Actress Dolores “Dody” Goodman died 22 Jun 2008. Born in Columbus, Ohio, on 28 October 1914 (though some sources say 1915), she moved to New York City as a dancer in the Radio City Music Hall’s ballet company, and then moved to Broadway roles. Actress Imogene Coca pushed her into comedy and television, where she made her mark. She appeared on the second episode of Jack Parr’s The Tonight Show (30 July 1957) and quickly became a regular, though Parr dropped her the following year, writing that he felt “like the announcer on ‘The Dody Goodman Show’.” The New York Times notes that she “combined a dancer’s grace, a strawberry blonde mane, and exquisitely timed scatter-brained humor to create television legends.”
Her genre roles included: Black Ribbon (2007), Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman (2000), Splash, Too (1988), The Chipmunk Adventure (1987), Splash (1984), and Fantasy Island (1981).
She also returned to Broadway, playing several roles in the off-Broadway Nunsense (which opened in 1985) and its sequels. Nunsense creator Danny Goggin told Playbill magazine that at age 85, she could still lift her leg over her head as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Nuncrackers. Goodman left no immediate survivors.