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Renée Taylor
Taylor in 1974
Born	Renée Adorée Wexler (1933-03-19) March 19, 1933 (age 91) New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	American Academy of Dramatic Arts
Occupations	Actress screenwriter playwright producer director
Years active	1948–present
Spouses	Frank Baxter ​ ​(m. 1958; div. 1964)​ Joseph Bologna ​ ​(m. 1965; died 2017)​
Children	1

Renée Adorée Taylor (née Wexler; born March 19, 1933) is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director. Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for the film Lovers and Other Strangers (1970). She also played Sylvia Fine on the television sitcom The Nanny (1993–1999).

Early years

Taylor was born on March 19, 1933, in The Bronx, New York City, to Charles and Frieda (née Silverstein) Wexler, an aspiring actress. Her mother named her after silent film actress Renée Adorée. She graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Career

Taylor acted with improv groups in the 1950s. She worked as a comedian in the early 1960s at the New York City nightclub Bon Soir. Her opening act was a then-unknown Barbra Streisand. In 1967, Taylor played an actress portraying Eva Braun in Mel Brooks' feature film The Producers, a role she got while performing the play Luv with Gene Wilder, whom Brooks cast as protagonist Leo Bloom.

Taylor and husband Joseph Bologna co-wrote the Broadway hit comedy Lovers and Other Strangers, and received Academy Award nominations for writing the 1970 film adaptation. In 1971, the couple co-wrote and starred in the film Made for Each Other. Their screenplay received a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy. Taylor played Arlene Sherwood, co-producer of a television show along with Jerry Orbach and John Candy in the 1991 film Delirious.

From 1992 to 1994, Taylor played the overbearing Jewish mother of Brian Benben's lead character on the HBO series Dream On. In 1993, she was cast as the mother of Richard Lewis, and the ex-wife of Don Rickles, in the Fox sitcom Daddy Dearest, which was cancelled after a two-month run in the fall.

Also in 1993, Taylor appeared in the CBS sitcom The Nanny as Sylvia Fine, the mother of the titular character. After the cancellation of Daddy Dearest, Taylor was upgraded to a recurring cast member during the first season of The Nanny and eventually a full-time cast member by the third season. Her roles on the two broadcast network series in 1993 were concurrent with her work on Dream On.

Taylor is most often recognized for her role in The Nanny. Her character was intent on helping daughter Fran find a husband and had a passionate love for food. Taylor's husband, Joseph Bologna, made two guest appearances on The Nanny—first, as an egomaniacal actor named Allan Beck, who tormented Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) and second, in the final season, as a doctor and admirer of Sylvia in the episode, "Maternal Affairs".

Between 2008 and 2012, Taylor guest-starred as Ted Mosby's neighbor, Mrs. Matsen, on How I Met Your Mother. She also had a guest-starring role on the Disney Channel series Shake It Up, portraying a cranky elderly woman, Mrs. Lacasio, in a retirement home. She also had a guest-starring role on the Nickelodeon series Victorious, as Robbie's cranky grandmother who wants to learn how to use the Internet. Like Sylvia Fine, Taylor's character on Victorious also has a husband named Morty.

In addition to her numerous guest-starring appearances, Taylor has worked as a voice-actor as the character Mrs. Start in the animated feature film Ice Age: The Meltdown, and in a recurring role as Linda's mother Gloria in the animated Fox series Bob's Burgers. Taylor also played Martha Benson in the film Opposite Day, released in 2009.

Taylor also appeared on Fran Drescher's series Happily Divorced as the best friend of Fran's mother. In 2011, Taylor was cast in Allen Gregory as Principal Gottlieb. In 2013, she starred in the Tyler Perry film Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor as Ms. Waco Chapman, the owner of Chapman Drug Company.

In 2016, Taylor starred in the Netflix film The Do-Over with Adam Sandler as the role of Mrs. Kessler and in the TV show Rock in a Hard Place. Taylor followed that with an appearance in the 2017 film How to Be a Latin Lover.

Taylor had a role in Tango Shalom, in which she acted alongside her husband, Joseph Bologna in his final film role before his death. The film was released theatrically in North America on September 3, 2021, and on VOD and DVD in North America on October 29, 2021. Beginning July 25, 2018, Taylor appeared in My Life on a Diet at the Off-Broadway Theatre at St. Clement's, written with Bologna. After two extensions, she took the production on tour across the U.S.

Personal life

Taylor married actor Joseph Bologna on August 7, 1965, in Stamford, Connecticut. They had a son, filmmaker, Gabriel who directed his parents in the last film they starred in together, Tango Shalom. They were married until Bologna's death in August 2017.

