{{Short description|American actress (1916–1980)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Kay Medford | image = File:Kay Medford 1963.JPG | caption = Medford in 1963 | birth_name = Margaret Kathleen Regan | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|9|14}}<ref>[https://sortedbyname.com/letter_m/medford/index_36.html MEDFORD, KATHLEEN, also known as KAY MEDFORD, KATHLEEN BEGAR and KATHLEEN REGAN, was born 14 September 1916], sortedbyname.com. Accessed September 16, 2025.</ref> | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1980|4|10|1916|9|14}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1942–1980 }}
'''Margaret Kathleen Regan'''<ref name="np">{{cite news |last1=Bolton |first1=Whitney |title=Poetry Ends in Practicality |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/212305006/?terms=%22Margaret%2BKathleen%2BRegan%22 |access-date=July 17, 2020 |work=News-Press |date=June 21, 1957 |location=Florida, Fort Myers |page=4|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> (September 14, 1916 – April 10, 1980), better known as '''Kay Medford''', was an American actress and singer. For her performance as Rose Brice in the musical ''Funny Girl'' and the film adaptation of the same name, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress respectively.
==Early years== Medford was born in 1916.<ref>Always reticent about her age, Medford's year of birth had been misreported as 1914, 1919, and 1920 for many years.</ref> Her mother had been an actress with a Shakespearean stock group in Connecticut.<ref name="ppg">{{cite news |title=Actress Here in Film And Also in Person |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55501959/kay-medford/ |access-date=July 17, 2020 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=June 16, 1949 |page=10|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> Orphaned in her teens, she adopted the name Kay Medford professionally, and began her career after graduating from high school and working as a nightclub waitress.{{Citation needed |date=August 2021}}
==''Look'' magazine feature, 1942== A multi-page portrait in the March 10, 1942, issue of ''Look'' magazine first brought her to national attention. While living a spartan existence in New York, looking for acting roles, she came to the attention of columnist Whitney Bolton (New York Morning Telegraph) and then his friend, MGM producer Mervyn LeRoy. After auditioning for LeRoy, he signed her to a personal contract and began her star-grooming, fitness, and weight-loss regimen in New York before she headed to Los Angeles.<ref>"Hollywood's Newest Cinderella Story." LOOK 8:5 (10 March 1942), 42-47. https://archive.org/details/look-v-06-n-05-1942-03-10/page/41/mode/1up</ref>
== Career == Eventually adopting the name "Kay Medford", she began entertaining professionally by performing at summer resorts in the Catskill Mountains.<ref name="pp">{{cite news |title=Wandering Gypsy Life Wasn't In Her Plans |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55502936/kay-medford/ |access-date=July 17, 2020 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=January 18, 1962 |page=21|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1949, she toured with a nightclub routine in which she did impersonations of Hollywood celebrities.<ref name="ppg" /> She was the original Mae Peterson (Albert's mother) in ''Bye Bye Birdie'' on Broadway, garnering excellent reviews. Medford appeared in the Warner Bros. rock and roll film, ''Jamboree'' (1957).{{Citation needed |date=July 2020}} She made her Broadway debut in 1951 in the musical ''Paint Your Wagon''.<ref name="ibdb">{{IBDB name|52655}}</ref>
She was cast in ''Carousel'', then appeared onstage in ''Funny Girl''<ref name="ibdb"/> as the mother of Fanny Brice (played by Barbra Streisand); for this performance she was nominated for a 1964 Tony Award for Featured Actress (Musical),<ref>{{cite book|editor1-first=Isabelle|editor1-last=Stevenson|editor2-first=Roy A.|editor2-last=Somlyo|editor2-link=Roy Somlyo|title=The Tony Award|edition=revised|year=2001|publisher=Heinemann, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc|location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire|isbn=0-325-00294-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/tonyaward00amer_0/page/50 50]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/tonyaward00amer_0/page/50}}</ref> and when she repeated the role in the 1968 film adaptation, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In the summer of 1970, she appeared at Denver's Elitch Theatre in ''Light Up the Sky'', alongside Kitty Carlisle.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kay Medford (1970) – Historic Elitch Theatre |url=https://historicelitchtheatre.org/kay-medford/ |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=historicelitchtheatre.org}}</ref>
Her other film credits included roles in ''A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''The Rat Race'' (1960), ''BUtterfield 8'' (1960), ''Girl of the Night'' (1960), ''Ensign Pulver'' (1964), ''A Fine Madness'' (1966), ''The Busy Body'' (1967), ''Angel in My Pocket'' (1969), ''Twinky'' (1969), ''But I Don't Want to Get Married!'' (1970), ''Fire Sale'' (1977), and ''Windows'' (1980).{{Citation needed |date=July 2020}}
On television, Medford portrayed Harriet Endicott on ''To Rome with Love'',{{r|etvs|page1=1089}} Gloria's mother on ''That's Life'',{{r|etvs|page1=1066-1067}} and Maria's mother on ''On Our Own'',{{r|etvs|page1=785}} and was a member of the cast of ''The Dean Martin Show''.<ref name="etvs">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=245|edition=2nd}}</ref> She also guest-starred on series, including ''Decoy'', ''Marcus Welby, M.D.'',''The Partridge Family'', and ''Barney Miller'' in her last screen performance in the episode 'Dietrich's Arrest' which originally aired March 6, 1980, one month before her death.
