Ann Guilbert

Ann Morgan Guilbert was an American actress and comedian born on October 16, 1928, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Gerald Guilbert, a physician, and his wife, Cornelia, née Morgan. Her paternal grandfather, Lionel Guilbert, had emigrated from England. She attended Solomon Juneau High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and later studied theater arts at Stanford University after relocating to California.

Guilbert began her professional career as a featured performer and singer in the Billy Barnes Revues during the 1950s and 1960s, work that also brought her to Broadway. Her stage career spanned from 1959 to 2005 and included the musical Billy Barnes Revue and A Naked Girl on the Appian Way.

On television, Guilbert became widely recognized for her role as Millie Helper in 61 episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s. She subsequently made guest appearances across a broad range of television series, among them Adam-12, The Andy Griffith Show, That Girl, I Dream of Jeannie, Dragnet, Love American Style, The Love Boat, Cheers, Seinfeld, Picket Fences, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. From 1993 to 1999, she appeared in 56 episodes of The Nanny as Yetta Rosenberg, Fran Fine's grandmother. In December 2004, she reunited with Fran Drescher and other cast members for the television special The Nanny Reunion: A Nosh to Remember. She also appeared in the series Life in Pieces, which later dedicated an episode to her memory.

Guilbert was married to writer and producer George Eckstein from 1951 until their divorce in 1966. The two had a daughter, actress Hallie Todd, and another daughter, acting coach Nora Eckstein. Her second marriage, to Guy Raymond, began in 1969 and ended with his death in 1997.

Guilbert died of cancer in Los Angeles on June 14, 2016, at the age of 87.