Kay Medford was an American character actress and comedienne.

She was born Margaret Kathleen O'Regan in New York City

New 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...

 to James and Mary (née Kelly) O'Regan, first-generation Irish-American

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 parents, both of whom had died by the time she was 15 years old. She later adopted the name Kay Medford professionally, and began her career after graduating from high school, also working as a nightclub waitress.

She was the original "Mama" in Bye Bye Birdie, starring opposite Dick Van Dyke

Dick Van Dyke

Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer with a career spanning six decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke, and father of Barry Van Dyke...

 on 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...

, garnering excellent reviews, but lost the film role to Maureen Stapleton

Maureen Stapleton

Maureen Stapleton was an American actress in film, theater and television.-Early life:Stapleton was born Lois Maureen Stapleton in Troy, New York, the daughter of Irene and John P. Stapleton, and grew up in a strict Irish American Catholic family...

. Medford appeared in the Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 rock and roll movie Jamboree

Jamboree (1957 film)

Jamboree is the name of a black and white 1957 rock 'n' roll motion picture directed by Roy Lockwood that runs for 71 minutes in mono RCA sound...

(1957) in which she played the manager of singer Pete Porter, played by Paul Carr

Paul Carr (actor)

Paul Carr was an character actor who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Carr acted for some fifty years in television, film, and on-stage.-Beginnings:...

.

Medford made her Broadway debut in 1951 in the musical Paint Your Wagon. She also appeared in
Carousel

Carousel (musical)

Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...

, before appearing onstage in Funny Girl as the mother of Fanny Brice

Fanny Brice

Fanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song "model," comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show...

 (played by Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

); for this performance she was nominated for a 1964 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...

 for Featured Actress (Musical), and when she repeated the role in the 1968 film adaptation

Funny Girl (film)

Funny Girl is a 1968 romantic musical film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Isobel Lennart was adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title...

, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

.

From 1969-70 she co-starred opposite John Forsythe

John Forsythe

John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...

 in the CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 television series To Rome With Love

To Rome With Love

To Rome With Love is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 1969 to September 1971.-Synopsis:To Rome With Love is the story of a widowed college professor, Michael Endicott, who decided to leave his native Iowa following the death of his wife and accept a new position as an instructor...

. Medford had a leading role on The Dean Martin Show

The Dean Martin Show

The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...

for several years.

External links