Swoosie Kurtz Biography

Swoosie Kurtz (, ; born September 6, 1944) is an American actress. She began her career in theater during the 1970s and shortly thereafter began a career in television, garnering ten nominations and winning one Emmy Award. Her most famous television project was her role on the 1990s NBC drama Sisters. She has also appeared somewhat sporadically in films from the late 1970s up until today, including prominent roles in such films as Dangerous Liaisons, Citizen Ruth, and Liar Liar among others. Throughout her career she has remained active in theater, earning five Tony Award nominations and winning two over the last three decades. Kurtz currently portrays Joyce Flynn on the hit CBS sitcom Mike & Molly.

Early life

Kurtz was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the only child of author Margaret "Margo" (née Rogers) and Air Force Colonel Frank Allen Kurtz, Jr., a much-decorated WWII American bomber pilot. She got her unique first name "Swoosie" (which rhymes with Lucy, rather than woozy) from her father. It is derived from the sole surviving example of the B-17D Flying Fortress airplane, named "The Swoose" or simply "Swoose""?half swan, half goose"?which her father piloted and broke all speed records in the Pacific during World War II. As a military brat, Kurtz moved frequently. Kurtz attended the University of Southern California where she majored in drama. She then attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

Kurtz's first television appearance at age seventeen was on The Donna Reed Show 4th season episode "The Golden Trap" (February, 1962). She also appeared on To Tell the Truth at eighteen, identifying her father from two impostors. Kurtz began her career in theater, making her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of Ah, Wilderness!. She first gained wide recognition in 1978 for two theatrical productions, Uncommon Women and Others, the breakthrough play by Wendy Wasserstein in which she appeared in a 1977 workshop at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and then Off-Broadway, and the musical A History of the American Film for which she won a Drama Desk Award. Kurtz was soon awarded Broadway's "triple crown" (the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards) for her portrayal of Gwen in Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July. She won a second Tony for her performance as Bananas in a 1986 revival of The House of Blue Leaves by John Guare. She starred as playwright Lillian Hellman in the 2002 Nora Ephron play Imaginary Friends.

In 1978, Kurtz was part of the ensemble cast of Mary Tyler Moore's short-lived variety series Mary, that also included David Letterman and Michael Keaton. In 1981, Kurtz began two seasons alongside Tony Randall in the sitcom Love, Sidney, in a role that earned her the first of her 10 Emmy Award nominations. In 1990, she won her first Emmy for a guest-starring role on Carol Burnett's comedy series Carol & Company.

From 1991 to 1996, Kurtz had her longest-running television role, starring as wealthy divorcee Alex Reed Halsey on the NBC drama Sisters, a role that earned her two more Emmy Award nominations.

In recent years, Kurtz has guest-starred on the hit shows ER and Lost and Desperate Housewives and has also had recurring roles as Valerie on the drama That's Life, as Judy's mother Helen on the sitcom Still Standing, as Madeleine Sullivan on the Showtime drama series Huff, and most recently as part of a lesbian married couple with Blythe Danner in the TV drama Nurse Jackie.

Although her main focus has been television, Kurtz has starred in several major Hollywood films including the Agatha Christie drama Caribbean Mystery in 1983, Dangerous Liaisons in 1988, its 1999 remake Cruel Intentions, as a lesbian activist in the acclaimed indie film Citizen Ruth, and perhaps most notably, alongside Jim Carrey in 1997's Liar Liar.

She starred in the ABC television series Pushing Daisies as Lily Charles.

Kurtz can be currently seen in CBS sitcom Mike & Molly as Joyce Flynn, mother of Molly (Melissa McCarthy) and Victoria (Katy Mixon).

