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Miriam Flynn (born June 18, 1952) is an American
voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...
and character actress. She is best known as Cousin Catherine in the '' National Lampoon's Vacation'' and Grandma Longneck in '' The Land Before Time'' franchises. She has acted in other films and in several television series, the latter including a recurring role as Sister Helen on the
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...
/ WB sitcom '' Grounded for Life''.


Career


Second City

Before breaking into television, Flynn was a member of
the Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...
improv troupe in 1975. She appeared on stage alongside
Shelley Long Shelley Lee Long (born August 23, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and comedian. Long portrayed Diane Chambers on the hit sitcom ''Cheers'' and received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Ser ...
,
George Wendt George Robert Wendt Jr. (born October 17, 1948) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Norm Peterson on the television sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993), which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Em ...
,
Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and '' Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), '' ...
,
Catherine O'Hara Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her comedy work on '' Second City Television'' (1976–84) and ''Schitt's Creek'' (2015–2020) and in films such as '' After Hours'' (1985), '' Beetle ...
, and James Belushi.


Film and television

Flynn was a regular cast member in '' The Tim Conway Show'', a comedy-variety show that aired on CBS from March 1980 through summer 1981, acting in
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...
in each episode. She then starred in her own sitcom, '' Maggie'', on ABC, but the show was short-lived, airing in October and November 1981 and in April–May 1982 before being cancelled. She appeared in an episode of the classic television show
Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
entitled "Love Thy Neighbor" (Season 4, Episode 8, air date November 21, 1985) in which she played Phyllis Henshaw, Norm & Vera Peterson's next-door neighbor. In fall 1988, she co-starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom '' Raising Miranda''. In 1995, she was the voice of Maa the Ewe in the hit film, '' Babe''. In 1996–1997, she was a regular cast member in '' Malcolm & Eddie'', playing Kelly, a bar owner and landlord to the main characters, for the program's first season. From 2001 to 2005 she played the recurring character Sister Helen on the Fox/WB sitcom '' Grounded for Life''. In 2004, she played Coop's mom in ''
Megas XLR ''Megas XLR'' is an American animated television series created by Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic for Cartoon Network. The series revolves around two teenage slackers: mechanic Coop and his best friend Jamie, who find a mecha robot from the f ...
''. Flynn also appeared in an episode of ''
George Lopez George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American comedian and actor. He is known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican American culture. Lopez has rec ...
'' "George VS. George" (2003) episode. In that episode she played the role of Brenda, a bank employee. As a
voice artist Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
, Flynn has been featured in ''The Land Before Time'' series, as Grandma Longneck after
Linda Gary Linda Gary (born Linda Gary Dewoskin, November 4, 1944 – October 5, 1995) was an American actress. Career Live-action appearances Gary worked as a voice-over artist in animation and also appeared in two live-action films, 1977's ''Joyride T ...
's death in 1995; on both ''
Taz-Mania ''Taz-Mania'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 1991 to 1995, broadcast in the United States on Fox Kids. The show follows the adventures of the ''Looney Tunes'' character Taz (the Tasmanian Devil) in the f ...
'' and '' What-a-Mess'' as the title character's mother, Jean; as Poil in '' The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper''; and in ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ...
'' as well as Rudy's mother, Millie Tabootie on the
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
show, ''
ChalkZone ''ChalkZone'' is an American animated television series created by Bill Burnett and Larry Huber for Nickelodeon. The series follows Rudy Tabootie, an elementary school student who discovers a box of magic chalk that allows him to draw portals ...
'' and Aunt Vera on the Cartoon Network show, ''
Ben 10 ''Ben 10'' is an American media franchise created by Man of Action Studios, produced by Cartoon Network Studios and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The series centers on a boy named Ben Tennyson who acquires the Omnitrix, an alien device res ...
''. Her best known film role is as Cousin Catherine in '' National Lampoon's Vacation'' (1983), ''
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'' is a 1989 American Christmas film, Christmas comedy film and the third installment in National Lampoon (magazine), ''National Lampoon'' magazine's National Lampoon's Vacation (film series), ''Vacation'' f ...
'' (1989), '' Vegas Vacation'' (1997) and '' National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2'' (2003). Her other acting roles include ''
First Family First Family is an unofficial title for the family of a republic's head of state. A first family usually consists of: the head of state, the first spouse and their children. Related terms The term ''second family'' is often used to refer to t ...
'' (1980), '' National Lampoon's Class Reunion'' (1982), '' Mr. Mom'' (1983), ''
Family Ties ''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States f ...
'' (1986), '' For Keeps'' (1988), ''
18 Again! ''18 Again!'' is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Paul Flaherty and starring George Burns and Charlie Schlatter. The plot involves a college student switching souls with his grandfather by means of an accident. The film is base ...
'' (1988), ''
Stealing Home ''Stealing Home'' is a 1988 American coming of age romantic drama film written and directed by Steven Kampmann and William Porter (billed as Will Aldis). The film stars Mark Harmon, Blair Brown, Jonathan Silverman, Harold Ramis, William McNamara ...
'' (1988), '' Lonely Hearts'' (1991), ''
Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
'' (2001), '' Wieners'' (2008), '' About Fifty'' (2011) and '' Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star'' (2011).


Filmography


Film


Television


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, Miriam 1952 births Living people Actresses from Cleveland American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American voice actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses