Julie Kavner

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Julie Kavner
Birth name Julie Deborah Kavner
Born September 7, 1950(Age 56)
Los Angeles, California
Notable roles Brenda Morgenstern on
Rhoda
(1974-78)
Marge Simpson on
The Simpsons
(1989-present)

Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress, best known for her role as Brenda Morgenstern on Rhoda in the 1970s, as an actress in several Woody Allen-directed films, and for providing the voice of Marge Simpson on the animated television show The Simpsons.

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Kavner was born in Los Angeles, California of Jewish heritage,[1] and grew up entirely in Southern California, a fact that comes as a surprise to many people who identify her with her role as New Yorker Brenda Morgenstern and who peg her creaky, somewhat nasally voice as sounding "East Coast." Kavner went to Beverly Hills High School, and studied Theatre Arts and graduated with honors from San Diego State University in 1971.

Kavner played the role of Brenda Morgenstern in the TV show Rhoda. After Rhoda ended, Kavner moved into film. She has appeared in several Woody Allen films including Radio Days (along with Michael Tucker, Mia Farrow, and Diane Wiest); New York Stories (opposite Allen himself); Alice (opposite Farrow again); Hannah and Her Sisters (opposite Michael Caine), as well as Deconstructing Harry (opposite Richard Benjamin and Julia Louis-Dreyfus). In 1975 she also received a nomination for her starring role in the daytime special, The Girl Who Couldn’t Lose. She also appeared in Awakenings (opposite Robin Williams and Robert De Niro), The Revenge of The Stepford Wives (1980). She also appeared in the 1992 Nora Ephron comedy drama This Is My Life (this particular role was intended as her breakout role, but it got middling reviews and did not do well at the box office, and after that Kavner largely limited herself to supporting roles and voice over work). Most recently, she appeared as Adam Sandler's mother in Click. She has also done other TV work with Tracey Ullman in Tracey's primetime comedy show as well as Tracey Takes On.

Onstage she has played under Burt Reynolds’ direction in Two for the Seesaw with Martin Sheen at Reynolds’ Dinner Theatre in Jupiter, Florida. In Canada she starred in It Had To Be You, written by Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna.

In The Simpsons, Kavner provides the voices for Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, Selma Bouvier, Jacqueline Bouvier and Gladys Bouvier. She has been known to refuse to perform Marge's voice in public, to maintain the mystique of the character. Kavner even goes as far as to not allow any film footage of her doing the characters from The Simpsons to be captured. To perform Marge's voice, Kavner raises her voice by about an octave, and roughens it up a bit. To do Patty and Selma, she lowers her voice an octave, and roughens it up a lot.[2]

In Disney's The Lion King 1½ (a.k.a. The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata), Kavner played Timon's mother.

Kavner is one of the many actors who is frequently cast in Woody Allen movies. She is frequently cast in a supporting role.

Year Title Role
1982 National Lampoon Goes to the Movies Mrs. Falcone
1985 Bad Medicine Cookie Katz
1986 Hannah and Her Sisters Gail
1987 Radio Days Mother
Surrender Ronnie
1989 New York Stories (Segment Oedipus Wrecks) Treva
1990 Alice Decorator
Awakenings Eleanor Costello
1992 Shadows and Fog Alma
This Is My Life Dottie Ingels
1994 I'll Do Anything Nan Mulhanney
1995 Forget Paris Lucy
1997 Deconstructing Harry Grace/Harry's character
1998 Dr. Dolittle Female pigeon*
1999 Judy Berlin Marie
A Walk on the Moon PA Announcer*
2001 Someone Like You Furry animal*
2004 The Lion King 1½ Mom*
2006 Click Trudy Newman
2007 The Simpsons Movie Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier and Selma Bouvier
  • *Her appearance in said movie was in voiceover only.

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