Anita Gillette

Anita Gillette
Gillette in 1960
Born	Anita Luebben (1936-08-16) August 16, 1936 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	1959–present
Spouse(s)	Dr. William Gillette (1957–1967) (2 children, divorced) Armand Coullet (1982–1999) (his death)
Children	2

From TV series Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1973). Back: David Spielberg; front, L–R: Anne Archer, Robert Urich, Anita Gillette

Anita Gillette (née Luebben; born August 16, 1936) is an American actress and singer. She has performed numerous roles on Broadway, American television, and in feature films.

Her Broadway credits include performing in musical productions of Gypsy, Carnival!, Guys and Dolls, They're Playing Our Song, Mr. President, and Cabaret. In 1978, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Neil Simon's Chapter Two.

Early life

Raised in suburban Rossville, Gillette graduated from Kenwood High School and went on to study at the Peabody Conservatory

Career

Television and film

Gillette's first television appearance was on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963. She joined the cast of The Edge of Night in 1967, leaving the next year. Gillette's biggest exposure on a national scale came as a celebrity guest on various New York City-based game shows, mostly those produced by Goodson-Todman and Bob Stewart. She served as a semi-regular on the syndicated What's My Line?, Match Game and the various Pyramid series, among others. She also appeared with Robert Alda as a panelist on Fast Draw.

Gillette's roles in the 1970s included the short-lived series Me and the Chimp with Ted Bessell and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice with a then-unknown Robert Urich and a young Jodie Foster. She also appeared in Norman Lear's All That Glitters (1977), and TV movies such as A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975) and It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977).

The 1980s marked Gillette's transition from Broadway and television into a character film actress. Prior to this transition, she had sizeable television roles as Nancy Baxter on the national run of The Baxters, Quincy's second wife Dr. W. Emily Hanover on the last season of Quincy M.E. (having previously portrayed his deceased first wife Helen Quincy in a flashback), and a role on Search for Tomorrow at the end of that series' long run, as well as the early David Chase series Almost Grown (1988–1989).

After the end of Search for Tomorrow in late 1986, and appearing with Robert Reed and Bert Convy on Super Password, Gillette transitioned to film with a variety of notable roles such as that of Mona in 1987's Moonstruck. Many of these roles had her as an on-screen mother to characters played by prominent actors; she played Jack Black's mother in Bob Roberts (1992), Mary-Louise Parker's mother in Boys on the Side (1995), Bill Murray's mother in Larger than Life (1996), Jennifer Aniston's mother in She's The One (1996), and the mother of Bobby Cannavale's love interest in The Guru (2002). Her return to television in 2000's short-lived Normal, Ohio had her playing the mother of John Goodman's character (coincidentally with fellow former game show regular Orson Bean as her on-screen husband).

In the 1990s, Gillette starred in two Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, The Summer of Ben Tyler (1996) with James Woods and A Christmas Memory (1997) with Patty Duke. In 2004, Gillette appeared as Miss Mitzi, the lonely alcoholic owner of a struggling dance studio in Shall We Dance?, opposite Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon. She made several appearances as Grandma Betty on Fox's The War at Home (2005–2007); as Lily Flynn, the mother of criminalist Catherine Willows, in four episodes of CSI (2005–2007/2012); and the mother of Liz Lemon in two episodes of 30 Rock (2007/2010). She starred in the 2006 film Hiding Victoria.

Since 2010 she has had several guest-starring roles in such shows as: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2010), Shake it Up (2012), Modern Family (2013), Blue Bloods (2013), Elementary (2015), Public Morals (2015) and Chicago Med (2016). She played Rose Fitzgerald in the 2012 film The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, written, directed by, and starring Edward Burns.

Theatre

She made her Broadway debut in Gypsy in 1959. Additional Broadway credits include Carnival!, All American, Mr. President, Kelly, Jimmy, Guys and Dolls, Don't Drink the Water, Cabaret, They're Playing Our Song, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Chapter Two, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She received a 1960 Theatre World Award for her performance in Russell Patterson's Sketchbook. On February 17, 2020, Gillette was bestowed Honorary Member of The Lambs, America's oldest professional theatrical association.

