Connie Sawyer
Born: 1912-11-27 in Pueblo, Colorado, USA
Died: 2018-01-22
Known For: Acting
Biography
Connie Sawyer (born Rosie Cohen, November 27, 1912, in Pueblo, Colorado; died January 21, 2018, in Woodland Hills, California) was an American stage, film, and television actress of Romanian-Jewish descent, affectionately nicknamed "The Clown Princess of Comedy." She grew up in Oakland, California, began performing in vaudeville as a child, and appeared on variety television in the late 1940s and 1950s. Her first film role came at age 46 as Miss Wexler in Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head (1959, with Frank Sinatra and Edward G. Robinson), a part she had originated on Broadway. Over her nine-decade career she accumulated more than 140 credits and was still working past the age of 100, appearing on NCIS: Los Angeles (2013) and opposite Zooey Deschanel in New Girl (2014). Her most notable film credits include Mrs. McBee in The Way West (1967), a Woman at the Hanging in True Grit (1969, with John Wayne), a role in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), Mrs. Levi in The Man in the Glass Booth (1975, with Max von Sydow), a heavenly customer in Oh, God! (1977, with Goldie Hawn), Gitel in And Justice for All (1979, with Al Pacino), a Documentary Couple in When Harry Met Sally... (1989, with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan), the woman who steals Jim Carrey's wallet in Dumb and Dumber (1994), a role in Out of Sight (1998, with George Clooney and Steve Martin), Faye Belogus in Pineapple Express (2008, with Seth Rogen and James Franco), and Nana Bebe in Lovesick (2014, with Matt LeBlanc). On television she appeared in Seinfeld (1989), Will & Grace, ER (2006), The Office (2005), How I Met Your Mother (2007), 2 Broke Girls (2012), and Ray Donovan (2013, as James Woods's mother), with earlier credits in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970, 1975), Hawaii Five-O, Dynasty (1981), Murder, She Wrote (1986, 1991), Home Improvement (1991), and Archie Bunker's Place (1979).
Filmography
2019
- Sunset over Mulholland Drive as Self
2011
- New Girl as Oldest Woman in the World
- 2 Broke Girls as Elderly Lady
- Up All Night as Shopper
- Troupers
2010
- Due Date as Elderly Airport Passenger (uncredited)
2009
- NCIS: Los Angeles as Ida
2008
- Pineapple Express as Faye Belogus
2006
- Relative Strangers as Old Lady
2005
- The Office as Nana
- How I Met Your Mother as Old Lady
2004
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide as June
- Promised Land as Hazel
2003
- Something's Gotta Give as Lady in Market
- View from the Top as Grandma Stewart
2002
- 8 Simple Rules as Louise's Mother
2000
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as Old Lady
- Girlfriends as Martha
- The Michael Richards Show as Old Woman
1998
- That '70s Show as Aunt Pearl
- Will & Grace as Old Woman
- Becker as Mrs. Yudelson
- L.A. Doctors as Mrs. Connor
- Out of Sight as Old Elevator Lady
1997
- Veronica's Closet as Margaret
1996
- Scorpion Spring as Diner Waitress
1995
- Sliders as Winifred
- Unhappily Ever After as Old Woman
- It Came from Outer Space II as Mrs. Otis
- Abandoned and Deceived as Rose
1994
- ER as Kathy Brennan
- Dumb and Dumber as Elderly Lady
- Roseanne and Tom: Behind the Scenes as Motel Clerk
1993
- Boy Meets World as Foofie
- Dave's World as Mrs. Bondurant
1992
- The Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them as Waitress from Hell
- Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story as Elderly Woman
- Majority Rule as Mary
1991
- Home Improvement as Old Lady
- Blue Desert as Elderly Lady 1
1990
- Dream On as Aunt Ruth
- True Colors as Rita
- The Bonfire of the Vanities as Ruskin Family Member
- The End of Innocence as Grandma
1989
- Seinfeld as Old Woman
- When Harry Met Sally... as Documentary Couple
- Far from Home as Viney Hunt
- That's Adequate as Mrs. Duke Thorpe
1988
- Murphy Brown as Woman on Elevator
1987
- Jake and the Fatman as Helen
- Nights in White Satin as Martha the Bag Lady
1986
- Matlock as Mrs. Kowalski
1985
- 227
- Hot Chili as Mrs. Houston
- Do You Remember Love as Joan
1984
- Murder, She Wrote as Ethel
- V as Old Woman
- The Rosebud Beach Hotel as Carlotta
1983
1982
- Silver Spoons as Miss Bushmill
1981
- Dynasty
- Hill Street Blues as Bag Lady
1979
- Archie Bunker's Place
- ...And Justice for All as Gitel
- Fast Break as Mom
1978
- The President's Mistress as Cleaning Lady
1977
- Lou Grant as Woman
- Big Hawaii
- Oh, God! as Mrs. Green
- Little Ladies of the Night as Female Guard (uncredited)
1975
- Starsky & Hutch as Nurse
- Welcome Back, Kotter as Aunt Josephine
- The Man in the Glass Booth as Mrs. Levi
1974
- The Rockford Files as Mrs. Fornechefsky
- Good Times as Personnel Woman
1973
- Barnaby Jones as Manager
- Kojak as Landlady
- Doc Elliot as Mags Brimble
- The Bait as Bus Passenger
1972
- The Rookies
- The Streets of San Francisco as Woman Driver
- The Strangers in 7A as Mrs. Layton
- Evil Roy Slade as Aggie Potter
1971
- All in the Family as Mrs. McNab
- McMillan & Wife as Mrs. Goodbody
- Five Desperate Women as Mrs. Brown
1970
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show as The Neighbor
1969
- Hawaii Five-O as Sylvia Heller
- True Grit as Talkative Woman at Hanging (uncredited)
- Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice as Waitress (uncredited)
1968
- The Name of the Game as Mable
1967
- The Way West as Mrs. McBee
- A Bell for Adano as Laura Sofina
1966
- CBS Playhouse as Smoker Woman
- Love on a Rooftop as Woman
- The Last of the Secret Agents? as Florence (uncredited)
- For Pete's Sake
1965
- The F.B.I. as LaVerne
- Please Don't Eat the Daisies as Mabel
1963
- The Fugitive as Mrs. Ball
1962
- Stoney Burke as Liz
1961
- Dr. Kildare as Gladys
- Ada as Alice Sweet
1960
- The Andy Griffith Show as Ms. Blanchard
- Peter Loves Mary as Mrs. Brady
1959
- Bonanza as Mrs. Lewis
- A Hole in the Head as Miss Wexler
1958
- The Donna Reed Show as Mrs. Lubner
1954
1951
- The Red Skelton Show as Woman in Blue Feathers
1950
- The Colgate Comedy Hour as Self
1948
- Studio One as Mrs. McCall