Dody Goodman: Actress & Comedian Dies at 93

Posted on June 23, 2008

Dody Goodman, the funny comedian known for her appearances on Jack Paar’s late-night talk show and as the mother on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” died Sunday at age 93.

Dody Goodman died Sunday in New Jersey at the Englewood Hospital. The actress has been ill for quite some time.

Goodman, had a country-sounding, quavery voice, and made a place for herself in the comedy world. She appeared in several movies such as “Grease” and “Grease 2,” playing Blanche, the principal’s assistant, and in “Splash.”

Dody Goodman also did several television shows such as “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” starting in 1976, and was a guest on such shows as “Diff’rent Strokes,” “St. Elsewhere” and “Murder, She Wrote.”

The actress was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1914, where her father ran a small cigar factory. In the 1930’s she studied dance at the School of American Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School, and later went on to do Broadway musicals.

Dody appeared on David Letterman’s late-night talk show and she explained, “He understands my sense of humor. I will do a dumb thing for fun. That’s how I got the reputation for being dopey and dumb. I don’t like dumb jokes but I will do dumb things for a laugh,” she said in an AP interview.

Dody Goodman never did marry, but is survived by seven nieces and nephews, 11 great nieces and nephews and 15 great-great nieces and nephews.