In Popular Culture

In A.R. Gurney's stage play "The Cocktail Hour," John (a playwright) and his father discuss how much they admired seeing Swoosie Kurtz in a production of one of John's plays.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1968	The Firebugs	Ann
1970	The Effect of Gamma Rays	Tillie/Janice Vickery
1977	Slap Shot	Shirley Upton
1977	First Love	Marsha
1978	Oliver's Story	Gwen Simpson
1979	Walking Through the Fire	Caria	TV movie
1980	Marriage is Alive and Well	Jane Tremont	TV movie
1980	The Mating Season	Roberta	TV movie
1982	The World According to Garp	The Hooker
1983	A Caribbean Mystery	Ruth Walter
1984	Against All Odds	Edie
1985	Guilty Conscience	Jackie Willis	TV movie
1985	A Time to Live	Patricia	TV movie
1986	Wildcats	Verna McGrath
1986	True Stories	Miss Rollings
1988	Baja Oklahoma	Doris Steadman	Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1988	Vice Versa	Tina Brooks / Turk
1988	Bright Lights, Big City	Megan
1988	Dangerous Liaisons	Madame de Volanges
1989	Stanley & Iris	Sharon
1990	The Image	Joanne Winstow-Darvish	Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1990	A Shock to the System	Leslie Marshall
1991	Walking the Dog	Unknown	Short
1991	Terror on Track 9	Marcia Hobbs	TV movie
1993	The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader- Murdering Mom	Marla Harper	TV movie
1993	And the Band Played On	Mrs. Johnstone	CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1994	Reality Bites	Charlane McGregor
1994	One Christmas	Emily	TV movie
1995	Betrayed: A Story of Three Women	Joan Bixler	TV movie
1996	Citizen Ruth'	Diane Siegler
1996	A Promise to Carolyn	Kay	TV movie
1996	Harvey	Veta Simmons	TV movie
1996	Storybook	Queen Evilia
1997	Little Girls in Pretty Boxes	Allison Bryant	TV movie
1997	Liar Liar	Dana Appleton
1998	My Own Country	Hope Flanders	TV movie
1998	Outside Ozona	Rosalee
1999	Cruel Intentions	Dr. Greenbaum
1999	The White River Kid	Mummy Weed
2001	Get Over It	Beverly Landers
2001	Bubble Boy	Mrs. Livingston
2001	The Wilde Girls	Sierra Lambert	TV movie
2002	The Rules of Attraction	Mrs. Jared
2003	Duplex	Jean	aka Our House
2004	Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes	Binny Redwine
2005	True	Unknown	TV movie
2005	Category 7: The End of the World	Penny Hall	TV movie
2005	Nadine in Date Land	Unknown	TV movie
2007	Superman: Doomsday	Martha Kent (voice)
2008	Living Proof	Elizabeth	TV movie
2009	An Englishman in New York	Connie Clausen
Television
1971	As the World Turns	Ellie Bradley	Unknown episodes
1976	Kojak	Julie Di Nata	Episode: "Black Thorn"
1978	Mary	Skit characters	Unknown episodes
1979	Uncommon Women and Others	Rita Altabel	Unknown episodes
1981"83	Love, Sidney	Laurie Morgan	44 episodes Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1982, 1983)
1987	American Playhouse	Bananas Shaughnessy / Gwen Landis	2 episodes
1987	Trying Times	Wanda	Episode: "The Visit"
1990	Carol & Company	Laurie	Episode: "Reunion" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
1995	Hope and Gloria	Herself	Episode: "How to Get an Ed in Business"
1995	The Magic School Bus	Dorothy Ann's Mom / NASA Woman (voice)	Episode: "Out of This World"
1991"96	Sisters	Alexandra 'Alex' Reed Halsey Barker	127 episodes Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (1995) Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1993, 1994)
1996	Party Girl	Judy Burkhard	3 episodes
1997	Touched by an Angel	Libby King	Episode: "Charades"
1996"97	Suddenly Susan	Liz Miller Keane	3 episodes
1998	ER	Tina Marie Chambliss	Episode: "Suffer the Little Children" Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1998	More Tales of the City	Betty Borg Ramsey	3 episodes
1999"00	Love & Money	Effie Conklin	13 episodes
2000	The Outer Limits	Justice Kendall Woods	Episode: "Final Appeal"
2001	The Fighting Fitzgeralds	Unknown	Episode: "When Irish Eyes Are Smilin'"
2001"02	That's Life	Valerie Wilkinson	4 episodes
2002	Street Time	Victoria Van Kleek	Episode: "The Truth Hurts... Bad"
2003	The Wild Thornberrys	Michelle Naidell (voice)	Episode: "The Wild Snob-berry"
2005	Lost	Emily Annabeth Locke	Episode: "Deus Ex Machina"
2005"present	American Dad!	Betty Smith	Recurring role
2005	Still Standing	Helen Michaels	2 episodes
2004"06	Huff	Madeleine Sullivan	8 episodes Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (2005, 2006)
2007"09	Pushing Daisies	Lily Charles	22 episodes
2009	Desperate Housewives	Jessie	Episode: "The Story of Lucy and Jessie"
2009	Heroes	Millie Houston	2 episodes
2009	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Judge Hilda Marsden	Episode: "Crush"
2009	Rita Rocks	Marilyn	4 episodes
2010	Chuck	Laura Turner	Episode: "Chuck Versus the Role Models"
2009"11	Nurse Jackie	Mrs. Scheinhorn	2 episodes
2010"present	Mike & Molly	Joyce Flynn	Main Cast

