Another fitting birthday because while I was sick, I watched Blazing Saddles (again) and her Marlene Dietrich imitation from Destry Rides Again is still one of the funniest parts. It’s rather strange she received an Oscar nomination for the role but I’m not surprised she didn’t win, I’ve never known comedies to succeed or movies with talking pigs.
Hard to believe she was going to be an opera singer originally. Then she auditioned for Mel Brooks, the guy mainly responsible for sidetracking her into comedy, namely through his better movies: Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety and History of the World Part One. She was also a treat in other offbeat comedies:Yellowbeard, The Muppet Movie and The Cheap Detective. I vaguely recall her short-lived sitcom on ABC but I was in high school so TV wasn’t very high on my list of things to do then. Madeline’s voice was always distinctive in animation making her one of the many perfect choices in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life.
If you get the chance, take in one of her movies over the next month. In those you’ll get to see an attractive and talented woman actually being funny unlike Jenny McCarthy (she’s neither) or Sarah Silverman (her stuff is rather weak).