Connie Sawyer

Connie Sawyer
Born	Rosie Cohen (1912-11-27) November 27, 1912 Pueblo, Colorado, United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1948-present

Connie Sawyer (born November 27, 1912), is an American actress. She was born in Pueblo, Colorado and grew up in Oakland, California.

Born Rosie Cohen in 1912 to Jewish immigrants from Romania, her early career included working as a stand-up comedian and nightclub performer. Sawyer's first television appearances were in The Milton Berle Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Jackie Gleason Show in the late 1940s. In 1959 she was cast in the comedy film A Hole in the Head, which starred Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson and Eleanor Parker. She had performed in the original Broadway play as Miss Wexler, a character she created. When Sinatra and co. bought the rights to the movie, the writer informed him that he hadn't written the part of Miss Wexler and Sinatra would have to ask Sawyer for rights to that character. Sinatra decided to hire Sawyer for his movie as the same role she played in the Broadway play. He later nominated her for membership in the Academy of Motion Pictures.

She continued to appear regularly on television, in such series as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O, Dynasty, When Harry Met Sally..., Murder, She Wrote, Home Improvement, Seinfeld, Boy Meets World, Will & Grace, That '70s Show, 8 Simple Rules, ER, How I Met Your Mother and The Office.

In 2012 Sawyer, at the age of 99, was one of the oldest members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She turned 100 in November 2012.

Author and gerontologist Jacob Appel MD paid tribute to Sawyer by modeling a minor character after her in his novel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up (2012).

Filmography

• Armstrong Circle Theatre (1 episode, 1953)
• The Jackie Gleason Show (2 episodes, 1954)
• A Hole in the Head (1959) - Miss Wexler
• Ada (1961) - Alice Sweet
• The Way West (1967) - Mrs. McBee
• The Andy Griffith Show (1 episode, 1968) - Mrs. Blanchard
• True Grit (1969) - Talkative woman at hanging
• Evil Roy Slade (1972) - Aggie Potter
• Hawaii Five-O (2 episodes, 1974-1979)
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1 episode, 1975)
• The Streets of San Francisco (2 episodes, 1976)
• Starsky and Hutch (2 episodes, 1977-1978)
• The Rockford Files (1 episode, 1978)
• Archie Bunker's Place (2 episodes, 1979)
• ...And Justice for All (1979) - Gitel
• Dynasty (1 episode, 1982)
• When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
• Murder, She Wrote (2 episodes, 1986-1991)
• In the Heat of the Night (1 episode, 1990)
• Dumb and Dumber (1994) - elderly lady
• Home Improvement (1 episode, 1995) - old lady
• Seinfeld (1 episode, 1997) - old lady
• Boy Meets World (2 episodes, 1998) - Foofie
• Becker (3 episodes, 1999) - Mrs. Yudelson
• ER (2 episodes, 1999-2006)
• Will & Grace (1 episode, 2000) - old lady
• That '70s Show (1 episode, 2000) - Aunt Pearl
• 8 Simple Rules (1 episode, 2003)
• How I Met Your Mother (2007, 1 episode) - old lady
• Pineapple Express (2008) - Faye Belogus
• The Office (1 episode, 2009) - Nana
• 2 Broke Girls (1 episode, 2013) - elderly lady
• Ray Donovan (2 episodes, 2013-2014) - Mrs. Sullivan

See also

• List of centenarians (actors, filmmakers and entertainers)

External links

• Connie Sawyer at IMDb