Liz Torres

Elizabeth Larrieu Torres was born on September 27, 1947, in the Bronx, New York, where she received her primary and secondary education. Her parents had relocated to the borough from Puerto Rico, and her father, Santos Torres Graci, was co-owner of Club Deportivo de Ponce. Torres is an actress, singer, and comedian who built her early career performing on the New York City nightclub circuit alongside her friend Bette Midler. In 1971, a producer from Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show spotted her during one of those performances and invited her to perform a stand-up comedy set on the program.

Torres made her film debut in 1969 in a low-budget production titled Utterly Without Redeeming Social Value, in which she played a prostitute. In 1973, she took on the role of Morticia in The Addams Family Fun House, a musical adaptation of the original series. Her recording career included a 1975 disco single, "Hustle Latino," released on RCA Records and arranged, conducted, and produced by Michael Zager; she performed the track on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. That same year, she made her Broadway debut in The Ritz, playing the role of Googie Gomez. In 1976, she joined the cast of the CBS sitcom Phyllis, Cloris Leachman's spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, taking over the role of Julie Erskine from the late Barbara Colby and remaining with the series through 1976. Also in 1976, she appeared as "Cat" in the television musical special Pinocchio starring Sandy Duncan and served as a semi-regular panelist on Break the Bank. On November 26, 1976, she appeared on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Redd Foxx, playing his former maid.

Torres held a recurring role on All in the Family as Teresa Betancourt, a nurse who first treated Archie Bunker during a gallbladder operation and subsequently became a boarder at the Bunker household. In early 1981, she co-starred with Marla Gibbs in Checking In, a short-lived spin-off of The Jeffersons. Her theater work extended beyond Broadway to include Man of La Mancha, in which she played Aldonza; The House of Blue Leaves, in which she played Bunny; and the 1994 film A Million to Juan, in which she played Mrs. Delgado. She also guest starred on numerous television series, among them Starsky and Hutch, Love American Style, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Knots Landing, Mama's Family, Ally McBeal, and The Nanny. In 1990, she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on The Famous Teddy Z.

Following a guest appearance on the Donald P. Bellisario drama Quantum Leap, Torres took on a recurring role in another Bellisario series, Tequila and Bonetti, playing a psychic who hears the thoughts of the dog Tequila. From 1993 to 1996, she starred as Mahalia Sanchez in the NBC sitcom The John Larroquette Show, a performance that earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, two Golden Globe Award nominations, and two American Comedy Award nominations for Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series. In 1997, she co-starred with Annie Potts in the short-lived ABC sitcom Over the Top, and she later appeared in the series First Monday and American Family.

From 2000 until the series concluded in 2007, Torres was a semi-regular cast member of the WB drama Gilmore Girls, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, playing Stars Hollow dance teacher Patricia "Miss Patty" LaCosta. In 2008, she appeared in the Polish film Expecting Love in the role of Juanita. Her subsequent television guest appearances included Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, Scandal, One Day at a Time, and Devious Maids. Torres resides in Los Angeles, where she serves on the board of directors of Write Act Repertory. She was previously married to film producer and Kushner-Locke Company founder Peter Locke; the two divorced in 1977.