Margaret Kathleen Regan (aka Kay Medford) was born on
September 14, 1919, in the Bronx.
Irish-American parents, James and Mary, left Kay an orphan in her teen years (how? no clue! no bread crumbs!),
and Kay began working in nightclubs (as a waitress),
and later as a comedienne, working the Borsht Belt resorts of the Catskills.
Her first "act" was doing impersonations of celebrities,
She started touring with that gig in 1949.
Below, Kay as Rose Brice, mother of Fanny (played by Babs Streisand), in Funny Girl, both the Broadway and movie versions.
She got 2 nice nominations out of that role,
a Tony nod for Best Featured Actress in a Musical,
and an Academy Award nomination.
Above with Vincent Gardenia, in the 1977 flop, Fire Sale.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves!
During the 1940s, Kay took small parts in Hollywood movies, like Maisie Gets Her Man and The Picture Of Dorian Gray.
Her Broadway debut was in Paint Your Wagon,1951, in which she played Cherry.
Bye Bye Birdie (the musical) cast her as Dick Van Dyke's mom (above, tho she lost out on the movie version of that mom, to Maureen Stapleton), then Carousel, A Hole In The Head, Mr. Wonderful, Funny Girl...and then back to movies (A Face In The Crowd, Ensign Pulver, BUtterfield 8) and television.
As Kay aged, she was often cast a.) older than she actually was, and b.) as the perfect Jewish Mother, which her Irish Catholic self found very funny.
A Face In The Crowd
2 Broadway performances:
Above, with Bob Fosse in Pal Joey,
and below, in Woody Allen's Don't Drink The Water, her last Broadway show.
Above with Howard Cosell and Dino!
Kay with Susan O'Connor, making a guest appearance on Love American Style (I can still remember that show's theme song, and it's driving me slightly mad!).
Other television appearances included Marcus Welby, M.D., Ben Casey, The Partridge Family, and Kojak...and many more!
Medford's last performance was on an episode of Barney Miller, in 1980. She died later that same year of cancer, at the age of 60.
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