Georgia Engel made her film debut in Milos Forman's first American-financed film, 1971's TAKING OFF. In this comedy-drama, "Jeannie Tyne" (Linnea Heacock), unable to deal with her parents, runs away from home. "Larry and Lynn Tyne" (Buck Henry and Lynn Carlin) search for her, and in the process meet other people whose children have run away. Lynn Tyne is shocked to learn that her best friends, "Margot" (Engel) and "Tony" (Tony Harvey), still have sex several times a day.
TAKING OFF was nominated for six BAFTA awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Lynn Carlin), Best Supporting Actress (Georgia Engel), Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay. Georgia Engel lost the Supporting Actress Award to Margaret Leighton for THE GO-BETWEEN. The film did not have an original music score.
In the 1972 thriller THE OUTSIDE MAN, Georgia Engel plays a young woman, "Jane Barnes," who becomes involved with professional assassin "Lucien Bellon" (Jean-Louis Trintignant) when he hides in her parked car while escaping an attempt on his life. When Jane returns to the car, Bellon demands at gunpoint that she take him to her apartment.
Jacques Deray directed the film. Seven minutes of Michel Legrand's score was released by Universal France on a 2008 compilation CD.
Jean-Louis Trintignant and Georgia Engel in THE OUTSIDE MAN
Originally, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was to be about a divorced woman. But divorce was still a somewhat taboo television subject in 1970, and CBS was also afraid people would think that Mary Tyler Moore had divorced “Rob Petrie,” her character's husband on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” So Mary's character was changed to a woman with a broken engagement.
Georgia Engel played "Georgette Franklin Baxter" on the show from 1972 to 1977 (Seasons 3 through 7). She was the somewhat ditzy girlfriend (and later wife) of stentorian news anchor "Ted Baxter" (played by Ted Knight). Mary Tyler Moore described her as a cross between Stan Laurel and Marilyn Monroe. She and Mary got along fantastically, and she helped to somewhat fill the void that "Phyllis Lindstrom" (Cloris Leachman) and "Rhoda Morgenstern" (Valerie Harper) left in Mary's life when they departed for San Francisco and New York City, respectively.
Georgette made her first appearance at one of Mary Richards' parties. She worked as a window dresser at Hempel's Department Store in Minneapolis along with Rhoda Morgenstern. Later, she worked for a car rental service, as a Golden Girl, and for Rhoda selling plants. Georgette was devoted to Ted and they would eventually marry in Mary's apartment on an 8 November 1975 episode. They adopt a child named "David" (Robbie Rist), and later, she gives birth to a girl named "Mary Lou," also in Mary's apartment.
In 2013, the women of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"--Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, Mary Tyler Moore, Betty White, and Georgia Engel--reunited on the TV Land sitcom "Hot In Cleveland," which aired on September 4. Katie Couric interviewed the cast on her show "Katie" as they celebrated acting together for the first time in more than 30 years. It would be their final time on-screen together, as Mary Tyler Moore died in January 2017.
Ted Knight, Georgia Engel, and Mary Tyler Moore in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
Legendary ballplayer and humanitarian Lou Gehrig (Edward Herrmann) and his relationship with his stalwart wife, Eleanor (Blythe Danner) were portrayed in the 1978 made-for-television film A LOVE AFFAIR: THE ELEANOR AND LOU GEHRIG STORY. The film focused on the Hall of Famer's life off the baseball field, and took unflinching looks at the Gehrig's relationship, as well as Lou's feud with Babe Ruth (Ramon Bieri). Georgia Engel played Babe Ruth's second wife Claire in the film.
Originally, the film was to have premiered in October 1977, but ironically it was preempted by the World Series. Instead it had its initial airing on NBC on 15 January 1978, opposite the Super Bowl! Fielder Cook directed the film, which has an unreleased score by Eddie Lawrence Manson.
After "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" ended its seven-year run in the spring of 1977, production company MTM decided to give co-star Betty White (who had played "Sue Ann Nivens" on the show) a shot at her own series. "The Betty White Show" saw White playing "Joyce Whitman," a middle-aged actress, who lands the lead role in a fictitious police series, "Undercover Woman" (a parody of Angie Dickinson's "Police Woman"). Joyce is thrilled with the show, but less pleased to learn that the director is her ex-husband, "John Elliot" (John Hillerman), whom she un-fondly refers to as "old pickle puss." He responds in kind, supplying his star with an over-sized male double named "Hugo" (Charles Cyphers), a sexy, much younger onscreen sidekick (Caren Kaye), and dialogue not nearly as sharp as her tongue. Also on hand is Joyce's best friend, "Mitzi Maloney" (Georgia Engel, also a veteran of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show").
CBS scheduled the fall 1977 sitcom opposite ABC's "Monday Night Football" (the #16 rated series for the year) and "NBC Monday Night at the Movies" (#15), and the show failed to generate viewers, even as counter-programming. The show was canceled after fourteen episodes.
In the Fall of 1979, ABC was looking for a situation comedy to fill a hole in its schedule on Tuesdays at 8:30 PM, between its popular shows "Happy Days" (#17 in the ratings) and "Three's Company" (#2). "Angie," a series starring Donna Pescow had been carried over from the previous season, but didn't do well even against the weak competition on CBS ("California Fever") and NBC ("The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo"). At midseason, ABC tried "One In a Million," a starring vehicle for comedian Shirley Hemphill after the success of "What's Happening!!" (1976–79) in which she played a supporting role. After two episodes, ABC moved the show to Saturday night where it died after only 13 episodes.
