Imogene Coca (November 18, 1908 - June 2, 2001)

A short frumpy character actress that knew how to make everyone laugh. She used her talents to emerge as one of the very first women on television to make everyone laugh - behind Lucille Ball and Gracie Allen of course. In the 1930's she made many appearances on Broadway and eventually made her way into the movies in 1937. In 1950 she became a regular performer on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows." The series ran from 1950 until 1954. In 1954 she was given her own self titled show in which she played a character named Betty Crane. It was canceled in 1955. Her television guest appearance credits include "The Colgate Comedy Hour", "Person to Person", "The Steve Allen Show", "Pantomime Quiz", "The Dean Martin Show", "What's My Line?", "The Hollywood Squares", "The Jackie Gleason Show", "The Carol Burnett Show", "Toast of the Town", "The Merv Griffin Show", "The Bob Hope Show", "The United States Steel Hour", "Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre", "Playhouse 90", "General Electric Theater", "Bewitched", "Night Gallery", "The Brady Bunch", "Love, American Style", "Trapper John, M.D.", "Fantasy Island", "Mama's Family" and "Moonlighting." In 1981, she replaced the late Irene Ryan in the TV movie "Return of the Beverly Hillbillies." The movie saw her as Granny's 104-year-old mother. 1983 was the year that she entered into cinema history. She played the role of the acid tongued Aunt Edna in National Lampoon's Vacation. Her final acting role was on "Monsters", the episode originally aired on October 1, 1989. In Memoriam Remembers: Imogene Coca

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