Mary Gross

Mary Gross (born March 25, 1953) is an American voice actress, comedian, and actress known for her four-year stint on Saturday Night Live from 1981 to 1985 and her recurring role as Sabrina's favorite teacher, Mrs. Quick in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch from 1997 to 2000. Her credits also include roles on Animaniacs, Boston Legal, That's So Raven, and Six Feet Under.

Early life

Gross was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1953. She is the youngest of three children born to William Oscar Gross, a tool designer, and Virginia Ruth (née Cahill), a telephone operator (the eldest being actor Michael Gross). She attended Madonna High School—an all-girls Catholic school, since demolished—and Loyola University, where she majored in English. While in high school, Gross made her performing debut—singing, in character, as France's Louis XIV, to the tune of Bernstein and Sondheim's "I Feel Pretty"—alongside fellow Madonna alumna Marilu Henner. Gross worked for five years as a secretary for the American Dental Association.

Career

Early career

Gross answered an ad for a comedy workshop for the Reification Company, where she went to learn about writing comedy sketches. While there, she ended up performing and soon began performing in local productions. In 1979, she joined the Second City comedy troupe.

Saturday Night Live (1981–1985)

Gross joined SNL in 1981, during the show's seventh season, which was retooled extensively after the sixth season proved a critical failure. She became co-anchor of SNL's Weekend Update segment (renamed SNL Newsbreak) during her first season. She and the rest of the cast left in 1985 following executive producer Dick Ebersol's departure from the show.

Recurring characters

• Alfalfa, from SNL's recurring parody of The Little Rascals and skits regarding the murder of Eddie Murphy's Buckwheat character.
• Siobhan Cahill, an Irish woman who reports on Irish events on Saturday Night News (Weekend Update's name when Brad Hall was cast as anchor). Coincidentally, Saturday Night Live would have Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill as cast members in the 1991-92 season.
• Chi Chi, a Hispanic woman who hosts two fake public-access television cable TV shows (The Ghostbusters Show and Let's Watch TV) with her best friend, Consuela (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
• Celeste, a repressed woman married to an equally repressed man (played by Tim Kazurinsky)

Celebrity impersonations

• Ann Landers
• Brooke Shields
• Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth)
• Nancy Reagan
• Paul Reubens (as Pee-wee Herman)
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• Geraldine Ferraro
• Harriet Nelson
• Irlene Mandrell
• Marilyn Monroe
• Mary Tyler Moore
• Jeane Dixon
• Mary Hart
• Lena Horne
• Lisa Coleman
• Margaret Thatcher
• Melissa Gilbert
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Suzanne Somers
• Leslie Uggams

Personal life

Gross has never married, but as of June 1982, Chicago-based photographer Jay King was referred to as "her longtime boyfriend" in a profile/interview of Gross penned by Chicago Sun-Times writer Michael Davis. Duration aside, their relationship was also reported that year by the Chicago Tribune's Jon Anderson and several years later by researcher-author Mary Unterbrinker.

Filmography

Film

Television

External links

• at IMDb