Mary Louise Wilson (born November 12, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and comedian. In a career that has spanned more than 50 years, she has appeared in a number of plays, films and television shows. Wilson's most notable work includes a Tony Award-winning role on Broadway in ''

Grey Gardens ''Grey Gardens'' is a 1975 American documentary film by Albert and David Maysles. The film depicts the everyday lives of two reclusive, upper-class women, a mother and daughter both named Edith Beale, who lived in poverty at Grey Gardens, a ...

''. She is also known for her appearances on '' One Day at a Time''.

Early life

Wilson was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, but raised in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

. She married fellow actor Alfred “Chibbie” Cibelli on April 6, 1965 in New Haven. They were married for three years before the union ended in divorce.

Work

Stage

;Broadway * '' Hot Spot'' (1963) as Sue Ann (Broadway debut) * '' Flora, The Red Menace'' (1965) as Comrade Ada * '' Lovers and Other Strangers'' (1968) as Bernice * '' Noël Coward's Sweet Potato'' (1968) (replacement) * '' Promises, Promises'' (1968) as Marge MacDougall * ''Watercolor & Criss-Crossing'' (1970) * '' The Women'' (1973) as Nancy Blake * '' Gypsy: A Musical Fable'' (1974) as Tessie Tura * ''

The Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papa ...

'' (1975) as Kitty Dean * ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

'' (1977) as Miss Prism * '' The Philadelphia Story'' (1980) as Elizabeth Imbrie * '' Fools'' (1981) as Lenya Zubritsky * ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'' (1982) as the Red Queen * '' The Odd Couple'' (1985) as Mickey * ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

'' (1998) as Fräulein Schneider * '' The Women'' (2001) as Mrs. Morehead * ''

'' (2006) as Edith Bouvier Beale (Tony Award) * '' On the Twentieth Century'' (2015) as Letita Peabody Primrose ;Off-Broadway * ''Bonds of Interest'' (1958) * ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a " play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with mu ...

'' (1959) (replacement) * '' Dime a Dozen'' (1962) * ''A Great Career'' (1968) * ''Whispers on the Wind'' (1970) * '' Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You and The Actor's Nightmare'' (1982) (replacement) * '' Baby with the Bathwater'' (1983) * ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' (1989) * '' Flaubert's Latest'' (1992) * '' Full Gallop'' (1995) (co-author, winner of the

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions. The category was first presented at the 19 ...

) * '' Bosoms and Neglect'' (1998) * ''

The Beard of Avon ''The Beard of Avon'' is a play by Amy Freed, originally commissioned and produced by South Coast Repertory in 2001. It is a farcical treatment of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, in which both Shakespeare and his wife become invol ...

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2006) * ''

4000 Miles ''4000 Miles'' is a dramatic comedy by Amy Herzog. The play ran Off-Broadway in 2011, and again in 2012. The play was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Synopsis When Leo Joseph-Connell suffers a major loss while he was on a cr ...

'' (2011) ;Other * '' Gypsy'' (1974) * ''

Anyone Can Whistle ''Anyone Can Whistle'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Described as "a satire on conformity and the insanity of the so-called sane," the show tells a story of an economically depressed town w ...

'' (1980) * ''

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

'' (1987) * '' False Admissions'' (1994) * '' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore'' (1996) * '' Morning's at Seven'' (2002) * '' The Rivals'' (2005) * '' The Guardsman'' (2010)

Filmography

Television

* ''

'' (1977) as Kitty Dean * '' One Day at a Time'' (1976-1977) as Ginny Wroblicki * '' Maude'' (1978) as Congresswoman Irene McIlhenny * '' Lou Grant'' (1982) * ''A Mistaken Charity'' (1986) as Mrs. Simmonds * ''

Tales from the Darkside ''Tales from the Darkside'' is an American anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero. Debuting in October 1983 with a pilot episode and then being picked up for syndication in September 1984, the show ran for 4 seasons through Ju ...

'' (1986) * '' The Thorns'' (1988) * '' Blind Spot'' (1993) as Mrs. Deitz * ''

Remember WENN ''Remember WENN'' is a comedy-drama television series that aired from 1996 to 1998 on the cable channel American Movie Classics. Created and written by Rupert Holmes (with music also by Holmes) and set at the fictional Pittsburgh radio station ...

'' (1996) * '' Cosby'' (1999) * ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee (as Grub ...

'' (2000) as Helen * ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

'' (2000) as Catherine Romano * ''

A Season for Miracles ''A Season for Miracles'' is a 1999 American made-for-television Christmas drama film based on a novel of the same name by Marilyn Pappano. Directed by Michael Pressman, it originally aired as a ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' presentation on CBS on ...

'' (1999) as Corinna * '' The Women'' (2002) as Mrs. Morehead *
Louie
' (2010) as Louie's mother * ''

Nurse Jackie ''Nurse Jackie'' is an American medical comedy-drama television series. It premiered on Showtime on June 8, 2009, and its seventh and final season premiered on April 12, 2015. The series finale aired on June 28, 2015. The show stars Edie Fal ...

'' (2012) as Doris * ''

Mozart in the Jungle ''Mozart in the Jungle'' is an American comedy-drama streaming television series developed by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, and Paul Weitz for the video-on-demand service Amazon Prime Video. It received a production order in ...

'' (2014-2018) as Bunny * ''

Orange is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a ...

'' (2016) as Millie * ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American family sitcom television series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the American Broadcasting Company. It ran for 11 seasons, from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. It follows the lives of th ...

'' (2018) as Becky Pritchett

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * *
''Grey Gardens''
"Working in the Theatre" video from the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

(November 2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Mary Louise 1931 births Living people American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Actresses from New Orleans Tony Award winners Actresses from New Haven, Connecticut 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Drama Desk Award winners