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Eileen Brennan

Eileen BrennanAKA Verla Eileen Regina Brennen

Born: 3-Sep-1932
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Died: 28-Jul-2013
Location of death: Burbank, CA
Cause of death: Cancer - other

Gender: Female
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Capt. Lewis in Private Benjamin

Eileen Brennan was an American character actress best known for tough, cranky roles, such as Goldie Hawn's commanding officer in Private Benjamin. She was also a regular in the first season of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. She studied at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and shared an apartment with Rue McClanahan and Macy Janney (later the mother of Allison Janney). Her breakthrough was the title role in an off-Broadway musical, Little Mary Sunshine, and she later appeared in the original Broadway run of Hello Dolly with Carol Channing.

Playing Miss Hannigan in a production of Annie, Brennan broke a leg falling from the stage into the orchestra pit. In 1982, she was critically injured when she was hit by a car crossing the street. "I woke up two days later in the hospital. I don't have any recollection. I just know what I read in the papers. My legs were broken. Every bone in the left side of my face was broken". Brennan overcame both the accident and her subsequent addiction to painkillers.

She continued appearing in films and on television through the 2000s, with recurring roles on 7th Heaven and Will & Grace, before her death in 2013.

Father: (doctor)
Mother: Jean Manahan (silent film actress)
Husband: David Lampson (m. 1968, div. 1975, two sons)
Son: Patrick Oliver (b. 1973)
Son: Samuel John (b. 1974)

    University: Georgetown University

    Emmy 1981 for Private Benjamin
    Golden Globe 1982 for Private Benjamin
    Alcoholics Anonymous 1976
    Betty Ford Center painkillers Aug-1984
    Mastectomy 1990
    Risk Factors: Alcoholism, Breast Cancer, Depression

    TELEVISION
    Laugh-In 1968
    A New Kind of Family Kit Flanagan (1979-80)
    Private Benjamin Capt. Doreen Lewis (1981-83)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (11-Mar-2005)
    The Amateurs (6-Feb-2005) · Mrs. Cherkiss
    The Hollow (25-Aug-2004)
    Comic Book Villains (1-Jan-2002) · Mrs. Cresswell
    Jeepers Creepers (20-Jul-2001) · The Cat Lady
    Toothless (5-Oct-1997)
    Boys Life 2 (7-Mar-1997)
    Changing Habits (1997)
    If These Walls Could Talk (11-Sep-1996)
    Reckless (15-Sep-1995)
    Freaky Friday (6-May-1995)
    Precious Victims (28-Sep-1993)
    I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore (24-Apr-1992)
    Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas (7-Sep-1991) · Herself
    Deadly Intentions... Again? (11-Feb-1991)
    White Palace (19-Oct-1990)
    Texasville (28-Sep-1990)
    Stella (2-Feb-1990)
    Rented Lips (1-Jul-1988)
    The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (29-Jun-1988) · Miss Bannister
    Sticky Fingers (6-May-1988) · Stella
    Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife (18-Jan-1987)
    Babes in Toyland (19-Dec-1986) · Mrs. Piper
    Clue (13-Dec-1985)
    The Fourth Wise Man (30-Mar-1985)
    The Funny Farm (18-Feb-1983)
    Pandemonium (Apr-1982)
    Private Benjamin (10-Oct-1980)
    My Old Man (7-Dec-1979)
    The Cheap Detective (23-Jun-1978)
    FM (Apr-1978)
    The Great Smokey Roadblock (7-Sep-1977)
    The Death of Richie (10-Jan-1977)
    Murder by Death (23-Jun-1976) · Tess Skeffington
    Hustle (25-Dec-1975)
    The Night That Panicked America (31-Oct-1975)
    At Long Last Love (1-Mar-1975) · Elizabeth
    Daisy Miller (22-May-1974)
    The Sting (25-Dec-1973) · Billie
    The Blue Knight (11-Nov-1973)
    Scarecrow (31-Aug-1973) · Darlene
    Playmates (3-Oct-1972)
    The Last Picture Show (3-Oct-1971) · Genevieve
    Divorce American Style (21-Jun-1967) · Eunice


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