Theatre Register

Dody Goodman

Shows · Dody Goodman

Actor 1914–2008 On stage 19491994

Dody Goodman (October 28, 1914 – June 22, 2008) was an American character actress. She played the mother of the title character in the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, her distinctive high-pitched voice announcing the show's title at the beginning of each episode. She was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show in the 1950s. In the 1978 summer blockbuster film Grease, she played Blanche Hodel, the zany secretary in the principal's office. She reprised this role again in 1982 for Grease 2. In 1979 she appeared in The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, and in 1981-82 had the recurring role of Aunt Sophia in Diff'rent Strokes. Aside from film and television appearances, she also voiced Miss Mille…

On stage 7 productions, 45 years

1949 Miss Liberty Imperial Theatre · Original · directed by Moss Hart 308 perf.
1952 My Darlin' Aida Winter Garden Theatre · Original · directed by Hanya Holm 89 perf.
1953 Wonderful Town Winter Garden Theatre · Original · directed by George Abbott (Jerome Robbins uncredited) 559 perf.
1963 A Rainy Day in Newark Belasco Theatre · Original · directed by Albert Marre 7 perf.
1969 My Daughter, Your Son Booth Theatre · Original · directed by Larry Arrick 47 perf.
1974 Lorelei Palace Theatre · Revival · directed by Robert Moore 320 perf.
1994 Grease Eugene O'Neill Theatre · Revival · directed by Jeff Calhoun 1,505 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once5 names

Walter Kelvin 2 productions
Ruth Anne Fleming 2 productions
Mary McCarty 2 productions
Doris Wright 2 productions
Carol Channing 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 3 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

In the literature8 passages

  • Cast : Warren Galjour (Guide, Associate Editor, Policeman), Henry Lascoe (Appopolous), Walter Kelvin (Lonigan), Michele Burke (Helen), Jordan Bentley (Wreck), Dody Goodman (Violet), Ted Beniades (Valenti), Edith (Edie) Adams (Eileen), Rosalind Russell (Ruth), Nathaniel Frey (A Strange Man, Chef, Policeman), Lee Papell (Drunk, Shore Patrol…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • Toward the end of the Broadway run, Ann B. Davis succeeded Burnett as Winnifred, and for the national tour Dody Goodman was Fred, Buster Keaton was Sextimus, and Harold Lang played the Jester. Later in the tour, Imogene Coca was Fred and Edward Everett Horton was Sextimus.ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
  • Cast: Rosalind Russell, George Gaynes, Edie Adams, Henry Lascoe, Dort Clark, Dody Goodman, Nathaniel Frey, Joe Laytonebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Thanks to Bea Arthur, Robert Clary, Frederick Combs, David Cravatts, Bette Davis, Mitch Douglas, Dody Goodman, Julie Harris, Arthur Laurents, Cameron Mackintosh, Rose Marie, Jim Pinkston, Charles Nelson Reilly, George Rose, Maureen Stapleton, Kenzo Tanaka, and Frederick Ziffel (no relation to Arnold’s father).ebooks/Hadleigh, Boze/Broadway Babylon - Boze Hadleigh.txt
  • “I kept hearing from mutual friends or colleagues,” said actress Dody Goodman, who’d worked with Robbins, “that at the end, he was still apt to turn on you. I mean as a professional or just a friend. He kept, he reserved that power for himself—the power to misuse people or dispose of them, and to continue on doing it.”ebooks/Hadleigh, Boze/Broadway Babylon - Boze Hadleigh.txt
  • Funny as this story is, it has been questioned by several of the players from Call Me Madam , who tell a different version. They do recall that one night, when a drunk in the orchestra section disrupted the performance, Ethel did leave the stage in mid-number to deal with the situation. But according to Dody Goodman, she simply went out t…ebooks/Kellow, Brian/Ethel Merman_ A Life - Brian Kellow.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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