Kathleen Freeman

Highest Rated: 100% The Ladies' Man (1961)

Lowest Rated: 0% Heartbeeps (1981)

Birthday: Feb 17, 1919

Birthplace: Not Available

The inimitable American actress Kathleen Freeman has been convulsing film audiences with portrayals of dowdy, sharp-tongued matrons since she was in her 20s. After stage work, Freeman began taking bit roles in major-studio features in 1948, seldom getting screen credit but always making a positive impression. The best of her earliest roles was in Singin' in the Rain (1952); Freeman played long-suffering vocal coach Phoebe Dinsmore, whose Herculean efforts to get dumb movie star Jean Hagen to grasp the proper enunciation of the phrase "I can't staaaand him" proved uproariously futile. Often cast as domestics, Freeman had a year's run in 1953 as the "spooked" maid on the ghostly TV sitcom Topper. Freeman was a particular favorite of comedian Jerry Lewis, who cast the actress in showy (and billed!) roles in such farces as The Errand Boy (1961), The Nutty Professor (1963) and Who's Got the Action?. As Nurse Higgins in Lewis' Disorderly Orderly (1964), Freeman weeps quietly as Jerry meekly scrapes oatmeal off her face and babbles "Oh, Nurse Higgins...you're all full of...stuff." Lewis so trusted Freeman's acting instincts that he sent her to the set of director William Wyler's The Collector (1965) in order to help build up the confidence of Wyler's nervous young leading lady Samantha Eggar. Throughout the '70s and '80s, Freeman took occasional "sabbaticals" from her movie and TV assignments to do stage work, enjoying a lengthy run in a Chicago production of Ira Levin's Deathtrap. Like many character actors of the '50s, Kathleen Freeman is frequently called upon to buoy the projects of baby-boomer directors: she was recently seen as an hysterical Julia Child clone in Joe Dante's Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

