Also: Nightclub owner

Born As: Lainie Levine

* 15-5-1942, New York NY

Education:Hofstra University, Long Island, NY

Tall, high-energy nightclub chanteuse and actress who in the 1980s concentrated on a successful feature film and TV acting career. A little bit manic, sometimes sultry, typically frizzy-haired, Kazan received her big break, when, as Barbra Streisand's understudy in the Broadway musical Funny Girl, she got to go on for one matinee and one evening performance. Her forceful singing and performing style received some notice, and within several years, Kazan had an album, a TV special, and several feature roles to her credit. She wasn't typical leading lady material, however, and her films were largely unworthy of her; DAYTON'S DEVILS (1968), for instance, was distinguished largely by her rendition of "Sunny." For a number of years she concentrated on her singing, and in the late 1970s, successfully opened cabarets, Lainie's Room and Lainie's Room East, in Los Angeles and New York, respectively.

In 1980 Kazan began focusing on acting work. College classmate Francis Ford Coppola cast her in his unsuccessful ONE FROM THE HEART (1982), but she had better luck as a classic Jewish mother in MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982), a role she would dynamically reprise a decade later in the Lincoln Center musical version. A spirited camp, Kazan had little success with two tries at TV sitcom ("Tough Cookies" 1986, starring Robby Benson; "Karen's Song" 1987, as Patty Duke's pal) but has done very well as supportive chum and boisterous earth mother types in films ranging from the misfire Western spoof LUST IN THE DUST (1985) to the female bonding drama BEACHES (1988), the Chuck Norris actioner THE DELTA FORCE (1986) and the family comedies HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS (1987) and 29TH STREET (1991).

Filmography

1968   DAYTON'S DEVILS    song performer

1968   LADY IN CEMENT     

1971   ROMANCE OF A HORSETHIEF        

1978   A LOVE AFFAIR: THE ELEANOR AND LOU GEHRIG STORY 

1980   A CRY FOR LOVE     

1982   MY FAVORITE YEAR 

1982   ONE FROM THE HEART       

1983   SUNSET LIMOUSINE 

1984   THE JERK, TOO       

1984   OBSESSIVE LOVE    

1985   THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN     

1985   LUST IN THE DUST  

1986   THE DELTA FORCE   

1987   HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS      

1988   BEACHES      

1988   OUT OF THE DARK   

1989   MEDIUM RARE

1990   ETERNITY     

1991   29TH STREET

1991   THE SOUTH PHILADELPHIA STORY 

1992   THE CEMETERY CLUB

1992   I DON'T BUY KISSES ANYMORE