30 Facts About Eileen Brennan

Eileen Brennan made her film debut in the satire Divorce American Style, followed by a supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, which earned her a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Eileen Brennan gained further critical acclaim for her role as Captain Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Eileen Brennan reprised the role in the television adaptation, winning both a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Eileen Brennan appeared in the ensemble cast of the mystery-comedy Clue which gained a major cult following.

Verla Eileen Brennan Regina Brennen was born September 3,1932, in Los Angeles, California, to Regina Menehan, a former silent film actress, and John Gerald Brennen, a doctor.

Eileen Brennan later relocated to New York City to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she was the roommate of Rue McClanahan.

Eileen Brennan began her acting career while attending university, appearing in Georgetown's stage productions of Arsenic and Old Lace.

Eileen Brennan played Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker at the 1961 Central City Opera Summer Festival in Central City, Colorado directed by Arthur Penn, who had just won a Tony for his direction of the play on Broadway.

Eileen Brennan soon became one of the most recognizable supporting actresses in film and television.

Eileen Brennan usually played sympathetic characters, though she played a variety of other character types, including earthy, vulgar and sassy, but occasionally "with a heart of gold".

Eileen Brennan appeared in the Barnaby Jones episode titled "Blood Relations".

Eileen Brennan became a favorite of a number of directors, in particular Peter Bogdanovich.

Eileen Brennan appeared in Bogdanovich's drama The Last Picture Show as Genevieve, for which she received a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actress.

In 1972, Eileen Brennan appeared in an All in the Family episode, "The Elevator Story", as Angelique McCarthy, followed by a role in George Roy Hill's Academy Award-winning film The Sting as Billie, the brothel madam and confidante of con man Henry Gondorf.

Eileen Brennan worked with director Robert Moore and writer Neil Simon, appearing in Murder by Death as Tess Skeffington and appearing in The Cheap Detective.

Eileen Brennan had a starring role, playing the disc jockey Mother in the film FM, a comedy-drama about life at a rock-music radio station.

In 1980, Eileen Brennan received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Goldie Hawn's nasty commanding officer in Private Benjamin.

Eileen Brennan reprised the role in the television adaptation, for which she won an Emmy as well as a Golden Globe.

Eileen Brennan had one additional Golden Globe nomination and six Emmy nominations.

Eileen Brennan received an Emmy nomination for her guest-star role in the Taxi episode "Thy Boss's Wife".

In 1985, Eileen Brennan portrayed the iconic Mrs Peacock in the Paramount Pictures adaptation of Clue.

Eileen Brennan appeared opposite Vincent D'Onofrio in a segment of Boys Life 2, an anthology film about gay men in America.

Levy was inspired to cast Eileen Brennan after seeing Private Benjamin on television.

However, Eileen Brennan's cameo was deleted from the actual cut of the movie.

From 1968 to 1974, Eileen Brennan was married to British poet and photographer David John Lampson, with whom she had two sons: Patrick, a former basketball player turned actor, and Sam, a singer.

In 1982, Eileen Brennan was hit by a passing car in Venice Beach while leaving a restaurant with Goldie Hawn and suffered massive injuries.

Eileen Brennan took two years off work to recover and had to overcome a subsequent addiction to painkillers.

Eileen Brennan fell from the stage in 1989 during a production of Annie, breaking a leg.

Eileen Brennan died at her home in Burbank, California, on July 28,2013, of bladder cancer, aged 80.

Eileen Brennan's Private Benjamin co-star Goldie Hawn said she was a "brilliant comedian, a powerful dramatic actress and had the voice of an angel".