RATING	TITLE	CREDIT	BOX OFFICE	YEAR
88%	Shrek	Old Woman	$267M	2001
23%	Ready to Rumble	Jane King	—	2000
23%	I'll Be Home for Christmas	Tom Tom Girl Gloria	—	1998
No Score Yet	Richie Rich's Christmas Wish	Mrs. Peabody	—	1998
46%	Blues Brothers 2000	Mother Mary Stigmata	—	1997
No Score Yet	Two Guys Talkin' About Girls (At First Sight)	Grandma	—	1995
54%	The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult	Muriel	—	1994
38%	Hocus Pocus	Miss Olin	—	1993
No Score Yet	Reckless Kelly	Mrs. Delance	—	1993
63%	FernGully - The Last Rainforest	Edler	—	1992
No Score Yet	Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland	Dance Teacher	—	1992
No Score Yet	Nickel & Dime	Judge Lechter	—	1992
17%	Dutch	Gritzi	—	1991
71%	Gremlins 2: The New Batch	Microwave Marge	—	1990
No Score Yet	The Willies	Miss Titmarch	—	1990
67%	Chances Are	Mrs. Handy	—	1989
No Score Yet	Hollywood Chaos	Actor	—	1989
No Score Yet	Glitz	Mrs. Magyk	—	1988
No Score Yet	The Wrong Guys	Grunskis' Mom	—	1988
7%	Teen Wolf Too	Admissions Lady	—	1987
64%	In the Mood (The Woo Woo Kid)	Mrs. Marver	—	1987
82%	Innerspace	Dream Lady	—	1987
51%	Dragnet	Enid Borden	—	1987
No Score Yet	The Malibu Bikini Shop	Loraine Bender	—	1986
31%	The Best of Times	Rosie	—	1986
0%	Heartbeeps	Helicopter Pilot	—	1981
73%	The Blues Brothers	Sister Mary Stigmata	—	1980
No Score Yet	The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang	Actor	—	1979
No Score Yet	The Norseman	Indian Woman	—	1978
No Score Yet	The Strongest Man in the World	Policewoman	—	1975
No Score Yet	Your Three Minutes Are Up	Mrs. Wilk	—	1973
71%	Unholy Rollers	Karen's Mother	—	1972
No Score Yet	Where Does It Hurt?	Mrs. Mazzini	—	1972
No Score Yet	Psycho Sisters	Actor	—	1972
No Score Yet	Stand up and Be Counted	Sarah	—	1972
62%	Support Your Local Gunfighter	Mrs. Perkins	—	1971
No Score Yet	Which Way to the Front?	Bland's mother	—	1970
29%	Myra Breckinridge	Bobby Dean Loner	—	1970
93%	The Ballad of Cable Hogue	Mrs. Jensen	—	1970
20%	Good Guys and the Bad Guys	Mrs. Stone	—	1969
83%	Death of a Gunfighter	Mary Elizabeth	—	1969
75%	Support Your Local Sheriff!	Mrs. Danvers	—	1969
No Score Yet	Hook, Line and Sinker	Baby Sitter	—	1969
92%	Point Blank	1st Citizen	—	1967
No Score Yet	Three on a Couch	Murphy	—	1966
No Score Yet	Marriage on the Rocks	Miss Blight	—	1965
No Score Yet	That Funny Feeling	Woman at Phone Booth	—	1965
No Score Yet	The Rounders	Agatha Moore	—	1965
60%	The Disorderly Orderly	Maggie Higgins	—	1964
82%	The Patsy	Katie	—	1964
No Score Yet	Mail Order Bride	Sister Sue	—	1964
40%	Who's Minding the Store?	Mrs. Glucksman	—	1963
84%	The Nutty Professor	Millie Lemmon	—	1963
50%	The Errand Boy	Mrs. TP	—	1961
100%	The Ladies' Man	Katie	—	1961
50%	North to Alaska	Lena Nordquist	—	1960
No Score Yet	The Buccaneer	Tina	—	1958
64%	Houseboat	Woman in Laundromat	—	1958
95%	The Fly	Emma	—	1958
No Score Yet	The Missouri Traveler	Serena Poole	—	1958
No Score Yet	Too Much, Too Soon	Miss Magruder	—	1958
No Score Yet	Kiss Them for Me	Nurse Wilinski	—	1957
No Score Yet	Pawnee (Pale Arrow)	Mrs. Carter	—	1957
No Score Yet	Appointment with a Shadow	Rosa Cuneo	—	1957
78%	Artists and Models	Mrs. Muldoon	—	1955
100%	The Far Country	Grits	—	1955
No Score Yet	3 Ring Circus (Jerrico, the Wonder Clown)	Custard-Pie Gag Victim	—	1954
No Score Yet	Athena	Miss Seely	—	1954
No Score Yet	The Affairs of Dobie Gillis	Happy Stella	—	1953
No Score Yet	The Glass Wall	Fat woman	—	1953
No Score Yet	The Magnetic Monster	Nelly	—	1953
79%	The Bad and the Beautiful	Miss March	—	1953
No Score Yet	The Glass Web	Mrs. O'Halloran	—	1953
No Score Yet	Dream Wife	Chambermaid	—	1953
No Score Yet	She's Back on Broadway	Annie	—	1953
No Score Yet	The Prisoner of Zenda	Gertrude	—	1952
No Score Yet	O. Henry's Full House	J.B.'s Mother	—	1952
88%	Monkey Business	Nurse	—	1952
No Score Yet	Kid Monk Baroni	Maria Baroni	—	1952
No Score Yet	Talk About a Stranger	Rose	—	1952
47%	The Greatest Show on Earth	Woman	—	1952
100%	Singin' in the Rain	Phoebe Dinsmore	—	1952
No Score Yet	Love Is Better Than Ever	Mrs. Kahrney	—	1952
No Score Yet	Let's Make It Legal	Reporter	—	1951
78%	A Place in the Sun	Martha	—	1951
No Score Yet	Cause for Alarm	Woman	—	1951
No Score Yet	Appointment With Danger	Nun	—	1951
No Score Yet	No Man of Her Own	Clara Larrimore	—	1950
No Score Yet	The Reformer and the Redhead	Lily Rayton Parker	—	1950
No Score Yet	A Life of Her Own	Peg	—	1950
62%	House By the River	Effie Ferguson	—	1950
No Score Yet	Casbah	American woman	—	1948
88%	The Naked City	Stout Girl	—	1948
No Score Yet	Wild Harvest	Actor	—	1947

