Renee Taylor
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Taylor and Bologna are known for giving large parties in their Beverly Hills home, and also live in Englewood, New Jersey. They have renewed their wedding vows at frequent intervals, and with full publicity. Taylor is Jewish, Bologna is Roman Catholic. They were originally married by a priest, although their son, actor Gabe, was raised Jewish. They have subsequently renewed their vows with a rabbi and minister officiating, and also in Buddhist and Hindu ceremonies.
Biography
A comic performer and writer with an unabashed New York accent and sensibility who has portrayed a wide range of common-folk Jewish women, Renee Taylor began her career in New York in the 1950s as a revue comedienne and writer. She first gained national attention as a semi-regular on "The Jack Paar Show." Taylor made her film debut for Jerry Lewis in "The Errand Boy" (1961), and in 1968 was Jack Klugman's wife in "The Detective" who tried to distract him from his concentration with the offer of food. In 1977, Taylor appeared on the syndicated "Fernwood Tonight," the offspring of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," as a character who proclaimed herself to be the missing Mary Hartman. Since the roles she was offered often did not showcase her abilities, Taylor and husband Joseph Bologna began writing and starring in their own plays and independent feature films which they tirelessly promoted. They co-wrote and performed onstage in "Lovers and Other Strangers" (1968), which they later adapted (but did not star in) for the screen in 1970. In 1971, the duo made the feature "Made for Each Other," in which Taylor was Pandora, a talentless performer pursuing the reluctant Bologna as her last chance at happiness. Taylor's self-written characters were often women with low self-esteem who are desperately seek love yet who also believe themselves to be unattractive. The pair revived "Made for Each Other" with frequent screenings at their own expense. Taylor and Bologna also co-wrote "Acts of Love and Other Comedies," a 1972 special starring Marlo Thomas that earned them a writing Emmy. Taylor wrote and starred in the 1976 TV-movie "Woman of the Year." In 1995, Taylor co-wrote and co-directed "Love Is All There Is" which centers on two feuding families whose children fall in love. The film was shown out of competition at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. Taylor found herself on a hit series when she was cast in the recurring role of Fran Drescher's Flushing, Queens, mother in the CBS sitcom "The Nanny" (1994-99). Again, she played a blowzy, overbearing parent not dissimilar characters she created for herself. Riding on her increased popularity, Taylor co-wrote a stage play with Bologna called "Bermuda Avenue Triangle" (1995), that explored love and relationships in middle age. With Beatrice Arthur as the third star of the piece, the play played to enthusiastic crowds in Los Angeles. Taylor continued working steadily in small roles in both film and television, including recurring roles on the sitcoms "How I Met Your Mother" (CBS 2005-2014) and "Happily Divorced" (TV Land 2011-13), in which she was reunited with Drescher, and the animated comedy "Bob's Burgers" (Fox 2011- ). She also appeared in the Adam Sandler comedy "The Do Over" (2016) and director Ken Marino's "How To Be A Latin Lover" (2017).
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Editing (Feature Film)
Sound (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Director (Special)
Cast (Special)
Writer (Special)
Producer (Special)
Sound (Special)
Special Thanks (Special)
Life Events
1959
Made frequent appearances on "The Jack Paar Show"
1961
Made film acting debut in "The Errand Boy"
1970
First screenplay collaboration with Joseph Bologna, "Lovers and Other Strangers"
1972
Made TV acting debut on "The Trouble With People"
1973
Made TV writing debut with "Marlo Thomas in Acts of Love and Other Comedies"
1977
Featured on "Fernwood Tonight" as Annabelle
1993
Played recurring role of Sylvia Fine on "The Nanny"
1995
Co-wrote and co-directed (with Bologna) "Love Is All There Is"
1996
Co-wrote and co-starred in stage play "Bermuda Avenue Triangle"
2001
Co-wrote and co-starred in the Broadway play, "If You Ever Leave Me, I'm Going With You"
2001
Premiered "An Evening With Golda Meir" at the newly dedicated Sid Caesar Theater in Huntington, Long Island; wrote and starred in the one-person show
2004
Starred in "Alfie" opposite Jude Law; a remake of the 1966 film
2004
Starred in the comedy "National Lampoon's Gold Diggers"
2009
Appeared in family-friendly comedy "Opposite Day"
2009
Had a recurring role on hit sitcom "How I Met Your Mother"
2011
Voiced Principal Gottlieb in short-lived series "Allen Gregory"
2011
Played Marilyn on "Happily Divorced"
2016
Appeared in Adam Sandler comedy "The Do-Over"
2017
Appeared in Ken Marino's "How to Be a Latin Lover"
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Taylor and Bologna are known for giving large parties in their Beverly Hills home, and also live in Englewood, New Jersey. They have renewed their wedding vows at frequent intervals, and with full publicity. Taylor is Jewish, Bologna is Roman Catholic. They were originally married by a priest, although their son, actor Gabe, was raised Jewish. They have subsequently renewed their vows with a rabbi and minister officiating, and also in Buddhist and Hindu ceremonies.
