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Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) — known as Carol Kane — is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She became known in the 1970s in films such as Hester Street (for which she received an Academy Award nomination) and Annie Hall. She appeared on the television series Taxi in the early 1980s, as the wife of the character played by Andy Kaufman, winning two Emmy Awards for her work. She has played the character of Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked, both in regional productions and on Broadway from 2005 to 2009.

Born Glenne Aimee Headly in New London, CT on March 13, 1955, she spent her first years shuttling between her mother's home in San Francisco and her maternal grandmother in Pennsylvania. Headly eventually settled with her mother in Greenwich Village during her elementary school years, which were filled with introductions to the arts and classes for gifted students. Acting took prominence among her many interests, and she soon graduated with honors from the High School of Performing Arts. Rather than immediately devote herself to a four-year drama program in college, Headly traveled to Switzerland to study at an American College to study literature and art history while gaining valuable life experience. After graduation, she relocated to New York City to study drama at the Herbert Berghof Studios, but a chance trip to Chicago introduced her to the city's thriving theater scene. Headly joined the New Works Ensemble at the St. Nicholas Theatre before joining the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company for a production of Sam Shepard's "Curse of the Starving Class." Her co-star was actor John Malkovich, whom she would marry in 1982. While in Chicago, she would earn four Joseph Jefferson Awards for performances between 1980 and 1985 while earning her Actors Equity Card. In 1981, she landed her first screen role in Arthur Penn's low-key character drama "Four Friends."

Career

Kane is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Simka Dahblitz-Gravas, wife of Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman), on the American television series Taxi, from 1981 to 1983, and also for her role as Allison Portchnik in Woody Allen's Annie Hall. Kane earned two Emmy Awards for her work in the series and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film Hester Street. She also appeared in The Princess Bride (1987) and Scrooged (1988), in which Variety called her "unquestionably pic's comic highlight."

Kane was a regular on the 1986 NBC series All Is Forgiven, a regular on the 1990–1991 NBC series American Dreamer, guest-starred on a 1994 episode of Seinfeld and had a supporting role in the short-lived 1996–1997 sitcom Pearl, which starred Rhea Perlman. She also appeared in the NBC television live action production of The Year Without a Santa Claus in December 2006.

In January 2009, Kane appeared in the TV series Two and a Half Men as the mother of Alan Harper's receptionist.

She starred in the off-Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore in February 2010.

In March 2010, Kane appeared in the TV series Ugly Betty as Justin Suarez's acting teacher.

Kane made her West End debut in January 2011 in a major revival of Lillian Hellman's drama The Children's Hour, at London's Comedy Theatre. She stars alongside Keira Knightley, Elisabeth Moss and Ellen Burstyn.

In May 2012, Kane is appearing on Broadway as Betty Chumley in a revival of the play Harvey.

In 1985, she returned with Malkovich to New York, where she appeared in several well-regarded productions, including revivals of "The Philanthropist," which earned her a Theatre World Award, and "Balm in Gilead" with Steppenwolf. Her film and television career soon expanded from bit roles in Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985) to sympathetic character turns in "Seize the Day" (PBS, 1987) opposite Robin Williams and Susan Seidelman's "Making Mr. Right" (1987) with Malkovich. A steady stream of supporting roles preceded her breakout part in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (1989), a wry remake of "Bedtime Story" (1964), with Steve Martin and Michael Caine as international con men who meet their match in Hedley's seemingly naïve heiress. That same year, she earned an Emmy nomination as Elmira Johnson, the cold-hearted wife of Chris Cooper's ill-fated sheriff, in the miniseries "Lonesome Dove" (CBS, 1989).

Filmography

Her knack for both sly comedy and convincing drama attracted the attention of director Warren Beatty, who cast her as Tess Trueheart, long-suffering girlfriend to comic strip hero Dick Tracy, in his big-budget 1990 film adaptation. The heights of the film's success were somewhat dampened by her divorce from Malkovich that same year, though she quickly rebounded with a co-starring turn opposite Demi Moore in Alan Rudolph's thriller "Mortal Thoughts," as an abused wife who allegedly conspired to dispatch her abusive husband (Bruce Willis) with the help of a friend (Willis' then-spouse, Demi Moore). After playing real-life physician and scientist Mary Guinan, who was an integral part of early research into AIDS, in the HBO drama "And the Band Played On" (1993), Headly met her second husband, electrical grip and editor Byron McCulloch, on the set of the Canadian drama "Ordinary Magic."

References

1. "Scrooged" Variety (requires registration), retrieved August 27, 2011
2. Two and a Half Men: Thank God for Scoliosis Season 6" TV.com, accessed August 27, 2011
3. BWW News Desk." 'Love, Loss And What I Wore' Welcomes Comedic New Cast; Janeane Garofalo, Carol Kane & More Bow 2/3" broadwayworld.com, December 10, 2009
4. Shenton, Mark.Ellen Burstyn and Carol Kane Join Cast of West End's Children's Hour Playbill.com, November 19, 2010
5. Becker, Frawley (2004). And The Stars Spoke Back: A Dialogue Coach Remembers Hollywood Players Of The Sixties In Paris. Scarecrow Press. pp. 188, 199. ISBN 9780810851573.
6. http://www.ket.org/tvschedules/episode.php?nola=NODY++000106

Headly would enjoy a long spate of appearances in features like "Mr. Holland's Opus" (1995), as Richard Dreyfuss' faithful wife, and Anjelica Huston's "Bastard Out of Carolina" (Showtime, 1996), which earned her a second Emmy nomination as the kindly aunt of an abused child. During this period, she also appeared in the third season of "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) as pediatrician Dr. Abby Keaton. In 1997, she gave birth to a son, who became the focus of Headly's life; projects were chosen based on whether they were filmed near the family's home, or if they took place during summer vacations or school breaks. Though her appearances were fewer, they remained substantive. She was a thinly veiled version of actress and saloon owner Texas Guinan, who funneled Broadway gossip to columnist Walter Winchell (Stanley Tucci), in the HBO biopic "Winchell" (1998), then returned to the stage after a 10-year absence to co-star with Miranda Richardson in a London production of "Aunt Dan and Lemon" in 1999. Because she was a fan of the TV series, she also made an uncredited cameo as a bartender who cuts off Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) in the successful film adaptation of "The X-Files: Fight the Future" (1998).