Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan, born Verla Eileen Regina Brennen on September 3, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, was an American actress whose career spanned theatre, film, and television across five decades. Her father, John Gerald Brennen, was a doctor, and her mother, Regina Menehan, had worked as a silent film actress. After completing high school in California, Brennan moved to Washington, D.C., to study at Georgetown University, where she participated in the Mask and Bauble Society and appeared in stage productions of Arsenic and Old Lace. She subsequently relocated to New York City to train at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where her roommate was fellow actress Rue McClanahan.

Brennan's professional stage career took shape off-Broadway in 1959, when she originated the title role in Rick Besoyan's musical operetta Little Mary Sunshine, earning an Obie Award for the performance. In 1961, she played Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker at the Central City Opera Summer Festival in Central City, Colorado, in a production directed by Arthur Penn. Her Broadway career ran from 1963 to 1966 and included three productions: The Student Gypsy, the unofficial sequel to Little Mary Sunshine; Hello, Dolly!, in which she created the role of Irene Molloy in the original 1964 production; and Luv. Her stage work earned her a Theatre World Award in 1960. During this period, Carl Reiner flew her from New York to Los Angeles to audition for the role of Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show, though the part ultimately went to Mary Tyler Moore.

Brennan made her feature film debut in the 1967 satire Divorce American Style. The following year she became a semi-regular on the comedy-variety program Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, remaining for two months. Her association with director Peter Bogdanovich proved particularly significant: she appeared in his 1971 drama The Last Picture Show as Genevieve, a role that earned her a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reteamed with Bogdanovich for his 1974 adaptation of Daisy Miller and his 1975 musical At Long Last Love, in which he cast her as a maid opposite Cybill Shepherd. She later returned to Bogdanovich's work in Texasville in 1990.

Between those collaborations, Brennan built a substantial body of supporting work in film. She appeared as Billie, a brothel madam, in George Roy Hill's Academy Award-winning The Sting in 1973 alongside Paul Newman. Working with director Robert Moore and writer Neil Simon, she played Tess Skeffington in Murder by Death in 1976 and appeared again in The Cheap Detective in 1978, both films also featuring Peter Falk, James Coco, and James Cromwell. That same year she starred as a radio disc jockey named Mother in the comedy-drama FM. In 1980, her portrayal of Captain Doreen Lewis, the commanding officer of Goldie Hawn's character in Private Benjamin, brought her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role in the television adaptation of Private Benjamin, which aired from 1981 to 1983, winning both a Primetime Emmy Award for supporting actress and a Golden Globe Award for lead actress. In 1985, she joined the ensemble cast of the mystery-comedy Clue, playing Mrs. Peacock, a film that developed a significant cult following.

Brennan's television work was extensive. She received Emmy nominations for guest appearances on Taxi, Newhart, Thirtysomething, and Will and Grace. She held a recurring role on Blossom as a neighbor and confidante to the title character, and later played the recurring character Zandra, a drama teacher, on Will and Grace. Additional guest appearances included Murder She Wrote, Magnum P.I., All in the Family, Barnaby Jones, Home Improvement, Walker Texas Ranger, and ER. In later years she appeared in films including Stella in 1990, Reckless in 1995, Jeepers Creepers in 2001, and Comic Book Villains in 2002.

In her personal life, Brennan was married to British poet and photographer David John Lampson from 1968 to 1974. They had two sons, Patrick and Sam. In 1982, she was struck by a car in Venice Beach and sustained serious injuries, requiring two years away from work and a recovery that included overcoming an addiction to painkillers. In 1989 she broke a leg after falling from a stage during a production of Annie, and the following year she was diagnosed with breast cancer, from which she was successfully treated. Brennan died on July 28, 2013, at her home in Burbank, California, of bladder cancer, at the age of 80.