantic comedy film directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, and Walter Matthau. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith...
, and Legend
Legend (film)
Legend is a 1985 fantasy film released by Universal Pictures, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry. Though not a very notable success when first released, it received a single Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup, and since its initial release, has developed...
. She wore heavy makeup and prosthetics in Legend
Legend (film)
Legend is a 1985 fantasy film released by Universal Pictures, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry. Though not a very notable success when first released, it received a single Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup, and since its initial release, has developed...
to portray the character of 'Blixx', a major minion of the Lord of Darkness; she also dubbed the voice of Gump. She did voice work in several animated features, including Felix the Cat
Felix the Cat
Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in the silent film era. His black body, white eyes, and giant grin, coupled with the surrealism of the situations in which his cartoons place him, combine to make Felix one of the most recognized cartoon characters in film history...
, Really Rosie
Really Rosie
Really Rosie is a musical with a book and lyrics by Maurice Sendak and music by Carole King. The musical is based on Sendak's books Chicken Soup with Rice, Pierre, One was Johnny, Alligators All Around , and The Sign on Rosie's Door...
, Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (film)
Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian fantasy-animated film directed by Gerald Potterton and produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine....
, Doug
Doug
Doug is an American animated sitcom created by Jim Jinkins and co-produced by his studio, Jumbo Pictures . Doug centers on the surreal and imaginative exploits of its title character, Douglas "Doug" Funnie, who experiences common predicaments while attending middle school. The series lampoons...
, Doug's 1st Movie
Doug's 1st Movie
Doug's 1st Movie is a 1999 animated film based on the Disney version of the Nickelodeon television series Doug. The film was directed by Maurice Joyce, and stars the regular television cast of Tom McHugh, Fred Newman, Chris Phillips, Constance Shulman, Frank Welker, Alice Playten, and Guy Hadley...
and My Little Pony: The Movie
My Little Pony: The Movie
My Little Pony: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the Hasbro toy line, My Little Pony. It was released on June 20, 1986 by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group...
.
She was a regular on the children's television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series The Lost Saucer
The Lost Saucer
The Lost Saucer is an ABC network television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. It first aired September 6, 1975.-Premise:The Lost Saucer was about two time-travelling futuristic androids named Fi and Fum who land their flying saucer on present day Earth...
and That's Cat
That's Cat
That's Cat was a children's television show that premiered on Saturday, September 18, 1976. It was both produced by and aired on KNBC, the NBC owned and operated station in Los Angeles, California; it was also syndicated to selected NBC O&O stations....
, appeared in National Lampoon's Disco Beaver from Outer Space
Disco Beaver from Outer Space
Disco Beaver from Outer Space is an early production by National Lampoon, made-for-TV in 1978.The short film is a collection of comedy sketches, contained within the main story which is centered on two characters: the protagonist, an extraterrestrial in the form of a human sized beaver; and the...
during the early days of HBO, and had guest shots on Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
, Third Watch
Third Watch
Third Watch is an American television drama series which first aired on NBC from 1999 to 2005 for a total of 132 episodes, broadcast in 6 seasons of 22 episodes each....
, and As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
, among others.
She performed a romantic dialog with Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes is an American-British composer, singer-songwriter, musician and author of plays, novels and stories. He is best known for his number one pop hit "Escape " and the song "Him", which reached the number 6 position on the Hot 100 U.S. pop chart in 1980...
in his song "Our National Pastime" on his 1974 debut album Widescreen.
Playten may have been best-known for her role of the newlywed who makes a gigantic dumpling as the first meal she cooks for her husband (Terry Kiser
Terry Kiser
Terry Kiser is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the dead title-character in the comedy Weekend at Bernie's, and its sequel, Weekend at Bernie's II....
) in a classic 1970 Alka-Seltzer
Alka-Seltzer
Alka-Seltzer is an effervescent antacid and pain reliever first marketed by the Dr. Miles Medicine Company. It was developed by Treneer in Elkhart Indiana. Alka-Seltzer is marketed for relief of minor aches, pains, inflammation, fever, headache, heartburn, sour stomach, indigestion, and hangovers,...
commercial.
Death
Playten died on June 25, 2011 at Sloan-Kettering HospitalMemorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital...
in Manhattan from heart failure after a lifetime of juvenile diabetes, complicated by pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
. She was 63 years old.
Awards and honors
- 1968 Tony AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Henry, Sweet Henry) - 1968 Theatre World AwardTheatre World AwardThe Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
(Henry, Sweet Henry) - 1973 Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Distinguished Performance (National Lampoon's Lemmings) - 1989 Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Spoils of War) - 1994 Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
(First Lady Suite)