Dody Goodman (October 28, 1914 – June 22, 2008) was an American character actress. She played the mother of the title character in the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, her distinctive high-pitched voice announcing the show's title at the beginning of each episode. She was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show in the 1950s.
In the 1978 summer blockbuster film Grease, she played Blanche Hodel, the zany student-popular secretary in the principal's office. She reprised this role again in 1982 for Grease 2. In 1979 she appeared in The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, and in 1981-82 had the recurring role of Aunt Sophia in Diff'rent Strokes.
Aside from film and television appearances, she also voiced Miss Miller in the television series Alvin and the Chipmunks and the film spin-off The Chipmunk Adventure. She also played on Punky Brewster, as Punky's teacher.
Early life
Born Dolores Goodman in Columbus, Ohio, she was the daughter of Leona and Dexter Goodman. She had a sister, Rose, and a brother, Dexter Jr.[1] She attended North High School in Columbus, Ohio (now Columbus International High School) and is a member of the Hall of Fame at North High School. Goodman attended Northwestern University, where she studied dramatics, and two ballet schools—the School of American Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School.[1]
Stage
Goodman's Broadway debut came in 1941.[2] She gained a measure of newspaper column space for her dancing solos in such Broadway musicals as High Button Shoes (1947), and Wonderful Town (1953). In 1955, she stopped the show in Off Broadway's Shoestring Revue with the novelty song "Someone's Been Sending Me Flowers".
Goodman was described as "the darling of dinner theaters, regional theaters, summer stock, you name it." In 1976, she toured in a revival of George Washington Slept Here.[3]
Television
Adopting the guise of a fey airhead, Goodman was good for a few off-the-wall quotes whenever she submitted to an interview. She came to the attention of nighttime talkshow host Jack Paar who, after becoming enchanted with her ditzy persona and seemingly spontaneous malaprops, invited her to become a semi-regular on The Tonight Show.
As Goodman's fame grew, she became difficult to handle on the show, and Paar was not happy with her upstaging habits. She would 'top' his jokes. Commenting on another guest one evening, Paar quipped "Give them enough rope," "And they'll skip," ad-libbed Goodman, brightly. Dropped summarily by Paar in 1958,[4] Goodman spent the next decade showing up on other talk programs, game shows and summer stock as a "professional celebrity".[citation needed]
Goodman posed for photographs by Cris Alexander in the Patrick Dennis mock-biographyFirst Lady, as Martha Dinwiddie's sister Clytie, who in the story married a European Count Przyzplätcki (pron. "splatsky") and perished on the RMS Titanic. She also helped produce another book with Alexander's photography entitled Women, Women, Women!
Recognition
In 1958, Goodman was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Continuing Performance (Female) in a Series by a Comedienne, Singer, Hostess, Dancer, M.C., Announcer, Narrator, Panelist, or any Person who Essentially Plays Herself.[5]