Georgia Engel: Georgette Franklin Baxter
Circa January, 1972. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" had established itself as one of the greatest shows to grace TV screens. CBS was so impressed by the character of Valerie Harper's Rhoda Morgenstern that they considered spinning her off MTMS to a series that would feature her life in New York as a windowdresser. The rub: MTMS would be shy a strong character who had been instrumental in the show's development. Mary Tyler Moore had several ideas for filling the void, and the first of them involved Georgia Engel, a newcomer to showbiz.
The third season episode "Rhoda Morgenstern: Minneapolis to New York" featured another (bad!) Mary Richards get-together, a farewell to Rhoda. Georgia was to make a cameo appearance as a flirtatious blonde who, in the course of the evening, would make several advances at Ted Baxter. By the end of the rehearsals and audience filming of that episode, the producers agreed they'd struck gold with Georgia, and they decided to keep her on board. Around the same time, Ted Knight complained about his character's one-dimensional lunacy, and at one point he even considered quitting the show. Georgette would be Ted Baxter's soulmate...perhaps the one person in the world who had the ability to understand him.
Georgia Engel was born in Washington, D.C. on July 28, 1948. She graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa after graduation from high school; she returned to the mainland and entered the biz. Her stint on MTMS brought well-deserved Emmy nominations in 1976 and 1977. Indeed, she worked wonders with the character of Georgette Franklin, a homely, reserved young woman with a unique sense of humor.
In 1971 she appeared in the film Taking Off, which ironically, became her first film credit. She has also appeared in the films The Outside Man, Papa was a Preacher, Signs of Life and The Sweetest Thing (upcoming) with Cameron Diaz and Christina Applegate. Her post-MTM work has included The Betty White Show in the 1977-78 season, and in 1978 after it's cancellation, she was cast in the role of Claire Ruth in Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story, directed by Milos Forman. Around the same time, she appeared on many of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts as a regular on the dais.
Ms. Engel's theater work includes Tip Toes, Born Yesterday, The Skin of Your Teeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Steel Magnolias, Guys and Dolls and Sweet Charity. She completed a sold-out tour starring as Sister Amnesia in the musical Nunsense. She has co-starred in the St. Louis Muny Opera in their productions of Mame, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Meet Me in St. Louis. She is also known for her occasional appearances in the 1990's on Coach, playing Shirley Burleigh, wife of Howard Burleigh, the ever-dissatisfied athletic department chair at Minnesota State. Of late, Georgia has returned to the theater, and in November 2001 she began a six-month national tour of "The Odd Couple: The Female Version" starring Barbara Eden and Rita McKenzie (playing the character Vera). She lives in New York and her work these days is mostly dedicated to the theater. From 2003-2005, she appeared a number of times in guest spots on "Everybody Loves Raymond."
Ms. Engel is devoted to the Christian Science faith.
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