Jane Connell

Jane Sperry Connell (née Bennett; October 27, 1925 – September 22, 2013) was an American actress and singer whose Broadway career spanned nearly five decades, from 1955 to 2002. Born in Berkeley, California, to Louis Wesley and Mary (née Sperry) Bennett, she studied drama at the University of California, Berkeley, where she met her future husband, Gordon Connell. The couple married in 1948 and together launched their performing careers in San Francisco nightclubs, including The Purple Onion and the Hungry I, before relocating to New York City.

Connell's New York stage career began Off-Broadway in 1955 with a revival of The Threepenny Opera at the Theatre de Lys, a production that became a long-running hit. That same year she made her Broadway debut in the same work, playing Mrs. Peachum. She went on to appear in New Faces of 1956 and Drat! The Cat! (1965) before achieving her most prominent stage success in 1966, when she originated the role of Agnes Gooch in Jerry Herman's Mame. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre described her, at four feet eleven inches, as a master of the large comic gesture possessing a tiny frame and a giant, squeaking voice. She recreated the Gooch role in the 1974 film adaptation after Lucille Ball, the film's star, became dissatisfied with Madeline Kahn, who had originally been signed for the part. In London, Connell also starred as Winifred in Once Upon a Mattress, the role Carol Burnett had originated on Broadway.

Connell's subsequent Broadway credits reflected consistent work across multiple decades. She appeared in Dear World (1969), again supporting Angela Lansbury, and shared the stage with her husband Gordon in Lysistrata (1972), starring Melina Mercouri. The 1983 revival of Mame reunited her with Lansbury, who reprised her original lead role. Connell received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Me and My Girl (1986). She continued working steadily through Lend Me a Tenor (1989), Crazy for You (1992), Moon Over Buffalo (1995) with Carol Burnett, The Full Monty (2000), in which she succeeded Kathleen Freeman following Freeman's death during the run, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2001). She also appeared in the concert presentation Angela Lansbury: A Celebration. Beyond the main Broadway stage, Connell participated in the New York City Center Encores! production of Call Me Madam in February 1995 and a Carnegie Hall concert presentation of Noël Coward's Sail Away in November 1999.

Her film work included Ladybug Ladybug (1963), Trilogy (1969), Kotch (1971), Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), House Calls (1978), Rabbit Test (1978), Robot in the Family (1994), and Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995). On television, she made six appearances on Bewitched, playing characters including Mother Goose, Martha Washington, Queen Hepzibah, and Queen Victoria. She portrayed Jane in the comedy series Stanley (1956), was a regular on the children's series Mr. Mayor (1964) and The Dumplings, and held a recurring role as social worker Roberta Domedian on Big Brother Jake from 1991 to 1994. Additional television credits included Green Acres, All in the Family, M*A*S*H, Maude, Good Times, and Law & Order.

Jane and Gordon Connell remained married until her death. They had two daughters, Melissa and Maggie. Connell died on September 22, 2013, at the age of 87, at the Lillian Booth Actors Home of the Actors Fund in Englewood, New Jersey. Her husband survived her, dying in 2016. Their papers, spanning 1923 to 2015, are held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.