Phyllis Kennedy

Biography

Quick with a wisecrack or comically bemused look, character actress Phyllis Kennedy's slightly equine features greatly enhanced the drab, chatty Plain Jane types she played usually in humorous servitude to the leading lady. Born in Detroit, Michigan on June 16, 1914, she attended high school there and, following her graduation in 1932, found work as a clothes model in a local department store. Relocating to New York, Phyllis' first professional job was a minor role in a 1935 stage production of "Jane Eyre". It didn't take long for her to break into films with an unbilled role in On Again-Off Again (1937). Her second role, however, was her breakthrough part as Hattie, the gabby, slightly vapid maid of a girl's theatrical boarding house in the classic comedy Stage Door (1937) in which she played a mild patsy to Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball and Eve Arden. Phyllis became lifelong friends with Hepburn, Rogers and Ball thanks to this movie. The role of Hattie led to more comedy roles, and an occasional drama thrown in for good measure, including the Irene Dunne starred Joy of Living (1938), Vivacious Lady (1938), as another slightly dim hired help opposite Ginger Rogers, again a maid in Mother Carey's Chickens (1938), the Irene Dunne/Charles Boyer tearjerker Love Affair (1939), the Bing Crosby musical comedy East Side of Heaven (1939), and then maids again in Anne of Windy Poplars (1940), Dr. Christian Meets the Women (1940) and Honeymoon for Three (1941). Sadly, while Phyllis continued to find work fairly regularly she couldn't manage to climb up the billing ladder into perhaps "second banana" status. Sadder yet, many of her performances in such war-era films as Unfinished Business (1941), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), My Sister Eileen (1942), Coney Island (1943), Lady in a Jam (1942), Shine on Harvest Moon (1944) and Life with Blondie (1945) left her without billing and barely noticed. Her situation did not improve after WWII with more servile roles as maids (Living in a Big Way (1947), Where There's Life (1947), A Dangerous Profession (1949), Red Light (1949), You're My Everything (1949), Chicago Deadline (1949), Key to the City (1950)) and waitresses (No Leave, No Love (1946), Killer McCoy (1947), Once More, My Darling (1949) and Never Steal Anything Small (1959)). Strangely, TV didn't become a strong suit at all for this talented comedy foil, which would have seemed a natural direction for her. Friend Lucille Ball, however, did give her the role of Tallulah Bankhead's maid in the best and funniest episode to come from The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957) series. After a long dry spell, Phyllis' cinematic career ended with a couple of bit parts in the musicals My Fair Lady (1964) and Finian's Rainbow (1968). Following her retirement in 1968, Phyllis devoted her time to charitable and religious causes and concentrated strongly on her hobbies -- painting and collecting commemorative spoons. She also was an avid animal lover and contributed often to her friend Doris Day's causes and foundations. She died peacefully of natural causes on December 29, 1998, in her Los Angeles home.