Jane and Gordon Connell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jane Connell is an American actress of film, stage and television. She was born Jane Sperry Bennett on October 27, 1925 in Oakland, California.
Her husband Gordon Connell (born William Gordon Connell on March 19, 1923 in Berkeley, California) is also an entertainer.
She and her husband started their careers working in night clubs in San Francisco such as The Purple Onion and The Hungry "I".
They both went on to appear in numerous productions on Broadway (and occasionally off-Broadway). They acted together in the musical version of Lysistrata. Jane opened the original hit Jerry Herman production, Mame (starring Angela Lansbury), while Gordon opened in Herman's original Hello Dolly!, which starred Carol Channing.
Jane Connell appeared in the following:
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (musical) as "Widow Douglas"
- The Full Monty (musical) as "Jeanette Burmeister" (replacement for Kathleen Freeman who died during the show's run)
- Angela Lansbury - A Celebration as herself
- Moon Over Buffalo (non-musical) as "Ethel"
- Crazy For You as "Mother"
- Lend Me a Tenor (non-musical) as "Julia"
- Me and My Girl as "Maria"
- Mame (revival) as "Agnes Gooch"
- Lysistrata (musical) as "Gamma"
- Dear World as "Gabrielle"
- Mame as "Agnes Gooch"
- Drat! The Cat! as "Matilda Van Guilder"
- New Faces of 1956 as "Edna", as "Harem Houris", as "Miss Hat", as "Mme. Interpreter", as "Old Lady", as the singer of April in Fairbanks, as the singer of Rouge, as "Wife"
- Threepenny Opera (Off-Broadway) as "Mrs. Peachum"
Gordon Connell appeared in the following:
- Big River (musical) as "Doctor"
- The Human Comedy as "Mr. Grogan"
- Lysistrata (a musical) as "Phi-Chi"
- Hello, Dolly! as "Judge", and as understudy for Horace Vandergelder
- Subways Are for Sleeping as "Mr. Pitman"
The Connells appeared in several movies and TV programmes, including Jane's role as the Bunkers' nosy neighbour "Sybil Gooley" on All in the Family.
