Julie Kavner

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Julie Kavner

Born Julie Deborah Kavner
7 September 1951 (1951-09-07) (age 56)
Los Angeles, California, USA
Occupation Actor
Years active 1974-present

Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1951) is an American Emmy Award-winning actress, perhaps best known for providing the voice of Marge Simpson on the animated television show The Simpsons, acting in several Woody Allen-directed films,[1] and playing Brenda Morgenstern on Rhoda in the 1970s.


Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Kavner was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Rose (née Steinbock), a family counselor, and David Kavner, a furniture manufacturer.[2] She grew up entirely in Southern California, a fact that comes as a surprise to many people who identify her with her role as New Yorker Brenda Morgenstern and who peg her creaky, somewhat nasally voice as sounding "East Coast".[citation needed] Kavner went to Beverly Hills High School and studied Theater Arts, graduating with honors from San Diego State University in 1971. Her daughter was born in 1984.

[edit] Career

In 1975, she received a nomination for her starring role in the daytime special, The Girl Who Couldn’t Lose. Kavner is one of the many actors who are frequently cast in Woody Allen movies.[1] She is frequently seen in supporting roles. Kavner played the role of Brenda Morgenstern in the TV show Rhoda.[1] After Rhoda ended, Kavner moved into film. She has appeared in several Woody Allen films including Radio Days (along with Michael Tucker, Mia Farrow, and Diane Wiest); New York Stories (opposite Allen himself); Alice (opposite Farrow again); Shadows and Fog (again opposite Allen); Hannah and Her Sisters (opposite Michael Caine), as well as Deconstructing Harry (opposite Richard Benjamin and Julia Louis-Dreyfus). She also appeared in Awakenings (opposite Robin Williams and Robert De Niro), Revenge of the Stepford Wives (1980), and the 1992 Nora Ephron comedy drama This Is My Life. This particular role was intended as her breakout role, but it got middling reviews and did not do well at the box office. Since then Kavner has largely limited herself to supporting roles and voice over work. Most recently, she appeared as Adam Sandler's mother in Click. She has also worked with Tracey Ullman on Tracey's primetime TV comedy show, as well as Tracey Takes On.[1]

Onstage, she has played under Burt Reynolds’s direction in Two for the Seesaw with Martin Sheen at Reynolds’s Dinner Theatre in Jupiter, Florida. In Canada, she starred in It Had To Be You, written by Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna.

In Disney's The Lion King 1½ (a.k.a. The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata), Kavner played Timon's mother.

[edit] The Simpsons

In The Simpsons, Kavner provides the voices for Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, Selma Bouvier, Jacqueline Ingrid "Jackie" Bouvier and Gladys Bouvier.[1] She has been known[citation needed] to refuse to perform any of her characters' voices in public. Kavner even goes as far as to not allow any film footage of her doing the characters from The Simpsons to be captured. The reason for this is because she contorts her face and doesn't want people to see it.[citation needed] She did however perform Marge's voice on Inside the Actor's Studio, but during the performance the television audience saw only clips of Marge from the series over her voice.[1] To perform Marge's voice, Kavner raises her voice by about an octave, and roughens it up a bit; to do Patty and Selma, she lowers her voice an octave, and roughens it up a lot.[citation needed]

Series creator Matt Groening said, "My original idea about Marge's family was they were utterly joyless. The original note I gave to Julie was that they suck the life out of everything they see'".[3]

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role
1980 Revenge of the Stepford Wives Megan Brady
1982 National Lampoon Goes to the Movies Mrs. Falcone
1985 Bad Medicine Cookie Katz
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters Gail
1987 Radio Days Mother
Surrender Ronnie
1989 New York Stories (Segment Oedipus Wrecks) Treva
1990 Alice Decorator
Awakenings Eleanor Costello
1992 Shadows and Fog Alma
This Is My Life Dottie Ingels
1994 I'll Do Anything Nan Mulhanney
1995 Forget Paris Lucy
1997 Deconstructing Harry Grace/Harry's character
1998 Dr. Dolittle Female pigeon*
1999 Judy Berlin Marie
A Walk on the Moon PA Announcer*
2001 Someone Like You Furry animal*
2004 The Lion King 1½ Ma*
2006 Click Trudy Newman
2007 The Simpsons Movie Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier and Selma Bouvier*
  • *Her appearance in said movie was in voiceover only.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Stated in interview on Inside the Actors Studio
  2. ^ Julie Kavner Biography (1951-)
  3. ^ Rhodes, Joe. "Flash! 24 Simpsons Stars Reveal Themselves", TV Guide October 21, 2000, via The Simpsons Archive

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series

Betty White (1976) · Mary Kay Place (1977) · Julie Kavner (1978) · Sally Struthers (1979) · Loretta Swit (1980) · Eileen Brennan (1981) · Loretta Swit (1982) · Carol Kane (1983) · Rhea Perlman (1984) · Rhea Perlman (1985) · Rhea Perlman (1986) · Jackée Harry (1987) · Estelle Getty (1988) · Rhea Perlman (1989) · Bebe Neuwirth (1990) · Bebe Neuwirth (1991) · Laurie Metcalf (1992) · Laurie Metcalf (1993) · Laurie Metcalf (1994) · Christine Baranski (1995) · Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1996) · Kristen Johnston (1997) · Lisa Kudrow (1998) · Kristen Johnston (1999) · Megan Mullally (2000)
v • d • e
The Simpsons cast members
Main cast
Recurring cast
Recurring guest stars
Former cast
Persondata
NAME Kavner, Julie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kavner, Julie Deborah
SHORT DESCRIPTION Voice actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1951-9-7
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles, California
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH