The Odd Couple Women

Do you remember “The Coo-Coo Pigeon Sisters,” from The Odd Couple, Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon? They were played by two British actresses, Monica Evans portrayed Cecily and Carole Shelley played Gwendolyn. They are best known throughout the world for those two roles. They performed the roles in the Original Broadway Company with Walter Mathau and Art Carney in 1965. The play opened at the Plymouth Theatre on March 10th and ran for a total of 964 performances till July 2nd, 1967 (with two additional previews). They then recreated the roles for the hit 1968 film version with Walter Mathau and Jack Lemmon. The reprised them for a second time for a few episodes The Odd Couple (1970-1975)  television series with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall.

Evans and Shelley were also no strangers to the Walt Disney Studios. Together, they voiced the two Geese sisters, Abigail and Amelia Gabble, in The AristoCats (1970). Evans voiced Abigail and and Shelley voiced Amelia. They were cast in Robin Hood (1973) 3 years later, with Evans as the voice of Maid Marian and Shelley as the voice of Lady Kluck. Shelley was also featured in Disney’s Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and voiced Lachesis the Fate in Disney’s Hercules (1997). (The Odd Couple (1968) also featured two other Disney veterans. John Fiedler, who is best known throughout the world as the voice of Piglet in Winnie the Pooh, played Felix and Oscar’s poker playing buddy Vinnie, and Herb Edelman who played Dorothy’s ex-husband, Stanley Zbornak, on Disney/ABC’s The Golden Girls (1985-1992) played Felix and Oscar’s other poker buddy, Murray.)

Evans and Shelley maintained a close friendship throughout each adaptation of The Odd Couple that continued into the early 1980s. At that point, their careers begun to take different paths, and they just lost touch with each other. Although, Evans did serve as Shelley’s maid of honor at her wedding to Albert G. Woods in 1967. After lending her voice to Robin Hood (1973), Evans retired from the acting world and relocated to her native UK, while Shelley remained in the US and continued acting in television, film, and theatre. In 1979, she won her one and only Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as Mrs. Kendall for the dramatic play, The Elephant Man. She appeared in revivals of the musicals Show Boat and Cabaret in the 1990’s, but she is also known throughout the world today for originating the role of Madame Morrible in the smash hit musical, Wicked, in 2003. She reprised the role in the show’s national touring company 2005, and in the Chicago Production of 2006. She appeared in the 2005 film Bewitched as Samantha’s loony Aunt Clara under the direction of Nora Ephron (Director of Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You’ve Got Mail (1998)) and opposite Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, and her Wicked co-star, Kristin Chenoweth.

    Monica Evans and Carole Shelley will be forever remembered as the two sisters from England whose laughter resembles the noise of pigeons cooing in The Odd Couple. They did, however, go on to have other notable and enjoyable roles throughout the durations of each of their careers. In each of their collaborations with one other, we as an audience, always get to hear their distinctive laughter. Their laughter is what really makes the pairing of the two of them work, so it really is quite extraordinary that the chemistry of two actors work so well, simply because of unique laughing. 

John Ratzenberger: The Man Behind the Pig

When you think of John Ratzenberger, you might, at first, think of him as Cliff Clavin from Cheers (1982-1993). You might also remember him as the voice of Hamm the Piggy Bank in Toy Story (1995). But would you also remember him as Rebel Force Major Derlin in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)? Or have you recognized his voice in any of Pixar’s other films? You might be surprised to know that John Ratzenberger has lent his voice to all 16 of Pixar’s feature-length films. With each of those, a bit part in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and 2 Emmy Nominations for his role of Cliff Clavin on Cheers (1982-1993), John Ratzenberger has undoubtedly had a quite remarkable career throughout Hollywood. His roles for Pixar include:

• “Hamm” in Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999), and Toy Story 3 (2010). Ratzenberger also reprised this role for all of the recent Toy Story Toon Shorts including Hawaiian Vacation (2011), Small Fry (2011), and Partysaurus Rex (2012).
• “P.T. Flea” (the Bug Circus Ringmaster) in A Bug’s Life (1998).
• “The Abominable Snowman” in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Monsters University (2013)
• “The Fish School” in Finding Nemo (2003)
• “The Underminer” in The Incredibles (2004)
• “Mack” in Cars (2006), Cars 2 (2011), and Cars 3 (2017). Ratzenberger also voiced the “Hamm truck” and the “Abominable Snow Plow” for the humorous credits sequence at the end of Cars (2006).
• “Mustafa” in Ratatouille (2007).
• “John” in Wall-E (2008).
• “Construction Foreman Tom” in Up (2009).
• “Gordon” in Brave (2012).
• “Fritz” in Inside Out (2015).
• “Earl” in The Good Dinosaur (2015). 
• "Husband Crab (Bill)" in Finding Dory (2016)
• "Juan Ortodoncia" in Coco (2017)

John Ratzenberger will be forever remembered as Cliff Clavin, but also as one of Pixar Animation Studio’s most favored voice-talents. His unmistakable, “wisenheimer-toned” voice never ceases to serve as an entertaining and humorous asset to each of Pixar’s films. If Walt Disney himself had lived to meet John Ratzenberger, I’m sure he would have seen the same potential that he saw in his other frequently used voice talent (i.e. Verna Felton, Sterling Holloway, Pinto Colvig, etc.).

