Swoosie Kurtz

Swoosie Kurtz is an American actress born on September 6, 1944, in Omaha, Nebraska. The only child of author Margaret "Margo" Rogers Kurtz and Air Force Colonel Frank Allen Kurtz Jr., a decorated World War II bomber pilot, she received her distinctive first name from her father's B-17D Flying Fortress, a plane nicknamed "The Swoose" — a portmanteau of swan and goose — which he piloted during the war. Her Broadway career spans from 1975 to 2006, and she is the recipient of two Tony Awards and one Emmy Award.

Kurtz made her first television appearance at age 17 in a 1962 episode of The Donna Reed Show, and at eighteen appeared on To Tell the Truth, where she identified her father from two impostors. She became a series regular on the daytime drama As the World Turns in 1971. Her stage career began in earnest with her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of Ah, Wilderness! In 1977, she participated in a workshop production of Wendy Wasserstein's Uncommon Women and Others at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, which subsequently moved Off-Broadway. That same period brought her a Drama Desk Award for the musical A History of the American Film.

Her Broadway work earned her five Tony Award nominations in total. The first win came in 1981 for her portrayal of Gwen in Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July, a performance that also brought her the Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award — a combination referred to as Broadway's triple crown. Her second Tony Award, again for Best Featured Actress in a Play, followed in 1986 for her role as Bananas in a revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves. Additional Tony nominations recognized her work in Tartuffe, Frozen, and Heartbreak House. She also starred as playwright Lillian Hellman in Nora Ephron's 2002 play Imaginary Friends.

On television, Kurtz accumulated eight Emmy Award nominations across her career, with a win in 1990 for a guest-starring role on Carol Burnett's comedy series Carol and Company. Her first Emmy nomination came from her work alongside Tony Randall in the sitcom Love, Sidney, which began in 1981. From 1991 to 1996, she played wealthy divorcee Alex Reed Halsey on the NBC drama Sisters, a role that earned her two additional Emmy nominations. Subsequent television credits include the Showtime drama Huff from 2004 to 2006, the ABC series Pushing Daisies from 2007 to 2009, and the CBS sitcom Mike and Molly, on which she starred as Joyce Flynn beginning in 2010 through 2016. She also appeared in a recurring role as Matt LeBlanc's mother in Man with a Plan and began appearing as Mayim Bialik's mother in Call Me Kat in 2021.

Her film work includes Wildcats and Dangerous Liaisons, both from the late 1980s, as well as Stanley and Iris, Citizen Ruth, Liar Liar alongside Jim Carrey, and Bubble Boy. In 1978, she was part of the ensemble cast of Mary Tyler Moore's short-lived variety series Mary, which also featured David Letterman and Michael Keaton.