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RAE
(ray)
Charlotte
Rae: American actress and singer Rae Dawn Chong:
Canadian-American actress Common clues: Comedienne
Charlotte; "The Facts of Life" actress Charlotte;
"Diff'rent
Strokes" actress; Actress ___ Dawn Chong; Tommy Chong's
daughter Crossword
puzzle frequency:
2 times a year Frequency
in English language:
21161 / 86800 Video: Charlotte
Rae shares her experience with pancreatic cancer
You
can take wonderfully talented actors, wonderfully talented
writers and producers, and, uh, do a wonderful show!... but if it
doesn't hit with the public in two minutes, it's bye-bye.
~ Charlotte Rae
Charlotte
Rae (born April 22, 1926) is an American actress and singer known
for her portrayal of Edna Garrett in the sitcoms Diff'rent
Strokes and The Facts of Life, in which she appeared from 1979
until 1986. She received a Best Actress Emmy Nomination in a
comedy in 1982. She also appeared in two Facts of Life television
movies, one in 1982, and the second one, a reunion film, in 2001.
Rae
at the 1988 Emmy Awards
Rae
was born Charlotte Rae Lubotsky in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the
daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Esther (née
Ottenstein), who was a childhood friend of Golda Meir, and Meyer
Lubotsky, a retail tire business owner. She had two sisters (one
older and one younger), and graduated from Shorewood High School
there. Rae attended but did not complete her studies at
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
She
was married to composer John Strauss, with whom she had two sons,
and was divorced in 1976. She has three grandchildren.
A
stage actress since the 1950s, she appeared in Three Wishes for
Jamie, The Threepenny Opera, Li'l Abner, and Pickwick. In 1955
she released her first (and only) solo album, Songs I Taught My
Mother, which featured "silly, sinful, and satirical"
songs by (among others) Sheldon Harnick, Vernon Duke, John La
Touche, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, and Marc Blitzstein (who
wrote the song "Modest Maid" especially for Rae). The
album was issued on CD in 2006 by PS Classics. Also in the 1950s,
Rae made several acclaimed appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Her
first significant success was in the sitcom Car 54, Where Are
You? (1961 – 1963) as Sylvia Schnauser, the wife of Officer
Leo Schnauser (played by Al Lewis). She was nominated for an Emmy
Award for her supporting role in the 1975 drama Queen of the
Stardust Ballroom. Rae appeared in early seasons of Sesame Street
as Molly the Mail Lady. In 1964, she appeared in a commercial for
Oil Heat. In the commercial, she was taking a shower, while
telling people how wonderful Oil Heat was. At the end of the
commercial, the announcer asked her if she knew she was on
television, and she responded in her usual "trying to be
sexy" voice, "Yes, I know!", then giggling softly
afterward.
Other
appearances on screen have included roles in The Worst Witch
television movie and on the series Sisters, 101 Dalmatians: The
Series, and The King of Queens.
In
2000, she starred as Berthe in the Paper Mill Playhouse
production of Pippin (musical).
***
Rae
Dawn Chong (born February 28, 1961) is a Canadian-American
actress.
Chong
was born in Edmonton, Alberta, the daughter of Maxine Sneed and
Tommy Chong, a comedian, actor, writer and director. She was
raised by her grandmother, Tommy Chong's mother. Chong's father
is of Chinese and Scotch-Irish ancestry and her mother is of
African Canadian descent. Her sister Robbi Chong is a model and
actress.
Chong
is known for appearing in the films Quest for Fire (1981), The
Color Purple (1985), Choose Me (1984), Beat Street (1984),
Commando (1985), Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers
(1984), and Far Out Man (1990), in the latter two appearing with
her father. Chong won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an
Actress in a Leading Role in 1983 for Quest for Fire. Chong saw
her most active period in films during the late 1980s and
throughout the 1990s. However, she has continued to be active in
television acting roles into 2007, and in film into the present.
Chong
has been married twice and has one son named Morgan. Her second
husband was actor C. Thomas Howell, her co-star in Soul Man. They
divorced in 1990.
Comedian
Stephen Lynch wrote a song about Chong entitled "R.D.C.
(Opie's Lament)" on his album A Little Bit Special.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Charlotte_Rae"
and “Rae
Dawn Chong”.
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