Dody Goodman

Dolores "Dody" Goodman was a natural flake and parlayed that unserious, fun loving nature into a comedy career that lasted over five decades on stage, screen, and television. She started as a dancer on Broadway in the late 1940s and early '50s, gaining fame for her rendition of a novelty song called "Someone's Been Sending Me Flowers" in off-Broadway's "Shoestring Revue." This brought her to the attention of talk show host Jack Paar, whose "Tonight Show" talk show had begun in 1957 to great enthusiasm. Goodman became a semi-regular on the show but had a falling out with Paar in the second season due to what the host claimed was Dody's constant attempts to upstage him. Undaunted, Goodman used her goofy looks, high-pitched voice, and silly demeanor to carve out a niche for herself on stage and TV throughout the 1960s. She made a splash in the mid 1970s as the mother of Louise Lasser's main character on the soap opera spoof "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." Feature film roles in the musicals "Grease" and "Grease 2" followed, as well as the occasional return to the "Tonight Show," now hosted by Johnny Carson. She had recurring roles on the sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" and did voice work for the animated series "Alvin & the Chipmunks" in the 1980s. Her madcap persona was a perfect fit for the stage show "Nunsense," where she played both Sister Amnesia and Mother Superior in traveling companies nationwide in the 1990s. She died at the age of 93.