Fritzi Burr
Fritzi Burr was an American character actress who was notable for her television roles, including as Miss Collins on the sitcom What's Happening!!, and as various comedic foils to Fred Sanford on the sitcom Sanford and Son. She was the sister-in-law of Sanford and Son and What's Happening!! producer Saul Turteltaub.
Biography
Burr was born Freda Berr in Philadelphia on May 31, 1924, to Pauline Berr and David Berr. Both of her parents were Russian Jews, and their families came from the same city, Berdichev. Her father's original last name, "Berdichevsky", before it was shortened to "Berr", is also derived from the name of their native town. Her parents divorced when she was young, and her mother took her to live with her parents, Harry and Rose Devore.A few years later, her mother would remarry and have two more daughters, Shirley and Thelma, by her second husband, Benjamin Steinberg. In the late 1930s, the family moved from Philadelphia to Newark, New Jersey, where Freda spent her formative years in close proximity to the New York stage scene. Eventually, her stepfather formally adopted her, at which time she became officially known as Freda Steinberg, keeping a slightly modified "Burr" as her stage name.
Burr performed in small theaters and in skits with the vaudeville comedy team Smith and Dale. By the late 1950s, she was working on Broadway, appearing in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, the show in which Barbra Streisand first gained national attention. In the mid-1960s, Burr replaced Kaye Medford as the mother of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Her other Broadway credits include portraying Sylvia Goldman in The Family Way in 1965.
Burr worked regularly in small theaters and dinner theaters, as well as in touring companies of musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof, in which she played, at different times, Yente and Tevye's long-suffering wife, Golde. After moving to Hollywood, she found steady work as a character actress in movies and on television.
Burr appeared in the movies How Do I Love Thee?, Frasier, The Senusous Lion, Chinatown, The New, Original Wonder Woman, Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night and 3 Ninjas. Her television appearances include The Rockford Files, What's Happening!, Starsky & Hutch, Quincy, M.E.,''The Nanny, Melrose Place, Hunter, The Golden Girls, The Incredible Hulk, Sanford and Son,, Seinfeld, Friends and The Odd Couple''.
Personal life and death
Burr was married to Aaron Heyman until his death in 1995. Burr died in Fort Myers, Florida, of natural causes on January 17, 2003, age 78.Filmography
Television
- 1967, N.Y.P.D. as Landlady
- 1970, That Girl as Laura
- 1973, A Touch of Grace as Mrs. Sherman
- 1973, The New Dick Van Dyke Show as Mrs. Davis
- 1973 – 1974, Love, American Style as Mabel/The Moderator
- 1974 – 1975, The Odd Couple as Angry Woman/Mrs. Perkins
- 1974 – 1977, Sanford and Son as various
- 1975, The ABC Afternoon Playbreak as Florence Darwin
- 1975, Baretta as Mrs. Schwartz
- 1975, The Rookies as Apartment House Manager
- 1975, Wonder Woman as Saleslady
- 1975 – 1979, The Rockford Files as various
- 1976, One Day at a Time as Ginny
- 1976, Harry O as Apartment Manager
- 1976, Starsky and Hutch as Mrs. Haberman
- 1976, Holmes & Yoyo as Mrs. Buchanan
- 1976, Police Woman as Landlady
- 1977, Sanford Arms as Secretary
- 1977 – 1979, What's Happening!! as Miss Collins
- 1979, Delta House as Gretl Kemp
- 1979, Detective School as Madame Duchamp
- 1979, The Incredible Hulk as Rose Brown/Gladys
- 1979 – 1982, Quincy M.E. as Dr. Finkel/Maybelle/Doreen
- 1980, One in a Million as Nurse
- 1981, Strike Force as Mrs. Greenstreet
- 1982, One of the Boys as The Bank Manager
- 1982, Maggie as Mrs. Spaulding
- 1983, The Facts of Life as Mrs. Waldman
- 1985, Crazy Like a Fox as Mabel
- 1985, Days of our Lives as Beulah Boden
- 1986, Divorce Court as Marianne Walker
- 1986, You Again? as Mabel
- 1987, Throb as Makler
- 1988, The Golden Girls as Ruth
- 1988, My Sister Sam as Checker
- 1989, Moonlighting as Lenora Viola
- 1989, Chicken Soup as Lillian
- 1991, Hunter as Ida Green
- 1991, Dream On as Waitress
- 1992, Sisters as Mrs. Visconti
- 1993, Seinfeld as Mah-Jongg Lady
- 1993, The Nanny as Woman at the Movie
- 1995, Platypus Man as Marjorie McAllister
- 1995 – 1996, Friends as Mrs. Weinberg/Woman /Ms. Tedlock
- 1997, Mad About You as Klarik's Customer