Julie Payne (actress, born 1946) explained

Julie Payne (actress, born 1946) should not be confused with Julie Payne (actress, born 1940).

Julie Payne
Birth Name:Julie Kathleen Payne
Birth Place:Sweet Home, Oregon, U.S.
Alma Mater:Santa Clara University
San Francisco State University
Occupation:Actress, voice actress, singer
Yearsactive:1969–present

Julie Kathleen Payne is an American television, film and stage actress who, in a career lasting over four decades, has specialized primarily in comedy roles as well as voice acting. She was a cast member in three short-lived network sitcoms during 1983–1986, and appeared in about twenty feature films and over a hundred episodes of TV series as well as providing voices for scores of TV animated shows, of which her best known character is that of Liz Wilson.

Early life

A native of Oregon, Julie Payne was born in Sweet Home, near the lake and river areas adjoining the Cascade Range. Growing up in the state's second-largest city, Eugene, she attended South Eugene High School, where she performed in a number of school productions, including The Music Man, The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Lark and Once Upon a Mattress. After graduating in 1964, she moved to California, where she studied drama at Santa Clara University and French at San Francisco State University.[1]

Career

Leaving college without a degree, Payne traveled to Europe, where she hitchhiked through various locations and, upon returning to San Francisco during the 1967 Haight-Ashbury "Summer of Love", became a member of the improvisational comedy/satire group, The Committee, remaining with it, on and off, until 1974.

During her years with The Committee, she began appearing in films (her on-screen debut occurred as part of the group's performance at the September 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival, held a month after Woodstock, and is included in the 1971 concert film, Celebration at Big Sur).

At the start of the 1970s, she was seen in bit parts, without the group, in The Strawberry Statement and The Candidate, as well as on television (The Flip Wilson Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Midnight Special, The Streets of San Francisco and others).

In 1976, two years after leaving The Committee, she and another former member of the group, Ruth Silveira, wrote and starred in People Pie, their two-woman satirical revue which they premiered in Los Angeles and took on the road, including to Eugene, its initial stop, and her first visit to the city since leaving it in 1964.[1]

Between February 1983 and June 1986, she was a regular in three network series, but each lasted less than three months. In CBS' hour-long 1983 humorous fantasy, Wizards and Warriors, she played good queen Lattinia, one of many characters in a large ensemble cast, but the special-effects-laden expensive series was a Saturday-night ratings failure, lasting only from February 26 to May 14. She also starred in "WKRP in Cincinnati" as Buffy, one of Johnny Fever's former girlfriends.

Starting in mid-1980s, Payne shifted her focus to television voice work. She was heard in the animated segments of The Tracey Ullman Show and provided various voices, primarily those of Dr. Liz Wilson and Lanolin in a series of specials based on the comic strip Garfield, as well as in the series Garfield and Friends and The Garfield Show.

In 1993, she played Embarcadero Bank worker Eleanor Cooke (AKA Former Smash Club cage dancer Ginger Snap) in the Full House episode "Smash Club: the Next Generation". Payne portrayed the recurring character of Larry David's mother-in-law on his HBO satirical comedy series, Curb Your Enthusiasm.[2]

Filmography

Film

!Year!Title!Role!Notes
1970The Strawberry StatementWoman
1971THX 1138AnnouncerVoice
1972The CandidateWoman
1979Real LifeDr. Anne Kramer
1980First FamilyGloria's Secret Service Agent #3
1981The Incredible Shrinking WomanNeighbor
1983Private SchoolCoach Whelan
1983Twice Upon a TimeFlora FaunaVoice
1984The Lonely GuyRental Agent
1984This Is Spinal TapMime Waitress
1985Fraternity VacationNaomi Tvedt
1986Just Between FriendsKaren
1986Jumpin' Jack FlashReceptionist at Elizabeth Arden
1988Portrait of a White MarriageMrs. Prufrock
1989Uncle BuckAdditional voices
1990MiseryReporter #1
1992Glengarry Glen RossAdditional voices
1994Monkey TroubleLibrarian
1995The Brady Bunch MovieMrs. Simmons
1996Spy HardMother Superior
2001Teddy Bears' PicnicLila Claypool
2003American WeddingMrs. Zyskowski
2005Cruel but NecessaryPearl

