Person Details

Birthday: 1908-11-18 18:57:00

Death: 2001-06-02 18:57:00

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Female

Place of birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 3

TV Involvements: 6


Most Famous Work

Biography

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Imogene Fernandez de Coca (November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows. Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wished to have a serious career in music and dance, graduating to decades of stage musical revues, cabaret and summer stock. Finally in her 40s she began a celebrated career as a comedienne in television, starring in six series and guesting on successful television programs from the 1940s to the 1990s. She was nominated for five Emmy awards for Your Show of Shows, winning Best Actress in 1951 and singled out for a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting in 1953. Coca was also nominated for a Tony Award in 1978 for On the Twentieth Century and received a sixth Emmy nomination at the age of 80 for an episode of Moonlighting. She possessed a rubbery face capable of the broadest expressions—Life magazine compared her to Beatrice Lillie and Charlie Chaplin, and described her characterizations as taking "people or situations suspended in their own precarious balance between dignity and absurdity, and push(ing) them over the cliff with one single, pointed gesture"—the magazine noted a "particularly high-brow critic" as observing, "The trouble with most comedians who try to do satire is that they are essentially brash, noisy and indelicate people who have to use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly. Miss Coca, on the other hand, is the timid woman who, when aroused, can beat a tiger to death with a feather." In addition to vaudeville, cabaret, theater and television, she appeared in film, voiced children's cartoons and was even featured in an MTV video by a New Wave band. Though her fame began late, she worked well into her 80s. Twice a widow, Coca died in 2001. Description above from the Wikipedia article Imogene Coca, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Most Famous Work

The Bob Hope Show
Average
8

The Bob Hope Show

(1950) Self
Tony Awards
Average
5

Tony Awards

(1956) Self - Nominee/Performer
Reading Rainbow
Average
8

Reading Rainbow

(1983) Herself - Narrator (voice)
Night Gallery
Average
8

Night Gallery

(1970) Wife (segment "The Merciful")
This Is Your Life
Average
7

This Is Your Life

(1952) Self
Alice in Wonderland
Average
7

Alice in Wonderland

(1985) Cook
Too Easy to Kill
Average
0

Too Easy to Kill

(1975) Mrs. Bradshaw
Papa Was a Preacher
Average
0

Papa Was a Preacher

(1986) Missy B

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2012 Self
1996 Roxy
1990 N/A
1989 Reggie's Mother
1988 N/A
1987 Self - Host
1986 Missy B
1985 Cook
N/A
1984 Daisy Schackman
1983 Aunt Edna
Herself - Narrator (voice)
N/A
1981 Molly - Bag Lady
Granny's Maw
1980 Self
1979 N/A
1978 Herself
Madam Marie
1975 Mrs. Bradshaw
1973 N/A
1972 Princess Jane Klockenlocher
1970 Wife (segment "The Merciful")
1969 N/A
1967 Self
1966 Shad
1964 N/A
Self - Sketch Actor
Self - Host
1963 Miss Klutz (Ballerina)
Dorkus Murphy
Self
Grindl
Woman Under Hair Dryer (uncredited)
1962 Self
Self
1956 Self - Guest Performer
Self - Nominee/Performer
1954 Host
1953 Virginia Odell
1952 Self
1950 Self
Self
Herself
Self - Mystery Guest
1949 N/A
1948 N/A
Self
1937 Esmeralda
Year Character Movie/Tv

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