Madeline Kahn

Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an American actress of movie, television, and theater.

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Kahn was born in Boston, Massachusetts, as Madeline Gail Wolfson to a Jewish family. Her mother, Paula, was 17 when Kahn was born. Although Kahn's parents were high-school sweethearts, they divorced when she was 2. After the divorce was finalized, Kahn and her mother moved to New York City. A few years later, her mother remarried and this union gave Kahn two half-siblings (Jeffrey and Robyn). In 1948, Kahn was sent to a progressive boarding school in Pennsylvania and stayed there until 1952. During that time, her mother pursued her ambition as an actress. Ironically, Kahn soon began acting herself and performed in a number of school productions. In 1960, she graduated from the Martin Van Buren High School in Queens, NY where she earned a drama scholarship to Hofstra University. At Hofstra, she studied music, drama, and speech therapy and also performed in several campus productions. After changing her major a number of times, Kahn graduated in 1964 with a degree in speech therapy.

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Kahn began auditioning for professional acting roles shortly after her graduation from Hofstra; on the side, she briefly taught public school in Levittown, NY. Just before adopting the professional name of Madeline Kahn (Kahn was her stepfather's last name), she made her stage debut as a chorus girl in a revival of Kiss Me, Kate which led her to join the Actors' Equity. In 1968, she earned her first break on Broadway with New Faces of 1968 and then performed her first lead role in the musical Candide. She debuted in the movies that same year with a role in De D?va: The Dove. Her most famous roles followed in the 1970s: she appeared in What's Up, Doc? (1972), Paper Moon (1973), Young Frankenstein (1974), Blazing Saddles (1974), and High Anxiety (1977). The final three films were all directed by Mel Brooks, who many Hollywood observers claimed was able to bring out the best of Kahn's comic talents. For her work in Paper Moon and Blazing Saddles, the young comedienne received nominations for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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Kahn's roles were primarily comedic rather than dramatic. After her success in Brooks's films, she played in a number of less successful films in the 1980s. At the end of her career, she returned to the stage and won a Tony Award for her role in The Sisters Rosensweig, a play by Wendy Wasserstein. In the final years of her life, she played a major role on the sitcom Cosby and voiced Gypsy the moth in A Bug's Life, before succumbing to ovarian cancer on December 3, 1999. She was only 57 years old.

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She was survived by her husband (John Hansbury), mother (Paula Kahn), brother (Jeffrey Kahn), and niece (Eliza Kahn).

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In the early 1990s, Kahn recorded a voice for the animated movie The Magic 7; along with John Candy, she will be one of two deceased actors with voices in that movie.

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September 29: September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). There are 93 days remaining....

1942: This article is about the year. For the 1984 Capcom arcade game, see 1942 (video game)....

1999: :For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album)...

Madeline Kahn related Images and Photos (experimental)

Madeline Kahn	Madeline Smith	Madeline: Lost in Paris	Wolf Kahn 2012 Wall Calendar
Wolf Kahn 2012 Mini Wall Calendar	Man Ray Madeline Ansbach Robert Desnos and Leonard Fujita circa 1930	Wolf Kahn 2011 Softcover Engagement Calendar	A Harem Knight Ben Turpin Top; Madeline Hurlock 1926
Wonderful World of Albert Kahn, The (Archives of the Planet)	The Fall of the House of Usher Roderick and His Twin Sister Madeline Inside the House