Finally, ABC went with "Goodtime Girls". Set in Washington, D.C., in 1942, "Goodtime Girls" told the story of four women who found themselves having to share a small attic apartment at the Coolidge Boarding House, due to a regional apartment shortage, which occurred as a result of women striking out on their own and supporting themselves during wartime. In the beginning, three of the girls--"Edith Bedelmeyer" (Annie Potts), Sioux City native "Betty Crandall" (Lorna Patterson), and "Loretta Smoot" (Georgia Engel)--had agreed to share space together in the attic at Coolidge. However, just when they thought things couldn't get more cramped, "Camille Rittenhouse" (Francine Tacker), a snobbish reporter who was writing a newspaper story on the apartment shortage, wound up being their fourth roommate when she herself lost her apartment and was in need of a new place.
"Goodtime Girls" premiered on 22 January 1980 on Tuesday nights, immediately following "Happy Days." ABC kept the show on through the end of February sweeps, but then pulled it off the schedule for over a month until it returned in April, when it then aired for three consecutive weeks in a Saturday 8:30 slot. The show was then taken off again, and since it garnered small audiences during both these runs, the network officially cancelled the show in May 1980. Five more original episodes turned up on Fridays at 8:30 that August, leading up to the final produced episode's broadcast on August 29, 1980.
ABC would find the show it was looking for the following month, when the Fall 1980 television season opened with ABC moving its popular sitcom "Laverne and Shirley" in the Tuesday 8:30 slot.
The cast of "Goodtime Girls" with Georgia Engel (upper right corner)
In the fantasy sitcom "Jennifer Slept Here", Ann Jillian played "Jennifer Farrell," a once-popular movie actress who in 1963 made the unfortunate mistake of chasing an ice cream truck near her Los Angeles home. When the ice cream truck accidentally backed up, it ran her over, killing her. About twenty years later, the Elliot family moved from New York City into Jennifer's home. Father "George" (Brandon Maggart) is a lawyer who had handled Jennifer's posthumous affairs, including the house. George's wife, "Susan" (Georgia Engel), is a concerned and understanding figure. Daughter "Marilyn" (Mya Stark) was a typical 8-year-old. Jennifer mentors and befriends the family's teenage son, "Joey" (John P. Navin Jr.), who was the only person to whom she made herself visible.
NBC premiered the series on Friday, 21 October 1983 at 8:30 PM. The show was opposite "The Dukes of Hazard" on CBS and ABC's popular sitcom "Webster" (#25 for the year) on ABC. "Jennifer Slept Here" never found its footing and was cancelled after 13 episodes. The series theme song, also titled "Jennifer Slept Here", was written by Joey Murcia, Bill Payne, Clint Holmes, and series star Ann Jillian, and was performed by recording artist Joey Scarbury.
The cast of "Jennifer Slept Here" with Georgia Engel (center)
In the 2006 animated film OPEN SEASON, Georgia Engel was the voice of "Bobbie," an obese woman who is the owner of "Mr. Weenie" (Cody Cameron), a domesticated, German-accented dachshund. Roger Allers, Jill Culton, and Anthony Stacchi co-directed the film. None of Ramin Djawadi's score appeared on the song-track CD released by Lost Highway Records. Georgia Engel would reprise her character of "Bobbie" in the film's sequels: OPEN SEASON 2 (2008) and OPEN SEASON 3 (2010).
Georgia Engel provided one of the more reliable characterizations on television for nearly 50 years. She rarely strayed from the sweet, goofy, friend that she honed to perfection on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." In 2003-04 she had a recurring role ("Pat MacDougall") on 14 episodes of "Everybody Loves Raymond" that lasted as long as any of her post-"Mary" sitcoms.
Engel received 5 Emmy nominations --two for "Mary Tyler Moore" and three for "Everybody Loves Raymond." Farewell, Georgia.
Georgia Engel on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
Georgia Engel with Fred Willard on "Everybody Loves Raymond"
Georgia Engel in her final film appearance on "One Day at a Time" (2018)
In the fantasy sitcom "Jennifer Slept Here", Ann Jillian played "Jennifer Farrell," a once-popular movie actress who in 1963 made the unfortunate mistake of chasing an ice cream truck near her Los Angeles home. When the ice cream truck accidentally backed up, it ran her over, killing her. About twenty years later, the Elliot family moved from New York City into Jennifer's home. Father "George" (Brandon Maggart) is a lawyer who had handled Jennifer's posthumous affairs, including the house. George's wife, "Susan" (Georgia Engel), is a concerned and understanding figure. Daughter "Marilyn" (Mya Stark) was a typical 8-year-old. Jennifer mentors and befriends the family's teenage son, "Joey" (John P. Navin Jr.), who was the only person to whom she made herself visible.
NBC premiered the series on Friday, 21 October 1983 at 8:30 PM. The show was opposite "The Dukes of Hazard" on CBS and ABC's popular sitcom "Webster" (#25 for the year) on ABC. "Jennifer Slept Here" never found its footing and was cancelled after 13 episodes. The series theme song, also titled "Jennifer Slept Here", was written by Joey Murcia, Bill Payne, Clint Holmes, and series star Ann Jillian, and was performed by recording artist Joey Scarbury.
The cast of "Jennifer Slept Here" with Georgia Engel (center)
I met Ann Jillian after a great concert that she gave back in Atlantic City in 1990. She is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met:-)