Taylor is Jewish.

Filmography

Film

Television

Accolades

The following is a list of awards and nominations received by Renee Taylor:

Notes

1. ^ Although some sources have claimed that Taylor had two children with her second husband Joseph Bologna, the couple stated in a 1996 interview that they had only one child, a son. The other child who is claimed to be theirs, a daughter, is actually the wife of their son.

References

1. "Renee Taylor and husband Frank Baxter play Miami". Newspapers.com. The Miami News. June 18, 1961. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
2. Gates, Anita (August 14, 2017). "Joseph Bologna, Onscreen Tough Guy with a Sense of Humor, Dies at 82". The New York Times.
3. Barnes, Mike (August 13, 2017). "Joseph Bologna, 'My Favorite Year' Actor and Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter, Dies at 82". The Hollywood Reporter. ISSN 0018-3660.
4. "A TAYLOR-MADE MARRIAGE WORKING WITH MY HUSBAND HAS PAID OFF FOR 30 YEARS, SAYS 'NANNY' STAR RENEE". New York Daily News. October 13, 1996. Retrieved September 14, 2021. "At 15, our son met the girl who is now his wife," says Bologna about his 27-year-old only child.
5. ^ "'Tango Shalom' dances its way through cross-cultural tale of community". The Daily Bruin. October 13, 1996. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
6. "Fourth Annual San Diego Writers Festival".
7. Partnow, Elaine (2004). The Quotable Jewish Woman: Wisdom, Inspiration & Humor from the Mind and Heart. Jewish Lights Publishing. p. 433. ISBN 9781580231930.
8. ""My Life on a Diet": Renée Taylor, ladies and gentlemen, and what a life she's led!". 29 November 2019.
9. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (December 15, 2018). Funny Ladies. New Word City. ISBN 978-1640193529. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
10. "Goodbye, Dolly". People. October 16, 2000. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
11. Kashner, Sam (January 6, 2004). "The Making of The Producers". Vanity Fair. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
12. ^ Rossi, Rosemary (August 13, 2017). "Joseph Bologna, Star of 'My Favorite Year,' Dies at 82". TheWrap. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
13. "Actor: Renee Taylor". Geffen Playhouse. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
14. "Opposite Day". Tribute Entertainment Group. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
15. Foundas, Scott (March 29, 2013). "Film Review: 'Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor'". Variety. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
16. Busch, Anita (October 26, 2015). "Ken Marino Set To Direct Eugenio Derbez In 'Latin Lover' For Lionsgate's Pantelion". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
17. "Faith, footwork, freedom". San Diego Reader. February 4, 2021.
18. "Tour". My Life on a Diet. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
19. "Review: Mixing the Salty and the Sweet in 'My Life on a Diet'". The New York Times. July 29, 2018.
20. "Hollywood's happiest 52-year collaborating marriage: Remembering Joseph Bologna". 9 September 2017.
21. "Joseph Bologna Obituary (1934 - 2017) the Star-Ledger".
22. "'Big Daddy' Actor Joe Bologna Dies at 82; Wife Releases Statement". International Business Times. 14 August 2017.
23. "Tweens: Celebrities: Renee Taylor". JUF. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
24. ^ "Renée Taylor (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 22, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
25. Busch, Anita (April 28, 2016). "Rob Lowe, Kristen Bell Join Pantelion Comedy How To Be A Latin Lover". Deadline. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
26. "Tango Shalom - A Heartwarming Movie Of Tolerance That Will Have You Dancing". Splash Magazines Worldwide: Adding Style to Your Life. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
27. "Browser Unsupported - Academy Awards Search | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
28. "Renee Taylor". Television Academy. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
29. "Writers Guild of America, USA (1971)". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
30. "Writers Guild of America, USA (1972)". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-03-19.

External links

• Renée Taylor at IMDb
• Renée Taylor at the Internet Broadway Database
• Renée Taylor at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

• 1933 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American actresses
• 20th-century American Jews
• 20th-century American women writers
• 21st-century American actresses
• 21st-century American Jews
• Actresses from the Bronx
• American film actresses
• American stage actresses
• American television actresses
• American women comedians
• American women dramatists and playwrights
• American women screenwriters
• Comedians from the Bronx
• Jewish American actresses
• Jewish American comedians
• Jewish American dramatists and playwrights
• Jewish American screenwriters
• Jewish female comedians
• Jewish women writers
• Primetime Emmy Award winners
• Writers from the Bronx