Margaret Kathleen Regan (September 14, 1919 – April 10, 1980), better known as Kay Medford, was an American actress. For her performance as Rose Brice in the musical '' Funny Girl'' and the film adaptation of the same name, she was nominated for a

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical has been presented since 1950. The award was not given at the first three Tony Award ceremonies. Nominees were not announced publicly until 1956. Winners and nominees 1950s ...

and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress respectively.

Early years

Medford was born in 1919. Her mother had been an actress with a Shakespearean stock group in Connecticut. She was orphaned in her teens. She adopted the name Kay Medford professionally, and began her career after graduating from high school and working as a nightclub waitress.

Career

Medford began entertaining professionally by performing at summer resorts in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

. In 1949, she toured with a nightclub routine in which she did impersonations of Hollywood celebrities. Medford was the original Mae Peterson (Albert's mother) in ''

Bye Bye Birdie ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart. Originally titled ''Let's Go Steady'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is set in 1958. The short story "Dream Man", authored ...

'' on Broadway, garnering excellent reviews. Medford appeared in the

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

rock and roll film, '' Jamboree'' (1957). She made her Broadway debut in 1951 in the musical '' Paint Your Wagon''. She was cast in ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

'', then appeared onstage in '' Funny Girl'' as the mother of

Fanny Brice Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedienne, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. S ...

(played by

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

); for this performance she was nominated for a 1964

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

for Featured Actress (Musical), and when she repeated the role in the 1968 film adaptation, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her many film credits included roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''

The Rat Race ''The Rat Race'' is a 1960 American drama film adapted from the play of the same name by Garson Kanin. Directed by Robert Mulligan, it stars Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds as struggling young entertainment professionals in New York City. Film ...

'' (1960), ''

BUtterfield 8 ''BUtterfield 8'' is a 1960 American drama film directed by Daniel Mann, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. Taylor won her first Academy Award for her performance in a leading role. The film was based on a 1935 novel of the same nam ...

'' (1960), ''

Girl of the Night ''Girl of the Night'' is a film drama starring Anne Francis, made in 1960 by . It was based on a best-seller 1958 book by Harold Greenwald, '' The Call Girl''. Plot A taxi driver picks up a woman running through the streets. Her name is Robin ...

'' (1960), ''

Ensign Pulver ''Ensign Pulver'' is a 1964 American Technicolor film in Panavision and a sequel to the 1955 film '' Mister Roberts''. The film stars Robert Walker Jr., Burl Ives, Walter Matthau and Tommy Sands and features Millie Perkins, Larry Hagman, K ...

'' (1964), ''

A Fine Madness ''A Fine Madness'' is a 1966 American Technicolor comedy film based on the 1964 novel by Elliott Baker that tells the story of Samson Shillitoe, a frustrated poet unable to finish a grand tome. It stars Sean Connery (in the midst of his James Bond ...

'' (1966), '' The Busy Body'' (1967), ''

Angel in My Pocket ''Angel in My Pocket'' is a 1969 American comedy film directed by Alan Rafkin and starring Andy Griffith. One of three films originally planned by Universal Pictures to star Griffith, it also features Lee Meriwether, Jerry Van Dyke, Kay Medford, ...

'' (1969), '' Twinky'' (1969), ''

But I Don't Want to Get Married! ''But I Don't Want to Get Married!'' is a 1970 American made-for-television comedy film starring Herschel Bernardi, Shirley Jones, Brandon Cruz, Nanette Fabray and June Lockhart. It was aired on October 6, 1970 in the ''ABC Movie of the Week'' ...

'' (1970), ''

Fire Sale A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. It may or may not be defined as a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventory ...

'' (1977), and ''

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

'' (1980). On television, Medford portrayed Harriet Endicott on '' To Rome with Love'', Gloria's mother on '' That's Life'', and Maria's mother on '' On Our Own'', and was a member of the cast of ''

The Dean Martin Show ''The Dean Martin Show'', not to be confused with the ''Dean Martin Variety Show'' (1959–1960), is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by Dean Martin. The theme song to the s ...

''. She also guest-starred on series, including ''

Decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lu ...

'', ''

Marcus Welby, M.D. Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...

'',''

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from Se ...

'', and ''

Barney Miller ''Barney Miller'' is an American sitcom television series set in a New York City Police Department police station on East 6th St in Greenwich Village. The series was broadcast on ABC Network from January 23, 1975, to May 20, 1982. It was created ...

''.

Death

Medford never married and had no children. She died of cancer in New York City in 1980, aged 60.Obituary
'' Sun Journal'', April 11, 1980 (archived); accessed October 17, 2014.

Partial filmography

References

External links

* * *
Genealogy profile #2
familysearch.org; accessed November 20, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Medford, Kay 1919 births 1980 deaths American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American people of Irish descent Actresses from New York City Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 20th-century American actresses