Ilene Graff
Encyclopedia
Ilene Graff is an American actress and singer.
The Brooklyn
native began her professional career as a teenager when she performed as a background singer and commercial actress while attending Van Buren High School in Queens Village
. She graduated from Ithaca College
in 1970.
Graff's Broadway
credits include Promises, Promises
, Grease
, Truckload, and I Love My Wife
.
Graff's television work includes Barnaby Jones
, Laverne & Shirley
, Mork & Mindy, Three's Company
, Lewis & Clark
, and St. Elsewhere
. From 1985 until 1990, she played what is possibly her best known role, Marsha Owens, the wife of Bob Uecker
's character, George, in the sitcom Mr. Belvedere
.
In addition to her roles on television, Graff also appeared in the motion picture Ladybugs
playing the girlfriend of Rodney Dangerfield
and mother of Jonathan Brandis
. Her most recent screen credit is the 2006 film Loving Annabelle
.
Graff is the daughter of Jerry Graff, who was a member of the musical group The Pied Pipers
. While performing in Grease she met and married composer Ben Lanzarone, and they have one daughter, Nikka, born 1983. She is the older sister of Tony Award
-nominated actor, film producer, writer, film director and former Short Circus member Todd Graff and the cousin of Tony winner Randy Graff
. She serves as the spokesperson for the AMC Cancer Research Center.
... aka My Father (South Korea: DVD title)
... aka Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific (USA: complete title)
... aka The Great American Sex Scandal
- Love at First Sight/Love and the Judge (1986) TV episode
The Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
native began her professional career as a teenager when she performed as a background singer and commercial actress while attending Van Buren High School in Queens Village
Queens Village, Queens
Queens Village is mostly a residential neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens.The Queens Village Post Office serves the ZIP codes of 11427 , 11428 , and 11429...
. She graduated from Ithaca College
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
in 1970.
Graff's 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...
credits include Promises, Promises
Promises, Promises
Promises, Promises is a musical based on the 1960 film The Apartment. The music is by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and book by Neil Simon. Musical numbers for the original Broadway production were choreographed by Michael Bennett; Robert Moore directed and David Merrick produced...
, Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
, Truckload, and I Love My Wife
I Love My Wife
I Love My Wife is a musical with a book and lyrics by Michael Stewart and music by Cy Coleman, based on a play by Luis Rego.A satire of the sexual revolution of the 1970s, the musical takes place on Christmas Eve in suburban Trenton, New Jersey, where two married couples who have been close friends...
.
Graff's television work includes Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. A spin-off from Cannon, the show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement...
, Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...
, Mork & Mindy, Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
, Lewis & Clark
Lewis & Clark (TV series)
Lewis & Clark was a short-lived situation comedy that ran on NBC for one season from October 29, 1981 to July 30, 1982.-Plot:For a naive New Yorker, Stewart Lewis has a strange—some would say twisted—ambition: he wants to own a country-music club. His wife and kids hate the idea...
, and St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
. From 1985 until 1990, she played what is possibly her best known role, Marsha Owens, the wife of Bob Uecker
Bob Uecker
Robert George "Bob" Uecker is an American former Major League Baseball player, later a sportscaster, comedian, and actor. Uecker was given the title of "Mr. Baseball" by Johnny Carson...
's character, George, in the sitcom Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, until July 8, 1990. The series was based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel Belvedere, which was later adapted into the 1948 film Sitting Pretty...
.
In addition to her roles on television, Graff also appeared in the motion picture Ladybugs
Ladybugs (film)
Ladybugs is a comedy and sports movie released in 1992 starring Rodney Dangerfield as Chester, a business man who takes over a girls soccer team which the company he works for sponsors to get them to win and get a promotion...
playing the girlfriend of Rodney Dangerfield
Rodney Dangerfield
Rodney Dangerfield , was an American comedian, and actor, known for the catchphrases "I don't get no respect!," "No respect, no respect at all... that's the story of my life" or "I get no respect, I tell ya" and his monologues on that theme...
and mother of Jonathan Brandis
Jonathan Brandis
Jonathan Gregory Brandis was an American actor, director, and screenwriter.-Early life and career:Brandis was born in Danbury, Connecticut, the only child of Mary, a teacher and personal manager, and Gregory Brandis, a food distributor and firefighter. He began his career as a child model and...
