Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan Biography

 Distinctive American character actor and sometime leading lady with a smoky voice, curly hair and a slightly wild-eyed expression, adept at both dramas and zany comedy. Brennan enjoyed stage success in the early 1960s in "Little Mary Sunshine" (1960, which won her an Obie Award) and "Hello, Dolly!" (1964). She began a prolific run of TV appearances beginning later in the decade, most notably on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" where her zippy comic timing garnered nationwide attention. Although success in features was gradual, Brennan did rack up several very interesting credits in films including "The Last Picture Show" (1971), "The Sting" (1973) and "Daisy Miller" (1974).
Brennan had long displayed a keen sense of camp by this point in her career, and in "At Long Last Love" (1975) showed an affinity for the glories of classical Hollywood's tough but good-hearted working women of 30s backstage musicals and 40s film noirs. Her greatest success in features came in the late 70s as tough but neurotic old-style dames in comedies including "Murder by Death" (1976) and "The Cheap Detective" (1978). Her work as a tough Army captain in "Private Benjamin" (1980), meanwhile, showed a nuanced yet disciplined reining in of her flair for the outlandish, and she won a supporting Oscar nomination for her efforts.
Brennan recreated her role (and won an Emmy) as the hardened Captain Lewis in the early 80s sitcom of the same name. Her career, though, was put on hold for several years after a car accident confined her to a wheelchair. Brennan was later quite open about the dangers of becoming addicted to prescription painkillers, and successfully resumed her acting career in 1985. Her feature films ("Clue" 1985, "Texasville" 1990, "Jeepers Creepers" 2001) have generally been a bit disappointing, but Brennan has managed to enliven the small screen since the late 80s with memorable TV guest spots, including Emmy-nominated turns on "Newhart" and "thirtysomething".

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan 'singing' La Vie En Rose.

Eileen Brennan - La Vie en Rose