By Nicole Bernard
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an American actress. Before becoming well-known for her voice role as Marge Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, Kavner attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, the younger sister of Valerie Harper‘s title character in the sitcom Rhoda, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also voices other characters for The Simpsons, including Marge’s mother, Jacqueline Bouvier, sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier, and half-step-great-aunt Eunice Bouvier.
Known for her improvisation and distinctive “honeyed gravel voice”, Kavner was cast in her first professional acting role as Brenda Morgenstern in Rhoda in 1974. Starting in 1987, Kavner appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, and the producers asked Kavner to voice Marge. The shorts were spun off into The Simpsons.
Kavner has been described as “nearly reclusive”; part of her contract says that she will never have to promote The Simpsons on video. For her work as Marge, Kavner received another Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992 and an Annie Award nomination for her performance as the character in The Simpsons Movie (2007).
Typically cast as a “woman who is supportive, sympathetic or self-effacingly funny”, Kavner grew to dislike playing such roles. In 1992, she starred in This Is My Life, her first leading role in a feature film. Kavner has also appeared in live-action roles in six films written by Woody Allen and in the Adam Sandler comedy Click.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Queen Elizabeth I of England –
- Grandma Moses (painter) –
- J. P. Morgan Jr. (financier) –
- Elia Kazan (director) –
- Anthony Quayle (actor) –
- Buddy Holly (singer) –
- Gloria Gaynor (singer) –
- Julie Kavner (actress) –
- Chrissie Hynde (singer) –
- Devon Sawa (actor) –
- Evan Rachel Wood (actress) –
Died
- Catherine Parr (widow of Henry VIII of England) –
- Maurice Duplessis (former premier of Quebec) –
- Keith Moon (musician) –
- Uzi Gal (invented the Uzi submachine gun) –
- Gregory Mcdonald (author) –
Events
- Edith Eleanor McLean was the first baby to be placed in an incubator–
- First automobile parade, Newport, Rhode Island–
- First international lifeboat race took place, New York City–
- First Canadian Official Languages Act went into effect–
- The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) made its debut–
- Google Inc. was founded–
Weather
- New England and New York experienced a widespread killing frost, resulting in a $1 million crop loss in Maine–
- 105 degrees F, Santa Ana, California–
- 109 degrees F in Weldon, North Carolina–
- Football players at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida, were knocked off their feet by a violent bolt of lightning–
- Calgary was deluged by hail that caused approximately $350 million in insured losses, making this hailstorm the costliest on record in Canada.–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
