Alice Playten

• Name — Alice Playten • Birth Name — Alice Plotkin • Born — 28 August 1947 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 25 June 2011 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1959–2009

Born in New York City, Playten began her career in 1959 at age 11, playing Marie's young son in the Metropolitan Opera's original production of Alban Berg's Wozzeck. Her Broadway credits included Gypsy, Oliver!, Henry, Sweet Henry, Hello, Dolly!, Rumors, Seussical, and Caroline, or Change. Her many off-Broadway credits include Promenade, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac, Up from Paradise, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, First Lady Suite, A Flea in Her Ear, National Lampoon's Lemmings, and Shlemiel the First. Playten's screen credits include Ladybug Ladybug (1963), Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? (1971), California Dreaming (1979), Legend (1985), and I.Q. (1994). She wore heavy makeup and prosthetics in Legend to portray the character of Blix, a major minion of the Lord of Darkness; she also dubbed the voice of Gump. She did voice work in several animated features, including Felix the Cat (as Pearl), Really Rosie (as an alligator), Heavy Metal (as Gloria), Doug (as Beebe Bluff and Elmo), Doug's 1st Movie and My Little Pony: The Movie. She was a regular on the children's television series The Lost Saucer and That's Cat, appeared in National Lampoon's Disco Beaver from Outer Space during the early days of HBO, and had guest shots on Frasier, Law & Order, Third Watch, and As the World Turns, among others. Playten may have been best known for her role of the newlywed who makes a gigantic dumpling as the first meal she cooks for her husband (Terry Kiser) in two classic 1969–1970 Alka-Seltzer commercials.

Playten was married to director Joshua White from no later than July 1982 until her death. Playten died on June 25, 2011, at Sloan-Kettering Hospital in Manhattan from heart failure after a lifetime of juvenile diabetes, complicated by pancreatic cancer.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1975 — The — Alice — Main role • 1975 — Really Rosie — Alligator (voice) — TV film • 1976 — That's Cat — Alice — Main role • 1978 — Disco Beaver from Outer Space — Various — HBO production • 1980 — The — Edith Stanley — TV film • 1984 — Rescue at Midnight Castle — Baby Lickety-Split (voice) — TV film • 1985 — My Little Pony: Escape from Catrina — Baby Moondancer (voice) — TV film • 1991 — Monsters — Violet Mitla — "The Moving Finger" • 1991–94, 1996–1999 — Doug — Beebe Bluff (voice) Elmo (voice) Larry (in "Doug Rocks the House") — Recurring role • 1992 — Ghostwriter — Parrot (voice) — "Ghost Story: Parts 3 & 5" • 1994 — The — Oona Dowd — TV film • 1997 — Remember WENN — Jane Smith (voice) — "Caller I.D." • 1998 — New York Undercover — Homeless Woman — "Spare Parts" • 1999 — Frasier — Bonnie — "Our Parents, Ourselves", "Shutout in Seattle: Parts 1 & 2" • 2001 — Third Watch — Sandy — "The Self-Importance of Being Carlos" • 2001 — Law & Order — Dog Walker — "Who Let the Dogs Out?" • 2001 — The — Mrs. Lynch — "A Very Great Man" • 2005 — As the World Turns — Mrs. Lovejoy — 2 episodes • 2005 — The Buzz on Maggie — Dawn's Lackey (voice) — Episode: Scum Bites • 2006 — The — Francesca — "Acceptance", "Assignation"