Hope Holiday is an American actress, perhaps best known for her role as Mrs. Margie MacDougall in the

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and ver ...

film ''

The Apartment ''The Apartment'' is a 1960 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond. It stars Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray, with Ray Walston and Edie ...

'' (1960).

Early years

Holiday was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and was raised in Manhattan. Her father, a burlesque entertainer who was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, changed his name from Allen Zaslawsky to Allen Zee before his daughters were born. She attended Public School 117 in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It has a popular large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis, St Albans, and Cambria Heights to the ea ...

, and then went to Forest Hills High School. She dropped out of high school and sang at the Copacabana nightclub. Her father was also described by

Ed Sullivan Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television host, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Daily News'' and the Chicago Tribune New York News ...

as a "Capitol Theater exec." Her mother, Doris, worked in the production department at radio station WHN in New York City. Her father at one time was night manager of WHN. She has an older sister, Judy, whose stage name was Judy Sinclair.

Name change

A column in the June 30, 1954, issue of the ''

Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'' noted Zee's change of names: "At the Guy Lombardo extravaganza, 'Arabian Night,' the lassie that almost walked away with the show was Hope Holiday. Hope, before this show, used the name of Hope Zee ..." She later recalled:

I had a featured role as the Teeny Weeny Genie and got to sing two songs. Before this show I had been billed as "Hope Zee," but since my father was a producer of the show along with Lombardo, he purposely changed my name in the program, as he didn't want audiences thinking there was any nepotism involved. I literally had no say in choosing my new name. Since he loved
Judy Holliday Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim, June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an American actress, comedian, and singer.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', June 9, 1965, p. 71. She began her career as part of a nightclub act before working in Bro ...
, Daddy decided to call me "Hope Holiday" without the extra "L." I hated the name at first but ending up keeping it.

Career

Stage

Holiday has extensive Broadway musical comedy background, beginning with dancing in the chorus lines in '' Top Banana'' and ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

''. As Hope Zee, she also was understudy to Rose Marie in ''Top Banana'', but when the star had to be gone for a week, Zee was laid off, and

Audrey Meadows Audrey Meadows (born Audrey Cotter; February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress who portrayed the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy ''The Honeymooners''. She was the younger sister of H ...

was hired to take over the part. In 1949, she played Fifi and was a member of the singing ensemble of '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''. In the 1956 Broadway production of ''

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, ...

'', Holiday was understudy for Mammy Yokum in addition to being a featured dancer.

Singing

In the early 1950s, Holiday (billed as Hope Zee) sang with Ralph Flanagan's orchestra. An August 4, 1950, newspaper column by

Dorothy Kilgallen Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 – November 8, 1965) was an American columnist, journalist, and television game show panelist. After spending two semesters at the College of New Rochelle, she started her career shortly before her 18th bir ...

reported, "Hope Zee ... quit '' 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''' last week to become vocalist with Ralph Flanagan's band ..."

Personal life

Holiday is the widow of actor Frank Marth. They were married April 9, 1967. Marth died in January 2014. In February 2022, Holiday and fellow actress

Karen Sharpe Karen Kay Sharpe (born September 20, 1934) is an American film and television actress. She is known for playing Laura Thomas in the American western television series '' Johnny Ringo''. Life and career Sharpe was born in San Antonio, Texas, t ...

gave an interview to '' Vanity Fair'' alleging incidents of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

and

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...

by the late comic actor

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "Th ...

, who died in 2017. Holiday detailed an incident on the set of ''

The Ladies Man ''The Ladies Man'' is a 1961 American comedy film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It was released on June 28, 1961, by Paramount Pictures. Plot Herbert H. Heebert is a young man who loses his girlfriend, swears off romance, and then tak ...

'' (1961) in which Lewis lured her to his dressing room, pressed a button to lock the door, and masturbated in her presence without her consent. She further alleged that when she slapped him during a confrontation the following day, production was briefly halted; the two never spoke again.Jerry Lewis Co-Stars Accuse Actor and Comic of Sexual Assault: ‘He Grabbed Me. He Began to Fondle Me.’
Lattanzio, Ryan. IndieWire. 23 February 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2023.

Selected filmography

Actress

* ''

'' (1959) .... Chorus Dancer (uncredited) * ''

'' (1960) .... Mrs. Margie MacDougall * ''

'' (1961) .... Miss Anxious * '' Have Gun Will Travel'' (1961, TV Series) .... Big Red * '' Irma la Douce'' (1963) .... Lolita * '' The New Phil Silvers Show'' (1963, TV Series, Episode "The Son of Pygmalion,") .... Mildred Flitterman * '' The Rounders'' (1965) .... Sister * '' How to Seduce a Woman'' (1974) .... Mary * ''The Hughes Mystery'' (1979) * ''The Return of Mod Squad'' (1979, TV Movie) .... Willy * '' The Last Reunion'' (1980) .... Sally the Singer * '' Texas Lightning'' (1981) .... Mrs. Stover * '' Raw Force'' (1982) .... Hazel Buck * '' Killpoint'' (1984) .... Anita * ''Low Blow'' (1986) .... School Head Mistress (uncredited)

Production & Casting

* '' Texas Lightning'' (1981; associate producer) * '' Killpoint'' (1984; associate producer, casting director) * ''Rage to Kill'' (1987; executive producer) * ''Code Name Vengeance'' (1987; executive producer) * '' Space Mutiny'' (1988; executive producer)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holiday, Hope Living people American film actresses Film producers from New York (state) American television actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Brooklyn 20th-century American actresses American women film producers Forest Hills High School (New York) alumni Jewish American actresses 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)