In 2012, she was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal Off-Broadway.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Moonstruck	Mona
1988	Bum Rap	Drunk woman
1991	Undertow	Marlene
1992	Bob Roberts	Mrs. Davis
1995	Boys on the Side	Elaine
1996	Larger than Life	Mom
	She's the One	Carol
1998	Charlie Hoboken	Stepmother
2001	Dinner and a Movie	Heddie
	Early Bird Special	Betty
2002	The Guru	Mrs. McGee
2004	Shall We Dance?	Miss Mitzi
2005	The Great New Wonderful	Lainie
2006	The Last Adam	Betty Adams
	Hiding Victoria	Althea Jaffery
2012	The Fitzgerald Family Christmas	Rosie Fitzgerald

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	The Edge of Night	Franki	—
1961	Route 66	Nancy	Episode: "The Thin White Line"
1963	The Ed Sullivan Show	Singer	1 episode
1968	Pinocchio	Blue Fairy	Television film
1970	George M!	Ethel Levey
1971–1974	Love, American Style	Pat O'Brien	4 episodes
1972	Me and the Chimp	Liz Reynolds	13 episodes
1973	Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice	Alice Henderson	12 episodes
1975	A Matter of Wife... and Death	Helen Baker	Television film
1977	All That Glitters	Nancy Langston	2 episodes
	It Happened at Lakewood Manor	Peggy Kenter	Television film
1979	Trapper John, M.D.	Teresa Duvall	Episode: "Taxi in the Rain"
1979–1983	Quincy, M.E.	Dr. Emily Hanover / Helen Quincy	17 episodes
1980	Marathon	Anita	Television film
1982	Another World	Loretta Shea	Episode #1.4498
1985	Brass	Sister Mary Elizabeth	Television film
1986	St. Elsewhere	Maureen Westphall	Episode: "Time Heals: Part 1"
	Search for Tomorrow	Wilma Holliday	Episode: "Finale"
	You Again?	Sue	Episode: "Henry the Kissinger"
1987	Brothers	Flo Waters	Episode: "Love and Learn"
1988–1989	Almost Grown	Vi Long	13 episodes
1992	All My Children	Dee Dee Dunstin	3 episodes
1994	Mad About You	Claire Wicker	Episode: "When I'm Sixty-Four"
1996	Law & Order	Cookie Costello	Episode: "Remand"
	ABC Afterschool Special	Aunt Rita	Episode: "Through Thick & Thin"
	The Summer of Ben Tyler	Suellen	Television film
	Jules	Herky
1997	A Christmas Memory	Callie
2000	Frasier	Mrs. Wojadubakowski	Episode: "Whine Club"
	Sex and the City	Mrs. Adams	Episode: "Hot Child in the City"
	Normal, Ohio	Joan Gamble	12 episodes
2001	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Loretta Marlon	Episode: "Poison"
2003	Queens Supreme	Mrs. DeSipio	Episode: "Case by Case"
2005–2007	The War at Home	Betty	5 episodes
2005–2010	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Lily Flynn	4 episodes
2007	Women's Murder Club	Winnie Spencer	Episode: "Grannies, Guns and Love Mints"
2007, 2010	30 Rock	Margaret Lemon	2 episodes
2009	Cold Case	Grace Stearns '09	Episode: "The Crossing"
2010	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Judge Sheila Tripler	2 episodes
2012	Shake It Up	Edie Wilde	Episode: "Rock and Roll It Up"
2013	Modern Family	Annie	Episode: "Goodnight Gracie"
	Blue Bloods	Colleen McGuire	Episode: "Bad Blood"
2015	Elementary	Claire Renziger	Episode: "A Stitch in Time"
	Public Morals	Eileen	2 episodes
2016	Chicago Med	Ruth	Episode: "Extreme Measures"
2018–2019	After Forever	Frannie	7 episodes

External links

• Anita Gillette at IMDb
• Anita Gillette at the Internet Broadway Database
• Anita Gillette at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Facebook page (official)