==Death== Medford never married and had no children. She died of cancer in New York City on April 10, 1980, at age 63.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1899&dat=19800411&id=sl0gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EWUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4482,1457511 Obituary], ''Sun Journal'', April 11, 1980 (archived); accessed October 17, 2014.</ref>
==Partial filmography== {{Cast listing| * ''Maisie Gets Her Man'' (1942) as Woman in Audience (uncredited) * ''The War Against Mrs. Hadley'' (1942) as Flossie (uncredited) * ''Northwest Rangers'' (1943) as Girl in Casino (uncredited) * ''Random Harvest'' (1943) as Wife (uncredited) * ''Slightly Dangerous'' (1943) as Girl Getting Off Bus (uncredited) * ''Three Hearts for Julia'' (1943) as Thelma (uncredited) * ''Pilot No. 5'' (1943) - Davis' Secretary (uncredited) * ''Swing Shift Maisie'' (1943) as Ann Wilson * ''Lost Angel'' (1943) as Telephone Operator (uncredited) * ''Whistling in Brooklyn'' (1943) as Phone Operator (voice, uncredited) * ''Rationing'' (1944) as Information Girl (uncredited) * ''Broadway Rhythm'' (1944) as Cashier at Arcade (uncredited) * ''Meet the People'' (1944) as Mrs. Smith (uncredited) * ''An American Romance'' (1944) as Farmer's wife, Yulka (uncredited) * ''Mrs. Parkington'' (1944) as Minnie (uncredited) * ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' (1945) as Girl (uncredited) * ''Adventure'' (1945) as Red (uncredited) * ''Tap Roots'' (1948) as Caller (uncredited) * ''The Undercover Man'' (1949) as Gladys La Verne * ''Guilty Bystander'' (1950) as Angel * ''The Transporter'' (1950) as Anna Paperiska * ''Mr. Walkie Talkie'' (1952) as Marge * ''Singing in the Dark'' (1956) as Luli * ''A Face in the Crowd'' (1957) as First Mrs. Rhodes * ''Jamboree'' (1957) as Grace Show * ''The Rat Race'' (1960) as Landlady Mrs. 'Soda' Gallo * ''Butterfield 8'' (1960) as Happy * ''Girl of the Night'' (1960) as Rowena Claiborne * ''Two Tickets to Paris'' (1962) as Aggie * ''Ensign Pulver'' (1964) as Head Nurse * ''A Fine Madness'' (1966) as Mrs. Fish * ''The Busy Body'' (1967) as Ma Norton * ''Funny Girl'' (1968) as Rose Brice * ''Angel in My Pocket'' (1969) as Mother-in-law Rancine * ''Lola'' (1970) as Scott's mother, Mrs. Wardman * ''Fire Sale'' (1977) as Ruth Fikas * ''Windows'' (1980) as Ida Marx }}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0575552}} * {{IBDB name|52655}} *{{iobdb name|34109}} * {{Playbill person}} * [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24YD-7WK Genealogy profile #2], familysearch.org; accessed November 20, 2014.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Medford, Kay}} Category:1916 births Category:1980 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American television actresses Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Actresses from New York City Category:Singers from New York City Category:Deaths from cervical cancer in the United States Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players