Actors who sing and move

Actors who have been fortunate enough to win the Academy Award/Oscar for their work have won for portraying all kinds of characters. Few, however, have received them for playing characters in a movie-musical. Interestingly enough, some of those actors created the role they won the Oscar for on the Broadway stage, and also received the Tony Award (the Broadway equivalent of the Oscar) for it. The winners include:

Judy Garland (Best Juvenile Performance by an Actor as “Dorothy Gale” in The Wizard of Oz (1939)). Garland would receive two other nominations throughout the rest of her career (Best Actress as “Vicki Lester” in A Star is Born (1954) and Best Supporting Actress as “Irene Hoffman” in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)) but she would loose both times.

Yul Brynner (Best Actor as “The King of Siam” in The King and I (1956)). Brynner previously won the Tony Award for the role of the King in the Broadway version of The King and I. He would go on to recreate the role for two revivals of the musical on Broadway, and for the second revival he would win a very special Tony Award for having played the King in the musical for a grand total of 4,625 performances.  

George Chakiris (Best Supporting Actor as “Bernardo” in West Side Story (1961)). Chakiris was the only principal cast member of the film version of West Side Story (1961) to do his own singing. He previously played the role of Riff in the London Company of West Side Story before acting in the film.

Rita Moreno (Best Supporting Actress as “Anita” in West Side Story (1961)). The majority of Moreno’s singing was dubbed by an actress named Betty Wand. Marni Nixon (who was already dubbing in for Natalie Wood’s singing voice in the film) however, sang a brief bit for Moreno during the “Tonight” sequence in the film. Despite that, Moreno won the Oscar nevertheless.     

Rex Harrison (Best Actor as “Professor Henry Higgins” in My Fair Lady (1964)). Like Yul Brynner, Harrison received the Tony Award for portraying Higgins in the acclaimed Broadway version of My Fair Lady starring opposite a then unknown Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle. Because Andrews had never been in a movie at the time, she was passed over for the film version of My Fair Lady for Audrey Hepburn. As talented of an actress that Hepburn was, her singing voice was deemed not conspicuously entertaining enough by the creative team of the movie, and she too was dubbed by Marni Nixon. 

Julie Andrews (Best Actress as “Mary Poppins” in Mary Poppins (1964)). Julie Andrews (whose feature film debut was Mary Poppins (1964)) also received the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy for Mary Poppins (1964), beating Audrey Hepburn for My Fair Lady (1964). Ironically, Audrey Hepburn wasn’t even nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for My Fair Lady, and to this day, it has never been concluded in Hollywood why that was so. It has, however, been highly believed that it was all because Hepburn had not done her own singing in My Fair Lady (1964).

Barbra Streisand (Best Actress as “Fanny Brice” in Funny Girl (1968)). Streisand created the role of Fanny Brice on Broadway and received a Tony Award Nomination for it, but lost Carol Channing for her role as Mrs. Dolly Levi, in the musical Hello, Dolly! Ironically, that would be a role that Streisand, herself, would go on to recreate for the film adaptation of that musical, released the following year in 1969.

Joel Grey (Best Supporting Actress as “Emcee” in Cabaret (1972)). Grey created the role of Emcee in Cabaret on Broadway and won the Tony as well. Despite The Godfather (1972) winning the Best Picture Oscar that year, Grey beat Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall for their performances in that film for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Liza Minnelli (Best Actress as “Sally Bowles” in Cabaret (1972)). Jill Hayworth originated the role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway. The 1972 film adaptation was Minnelli’s only connection to the musical throughout her whole career.

Catherine Zeta-Jones (Best Supporting Actress as “Velma Kelly” in Chicago (2002)). Zeta-Jones had previously been approached to play Roxie Hart, but she was determined to play Velma Kelly. Renee Zellweger, who wound up taking the role of Roxie Hart, received the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy, beating Zeta-Jones. Zellweger also received the Best Actress Oscar Nomination for her performances as Roxie Hart, but was beaten by Nicole Kidman for her performance as Virginia Wolf in The Hours (2002).

Jennifer Hudson (Best Supporting Actress as “Effie White” in Dreamgirls (2006)). Like Julie Andrews, Hudson won her Oscar for her film debut. She beat out 782 actresses for that role.

Anne Hathaway (Best Supporting Actress as “Fantine” in Les Miserables (2012)). Hathaway’s mother, Kate McCauley Hathaway played the role of Fantine in the first U.S. touring company of Les Miserables. It was through Anne’s father, Gerald T. Hathaway, that her mother learned the song “I Dreamed a Dream.”                

   These are just a few actors who go far beyond the level of just acting in movies to make their performances believable. If any other had been cast in any of these 12 roles, the movies themselves just wouldn’t be the same. Every one of these multi-talented actors made every one of these characters become indelible images throughout the history of movies, and they will continue to stand the test of time.