TV

RATING	TITLE	CREDIT	YEAR
No Score Yet	As Told by Ginger 2000-2009	Voice	2002 2000
No Score Yet	Becker 1998-2004	Edith/Evelyn	2000 1999
No Score Yet	Caroline in the City 1995-1999	Grandma Duffy	1999
33%	Grown Ups 1999-2000	Mona	1999
No Score Yet	Coach 1989-1997	Magda	1997 1993
No Score Yet	ER 1994-2009	Enid Rhonda's Patient	1996
No Score Yet	Melrose Place 1992-1999	Madge	1996
76%	Roseanne 1988-2018	Seaweed Attendant Edna	1996
No Score Yet	Married...With Children 1987-1997	Voice Voice of Mrs. Wanker Voice of Peg's Mom	1995
No Score Yet	Doogie Howser, M.D. 1989-1993	Mrs. Mickling	1992
No Score Yet	Martin 1992-1997	Saleslady	1992
No Score Yet	MacGyver 1985-1992	Rose	1991
No Score Yet	The Golden Girls 1985-1992	Guest Mother Superior	1990
No Score Yet	Growing Pains 1985-1992	Sophie Marge Estelle	1990 1989 1988
No Score Yet	Head of the Class 1986-1991	Nurse	1989
No Score Yet	DuckTales 1987-1990	Voice	1989 1988 1987
No Score Yet	ALF 1986-1990	Betty Susla	1988
No Score Yet	Murphy Brown 1988-2019	Mrs. Caldwell	1988
No Score Yet	The Facts of Life 1979-1988	Noreen	1988
No Score Yet	Hunter 1984-1991	Mrs. Ridley	1987
No Score Yet	Kojak 1973-1978	Ma Wonderly	1977
No Score Yet	Hogan's Heroes 1965-1971	Mrs. Linkmeyer Gertrude	1971 1969 1967 1966
No Score Yet	Bonanza 1959-1973	Miss Hibbs Ma Brinker	1970 1967
No Score Yet	The Beverly Hillbillies 1962-1971	Agnes Flo Flo Shafer Mabel	1970 1965 1963
72%	Batman 1966-1968	Rosetta Stone	1968
No Score Yet	The High Chaparral 1967-1971	Maude	1968
No Score Yet	I Dream of Jeannie 1965-1970	Maw Sally	1968 1967
No Score Yet	Ironside 1967-1975	Helga	1967
100%	The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 1964-1968	Mrs. Sparks	1967
No Score Yet	The Dick Van Dyke Show 1961-1966	Mrs. Campbell Maid	1965 1964
No Score Yet	The Alfred Hitchcock Hour 1962-1965	Mrs. McLeod Angela Morrow	1965 1963 1962

Quotes from Kathleen Freeman's Characters

Max:	But everyone here knows that Halloween was invented by the candy companies it's a conspiracy!
Allison:	It just so happens that Halloween is based on the ancient feast called 'All Hallows Eve' It's the one night of they year where the spirits of the dead can return to Earth.
Miss Olin:	Well said Allison!

Miss Olin:	Poor Thackery Binx. Neither his father, his mother, nor anyone else..ever knew what became of him...those 3OO years ago. And so the Sanderson Sisters, were hanged by the Salem town folk. Now, there are those who say that on Halloween night...a black cat still guards the old Sanderson house,warning off any who might make the witches...come back to life!
Miss Olin:	Poor Thackery Binx. Neither his father, his mother, nor anyone else..ever knew what became of him...those 3OO years ago. And so the Sanderson Sisters, were hanged by the Salem town folk. Now, there are those who say that on Halloween night...a black cat still guards the old Sanderson house, warning off any who might make the witches...come back to life!

On Dvd & Streaming

Kathleen Freeman

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

TV

Quotes from Kathleen Freeman's Characters