Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an American actress of movie, television, and theater.

Kahn was born in Boston, Massachusetts, as Madeline Gail Wolfson to a Jewish family. Her mother Paula was 17 when Madeline was born. Although Kahn's parents were high school sweethearts, they divorced when Madeline was 2. After the divorce was finalized, Kahn and her mother moved to New York City. A few years later, her mother remarried and this union gave Kahn two half-siblings, Jeffrey and Robyn. In 1948, Kahn was sent to a progressive boarding school in Pennsylvania, where she stayed until 1952. During that time, her mother pursued her ambition as an actress. Kahn soon began acting herself and performed in a number of school productions. In 1960, she graduated from the Martin Van Buren High School in Queens Village, New York, where she earned a drama scholarship to Hofstra University. At Hofstra, she studied music, drama and speech therapy and also performed in several campus productions. After changing her major a number of times, Kahn graduated in 1964 with a degree in speech therapy.

Kahn began auditioning for professional acting roles shortly after her graduation from Hofstra; on the side, she briefly taught public school in Levittown, New York. Just before adopting the professional name Madeline Kahn (Kahn was her stepfather's last name), she made her stage debut as a chorus girl in a revival of Kiss Me, Kate, which led her to join the Actors' Equity. Her part in the flop How Now, Dow Jones was written out before the 1967 show reached Broadway, as did her role as "Miss Whipple" in the original production of Promises, Promises. But she earned her first break on Broadway with New Faces of 1968. That same year, she performed her first professional lead in a special concert performance of the operetta Candide in honor of Leonard Bernstein's 50th birthday. In 1969, she appeared off-Broadway in the revue Promenade.

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Kahn, Madeline - Twitter Search

@AniPalmo Holy cow, I think I was just channeling Madeline Kahn right there! LOL
SkiptheZip (Skip the Zip) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:32:13 -0000
@AniPalmo Holy cow, I think I was just channeling Madeline Kahn right there! LOL
@AuthorWilliam Were you thinking "The Wrath of (Madeline) Kahn"? ;-P
lrlee (Leslie Lee) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:23:00 -0000
@AuthorWilliam Were you thinking "The Wrath of (Madeline) Kahn"? ;-P
@ebertchicago This Mel Brooks retrospective makes me wish Harvey Korman & Madeline Kahn were still alive. You?
egyptnation (egyptnation) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:10:17 -0000
@ebertchicago This Mel Brooks retrospective makes me wish Harvey Korman & Madeline Kahn were still alive. You?
RT @maireadre: I favorited a YouTube video -- Classic Sesame Street - Grover and Madeline Kahn http://youtu.be/hsCOTsE4atQ?a
muppetsightings (Muppet Sightings) Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:01:53 -0000
RT @maireadre: I favorited a YouTube video -- Classic Sesame Street - Grover and Madeline Kahn http://youtu.be/hsCOTsE4atQ?a
I favorited a YouTube video -- Classic Sesame Street - Grover and Madeline Kahn http://youtu.be/hsCOTsE4atQ?a
maireadre (Mairead Engblade) Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:56:48 -0000
I favorited a YouTube video -- Classic Sesame Street - Grover and Madeline Kahn http://youtu.be/hsCOTsE4atQ?a
i keep thinking about Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles
bookgrouch (Rachel Williams) Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:11:09 -0000
i keep thinking about Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles

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