Carole “Kelly” Bishop (born February 28, 1944) is an American actress.

Biography

Early life

Bishop was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado to Jane Lenore (née Wahtola) and Lawrence Boden Bishop. She grew up in Denver, Colorado, where she trained to be a ballet dancer, attending the American Ballet Theatre School and the San Jose Ballet School. At eighteen, she headed to New York and landed her first job dancing in a year-round ballet company at Radio City Music Hall. Bishop continued to dance in Las Vegas, summer stock and on television until she was cast in 1967 in Golden Rainbow, her first Broadway role.

Career

Bishop's big break came when she was cast as the sexy, hard-edged Sheila in the Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Her performance earned her the 1976 Tony Award as "Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical)", as well as the 1976 Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Actress in a Musical". She also acted in the Broadway productions of Six Degrees of Separation, Neil Simon's Proposals, the Tony Award-winning The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Bus Stop. It wasn't long before she was cast opposite Jill Clayburgh in Paul Mazursky's big-screen drama An Unmarried Woman (1978).

In 1986, Bishop was cast for a small part in the film Dirty Dancing, but was then called upon to play a larger role when Lynn Lipton, the actress first cast as Baby's mother, became ill in the first week of shooting. The role was then transferred to Bishop.Some scenes shot with Lipton in the role of Mrs. Houseman, can be viewed on the 20th anniversary Dirty Dancing 2007 DVD

Bishop went on to play "mom" to several high-profile stars in numerous features: Howard Stern's in the Betty Thomas-directed comedy Private Parts (1997), and Tobey Maguire's in Wonder Boys (2000). Her additional feature credits include Ich und Er (USA: Me and Him, 1988), Queens Logic (1991), Café Society (1995), Miami Rhapsody (1995) and Blue Moon (2002). On television, Bishop starred in the Mike Nichols' series The Thorns and plays Lisa Ann Walter's mother on My Wildest Dreams. She has guest-starred on Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Murphy Brown.

From 2000 to 2007, Bishop starred in the CW Television Network series Gilmore Girls as the third "girl," Emily Gilmore. Emily is the mother of Lorelai and grandmother of Rory. She plays a wealthy woman who is obsessed with the "proper" New England Society lifestyle. She focuses mainly on charitable functions and how other people view her.

Personal life

When not working, Bishop practices Pilates and aerobics, and enjoys gardening and hiking. Bishop resides in South Orange, New Jersey, where she lives with her husband, TV talk show host Lee Leonard." THEATER; Two Mature Lives on Stage and Screen, Now Playing in New Jersey", The New York Times, September 19, 1999. "She and her husband, Lee Leonard, the host of Jersey Talking on News 12 in Edison, have been living in South Orange for four years."Worth-Baker, Marcia. "Mother's Always Right: Kelly Bishop has played the mother many times over", Maplewood Matters, accessed April 22, 2007. ""Ask Kelly Bishop, South Orange resident and star of Gilmore Girls, what drew her to the role of Emily Gilmore, and she recalls, 'The pilot was simply the best script I ever read.'"