- Jan Miner
Jan Miner (
October 15 ,1917 ,Boston, Massachusetts -February 15 ,2004 ,Bethel, Connecticut ) was an American actress.Television
Miner appeared on television in, among other shows,
Boston Blackie , in a role she originated on radio.Jan played Lenny Bruce's mother, Sally, in the Bob Fosse picture, "Lenny" alongside Dustin Hoffman (Lenny) and Valerie Perrine (Honey Bruce).
She became an icon to TV viewers as Madge, the wisecracking manicurist in commercials for Palmolive Dishwashing Detergent. Miner played Madge for 27 years, and made the commercials in French, German, Danish and Italian. Her trademark line became one of the most famous and parodied of all televisioncommercial quotes: "You're soaking in it."
Personal
She was married to actor
Richard Merrell until his death in 1998, and often appeared with him on the stage. She died inBethel, Connecticut of natural causes.tage
Appeared onstage (and later on television) as Gertrude Stein in the play Gertrude Stein and a Companion!, by Win Wells, with Marion Seldes as Alice B. Toklas. She also appeared onstage in the late 1960's in several roles at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, CT.
Radio
Miner appeared in radio, in both lead roles in soap operas (
Hilltop House ,The Second Mrs. Burton ,Lora Lawton ) and supporting roles (Casey, Crime Photographer ,Boston Blackie ).She also played featured roles in the 1948-1950 dramatic anthology series
Radio City Playhouse ("Soundless," "Portrait of Lenore," et al.). It was, though, her appearance in the premiere broadcast of the series that "created a minor sensation in the play 'Long Distance'" (reference: Dunning, J., On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, Oxford University Press, 1998): the episode was so popular that she repeated her performance later in the season.External links
*imdb name|id=0591149|name=Jan Miner
* [http://www.goldenage-wtic.org/gaor-05.html Jan Miner biography and radio interview (August 1970 on WTIC, Hartford, Conneticut)]
* [http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p3.cgi?ArtistName=Miner,+Jan&ArtistNumber=18932 Jan Miner radiography at Radio Gold Index]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/radiocityplayhouseOTR Jan Miner performances in Radio City Playhouse available in mp3 format for download at Archive.org]
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