Theatre credits

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1968	The Firebugs	Ann	Martinique Theatre July 1, 1968 " July 7, 1968
1970	The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds	Janice Vickery	Mercer Arts Center April 07, 1970 " May 14, 1972
1975	Ah, Wilderness!	Muriel McComber	Circle in the Square Theatre September 18, 1975 " November 23, 1975
1976	Children	Jane	Stage 73 October 20, 1976
1977	Uncommon Women and Others	Rita Altabel	Marymount Manhattan Theatre November 17, 1977 " December 4, 1977
1977	Tartuffe	Mariane	Circle in the Square Theatre September 25, 1977 " November 20, 1977
1978	A History of the American Film	Bette	ANTA Playhouse March 30, 1978 " April 16, 1978
1979	Wine Untouched	Unknown	Harold Clurman Theater June 18, 1979 " June 28, 1979
1980	Fifth of July	Gwen Landis	New Apollo Theatre November 5, 1980 " January 24, 1982
1985	The Beach House	Annie	Circle Repertory Company December 19, 1985 " February 2, 1986
1986	The House of Blue Leaves	Bananas Shaughnessy	Vivian Beaumont Theater April 29, 1986 " March 15, 1987
1989	Love Letters	Melissa Gardner (replacement)	Edison Theatre November 14, 1989 " November 19, 1989
1991	Lips Together, Teeth Apart	Sally Truman	New York City Center May 28, 1991 " January 5, 1992
1999	The Mineola Twins	Myrna/Myra	Laura Pels Theatre February 18, 1999 " May 30, 1999
1999	The Vagina Monologues	Unknown	Westside Theatre October 03, 1999 " January 26, 2003
2002	The Guys	Unknown	The Flea Theater January 17, 2002 " December 20, 2002
2002	Imaginary Friends	Lillian Hellman	Ethel Barrymore Theatre December 12, 2002 " February 16, 2003
2003	Intrigue with Faye	Woman	Acorn Theater June 11, 2003 " July 16, 2003
2004	Frozen	Nancy	Circle in the Square Theatre May 4, 2004 " August 22, 2004
2006	Heartbreak House	Hesione Hushabye	American Airlines Theatre October 11, 2006 " December 17, 2006

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated Work	Result
1978	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play	Tartuffe
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play	Uncommon Women and Others
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical	A History of the American Film
1981	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play	Fifth of July
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actress in a Play
1986	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play	The House of Blue Leaves
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Play
1999	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actress in a Play	The Mineola Twins
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actress in a Play
2004	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play	Frozen
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actress in a Play
2007	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play	Heartbreak House