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1973Love, American StyleSylviaEpisode: "Love and the See-Through Mind"
1973The Streets of San FranciscoMrs. DurandEpisode: "The Twenty-Four Karat Plague"
1974The Bob Newhart ShowDr. Sharon RudellEpisode: "The Great Rimpau Medical Arts Co-Op Experiment"
1975Sanford and SonTerestiaEpisode: "The Family Man"
1976Saturday Night LiveSandy LockeEpisode: "Elliott Gould/Anne Murray"
1977–1979Laverne & ShirleyColonel Turner / Charmayne3 episodes
1978Peeping TimesAmateur SurgeonTelevision film
1979WKRP in CincinnatiBuffy Denver2 episodes
1979TaxiSister Number OneEpisode: "The Great Place"
1980ShirleyMrs. BurkeEpisode: "Fenced In"
1980Archie Bunker's PlaceSylviaEpisode: "Home Again"
1981Harper Valley PTADoris DiefenbarkerEpisode: "Stella and Howard"
1982Hart to HartNurseEpisode: "Harts and Fraud"
1982Madame's PlaceMicheline JulietteEpisode #1.38
1982Family TiesLynn SullivanEpisode: "Oops"
1983Prime TimesVariousTelevision film
1983Wizards and WarriorsQueen Lattinia3 episode
1983Full HouseMrs. KnopfTelevision film
1983Oh MadelineLornaEpisode: "Portrait of the Artist with a Young Man"
1983Garfield on the TownDr. Liz WilsonTelevision short
1984The Duck FactoryAggie Aylesworth13 episodes
1984E/RMrs. TurnerEpisode: "Both Sides Now"
1984BensonEuniceEpisode: "Make War, Not Love"
1985JoannaSigourney SchultzTelevision film
1985George Burns Comedy WeekLoretta HayesEpisode: "The Dynamite Girl"
1985The Twilight ZoneClerkEpisode: "Wish Bank"
1985The History of White People in AmericaIrmaTelevision film
1986Garfield in ParadiseMai-Tai / StewardessTelevision short
1986Leo & Liz in Beverly HillsLucille Trumbley6 episodes
1987The New GidgetJulia GenetEpisode: "Does Paul Know?"
1987CBS Summer PlayhouseRitaEpisode: "Puppetman"
1987This Week IndoorsNancy ReaganTelevision film
1987The Tracey Ullman ShowDr. N!Godatu6 episodes
1987Pound Puppies911 Operator 1Episode: "The Rescue Pups/Good Night, Sweet Pups"
1987A Garfield ChristmasMomTelevision film
1988Crash CourseMaxine Konner
1988–1994Garfield and FriendsLanolin / Dr. Liz Wilson85 episodes
1989Murphy BrownPhyllisEpisode: "It's How You Play the Game"
1989This Is America, Charlie BrownMrs. HolidayEpisode: "The Great Inventors"
1989Who's the Boss?SkyeEpisode: "It's Somebody's Birthday"
1989Garfield's Babes and BulletsKittyTelevision short
1989L.A. LawEllen BarrettEpisode: "The Unsterile Cuckoo"
1989Garfield's ThanksgivingDr. Liz WilsonTelevision short
1990Garfield's Feline FantasiesNadia
1990The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho PandaAdditional voicesEpisode: "Pity the Poor Pirate"
1990Bagdad CafeCounty ClerkEpisode: "City on a Hill"
1990–1991The Wonder YearsMrs. Falcinella3 episodes
1991Get a LifeDr. RandEpisode: "Married"
1991ParadiseHattie / Margaret2 episodes
1991The HauntedAnnieTelevision film
1991Garfield Gets a LifeLibrary Girl / ReceptionistTelevision short
1991Dream OnMargaret TittlewoodEpisode: "Calling the Kettle Black"
1991The New WKRP in CincinnatiBuffy2 episodes
1991Perfect StrangersMrs. JohnsonEpisode: "Wild Turkey"
1991Major DadMrs. LoniganEpisode: "The Shell Game"
1993Good AdviceSalespersonEpisode: "Pilot"
1993Full HouseEleanor Cooke / Ginger SnapEpisode: "Smash Club: the Next Generation"
1993Café AmericainHeleneEpisode: "Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly"
1994Picket FencesJurorEpisode: "System Down"
1994MontySister StigmataEpisode: "Wild, Wild Willy and His O.K. Corral"
1994–1997Beverly Hills, 90210Peggy, Arnold's Secretary3 episodes
1995Aaahh!!! Real MonstersBeautician / MoniqueEpisode: "A Room with No Viewfinder/Krumm Rises to the Top"
1996WandaEpisode: "The People v. Lois Lane"
1996California DreamsAmber DuboisEpisode: "The Fashion Man"
1998L.A. DoctorsMrs. KlemingEpisode: "Nate Expectations"
2000–2005Curb Your EnthusiasmCheryl's Mother7 episodes
2004Judging AmyNancy KolnikoffEpisode: "Predictive Neglect"
2005NYPD BlueJudith HowellEpisode: "Old Man Quiver"
2009–2016The Garfield ShowDr. Liz Wilson / Mrs. Wilson / Mrs. Arbuckle14 episodes

Notes and References

  1. News: Comedienne coming home. Eugene Register-Guard. July 25, 1976. Includes photograph.
  2. Web site: Shades of Grey . 2023-05-05 . Moment Improv Theatre - San Francisco Improv Theatre & Training Center . en-US.