Kathleen Freeman

Kathleen Freeman (born February 17, 1919; died August 23, 2001) was an American character actress in film, television, and stage whose career spanned more than fifty years. Most of her career seemed to be spent playing an array of tart maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors, almost invariably to comic effect. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Freeman began her career as a child, dancing in her parents' vaudeville act. After a stint studying music at UCLA, she went into acting full time, working on the stage, and finally entering films in 1948. Her most notable early role was an uncredited part in the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain, as Jean Hagen's articulate diction coach Phoebe Dinsmore. Beginning with the 1955 film Artists and Models, she became a favorite foil of Jerry Lewis, playing opposite him in ten movies. These included most of Lewis's better known comedies, including The Disorderly Orderly as Nurse Higgins, The Errand Boy as the studio boss's wife, and especially The Nutty Professor as Millie Lemon. Over thirty years later, she had a small cameo in The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, a sequel to the remake of the Lewis film.

External links

• {{imdb name|id=0293466|name=Kathleen Freeman}}
• Kathleen Freeman Remembered