. Her most recent screen credit is the 2006 film Loving Annabelle
Loving Annabelle
Loving Annabelle is a 2006 film directed by Katherine Brooks. Based on Mädchen in Uniform, it tells the story of a boarding school student who falls in love with her teacher. It was filmed at Marymount High School in Los Angeles.-Plot:...
.
Graff is the daughter of Jerry Graff, who was a member of the musical group The Pied Pipers
The Pied Pipers
The Pied Pipers were a popular singing group in the late 1930s and 1940s. Originally they consisted of eight members who had belonged to three separate groups: Jo Stafford from The Stafford Sisters, and seven male singers: John Huddleston, Hal Hopper, Chuck Lowry, Bud Hervey, George Tait, Woody...
. While performing in Grease she met and married composer Ben Lanzarone, and they have one daughter, Nikka, born 1983. She is the older sister of Tony Award
Tony Award
The 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...
-nominated actor, film producer, writer, film director and former Short Circus member Todd Graff and the cousin of Tony winner Randy Graff
Randy Graff
Randy Graff is an American actress. Graff has been in feature films such as Keys to Tulsa and Rent as well as being in television shows such as NBC's Law & Order a number of times. In addition to film and television, Graff has been in several Broadway shows...
. She serves as the spokesperson for the AMC Cancer Research Center.
Filmography
- The Things We Carry (2009) (post-production) .... Kim
- Ma-i pa-deo (2007) .... Nancy Parker
... aka My Father (South Korea: DVD title)
- Loving Annabelle (2006) .... Mother Immaculata
- Living with Fran .... Jessica (1 episode, 2006)
- Haunted .... Emily Eastway (1 episode, 2002)
- South Pacific (2001) (TV) .... Singing Ngana
... aka Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific (USA: complete title)
- Touched by an Angel .... Gloria Brewer (1 episode, 1997)
- Abandoned and Deceived (1995) (TV)
- Sisters.... Cynthia (1 episode, 1994)
- Ladybugs (1992) .... Bess
- Walter & Emily .... Dr. Barbara Morris (1 episode, 1992)
- Opposites Attract (1990) (TV) .... Frannie
- Mr. BelvedereMr. BelvedereMr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, until July 8, 1990. The series was based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel Belvedere, which was later adapted into the 1948 film Sitting Pretty...
.... Marsha Cameron Owens (117 episodes, 1985–1990) - Jury Duty: The Comedy (1990) (TV) .... Marilyn Worth
... aka The Great American Sex Scandal
- New Love, American Style (1 episode, 1986)
- Love at First Sight/Love and the Judge (1986) TV episode
- St. ElsewhereSt. ElsewhereSt. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
.... Heidi Brechman (1 episode, 1985) - Earthlings (1984) (TV) .... Jane Lassiter
- The Paper Chase.... Carolyn (1 episode, 1983)
- Lottery (1 episode, 1983)
- 13 13th Avenue (1983) (TV)
- Three's CompanyThree's CompanyThree's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
.... Daphne Smith (1 episode, 1983) - Charley's Aunt (1983) (TV) .... Kitty Verdun
- Remington Steele.... Ivy Shapiro (1 episode, 1982)
- Madame's Place.... Gloria Beecham Meade (1 episode, 1982)
- Mork & Mindy .... Tracy /Receptionist ... (4 episodes, 1981-1982)
- Lewis & Clark .... Alicia Lewis (3 episodes, 1981)
- Laverne & ShirleyLaverne & ShirleyLaverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...
.... Monique (1 episode, 1980) - Beulah LandBeulah LandBeulah Land is a well-known gospel hymn written by Edgar Page Stites in either 1875 or 1876. The hymn, Stites' most popular, is set to music written by John R. Sweney...
(1980) TV mini-series .... Annabel Davis - AngieAngie (TV series)Angie is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast by the ABC network from February 1979 until October 1980.-Premise:Philadelphia coffee shop waitress Angie Falco starts a romance with customer Bradley Benson...
.... Debbie (1 episode, 1980) - Supertrain .... Penny Whitaker (3 episodes, 1979)
- Barnaby JonesBarnaby JonesBarnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. A spin-off from Cannon, the show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement...
.... Stephanie Capello (2 episodes, 1979)