Dinah Manoff

This petite daughter of blacklisted Oscar-winning actress-director Lee Grant and writer Arnold Manoff brought impeccable comic timing to her stage and screen roles. Dinah Manoff began her career as a teenager in small roles in the 1976 PBS production "The Great Cherub Knitwear Strike" and NBC's "Raid on Entebbe" (1977). She first garnered widespread attention as Marty, the sexy Pink Lady in the hit film musical "Grease" (1978) and for her one season (1978-79) stint as Elaine Lefkowitz, the acerbic, whiny daughter of a mobster, on the ABC sitcom "Soap." Heading east, Manoff tackled Broadway and earned a 1980 Tony Award for her performance as a daughter reuniting with her estranged actor father in Neil Simon's bittersweet comedy "I Ought to Be in Pictures." (She reprised the role opposite Walter Matthau in the 1981 film version). After a strong supporting turn as a suicidal young woman in the Oscar-winning "Ordinary People" (1980) and appearances in several TV-movies, Manoff landed what is perhaps her best-known role, Carol Weston, the divorced, competitive, man-deprived daughter of Richard Mulligan on the NBC sitcom "Empty Nest" (1988-95). During her series run, Manoff branched out into writing and producing with the 1991 NBC TV-movie "Maid for Each Other," about a woman who loses her money and is forced to work as a domestic for a singing diva (Nell Carter). The duo end up as fugitives together. She also adapted her father's novel, "A Telegram From Heaven" into both a radio drama and stage play, winning critical acclaim in Los Angeles for her efforts.