Swoosie Kurtz Role: Lillian “Lily” Charles

Birthday : September 6-1944

Birthplace : Omaha, Nebraska

Recent Role : Jessie on Desperate Housewives

Gender : Female

Swoosie Kurtz took birth in the family of Margo, an author and Frank Kurtz Jr., an Air Force Colonel. She attended University of Southern California and received her graduation, majoring in drama. She then joined the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

She made her TV debut with an appearance on ‘To Tell the Truth’. She was 18 then. In 1975, she made her Broadway debut in the revival of ‘Ah, Wilderness’. It was 1978 when she started getting recognition and the appearance which made her a popular personality was on ‘Uncommon Women and Others’. For her performance on the musical ‘A History of the American Film’, she won a Drama Desk Award. Swoosie Kurtz was awarded Broadway’s ‘triple crown’ for her brilliant performance of Gwen on ‘Fifth of July’. Swoosie Kurtz won the second Tony for her performance as Bananas in 1986 ‘The House of Blue leaves.

During 1978, she became a part of ‘Mary’, Mary Tyler Moore’s short lived variety series. Swoosie’s role in the sitcom ‘Love, Sidney’ earned 10 Emmy nominations for her. She got her first Emmy Award for her guest appearance on Carol Burnett’s ‘Carol & Company’, a comedy series. During 1991-96, she appeared as wealthy divorcee Alex Reed Halsey on ‘Sisters’, a NBC drama. Her marvelous performance made her to earn two Emmy Award nominations. She made guest appearances on ER and Lost. Among her recurring appearances are ‘That’s Life’, ‘Still Standing’ and the Showtime drama ‘Huff’.

Swoosie Kurtz has also starred on several Hollywood films such as ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, ‘Cruel Intentions’, ‘Citizen Ruth’, and 1997’s ‘Liar Liar’. On the hit ABC television series Pushing Daisies, she portrays the character of Lily Charles. Swoosie Kurtz never married and has no children.

Among her other notable acting credits are ‘As the World Turns’, ‘Ah, Wilderness!’, ‘Kojak’, ‘Slap Shot’, ‘First Love’, ‘Oliver’s Story’, ‘Walking Through the Fire’, ‘Uncommon Women and Others’, ‘Marriage is Alive and Well’, ‘The Mating Season’, ‘Fifth of July’, ‘The World According to Garp’, ‘Love, Sidney’, ‘A Caribbean Mystery’, ‘Against all Odds’, ‘Guilty Conscience’, A Time to Live, Wildcats, Vice Versa, Bright Lights, The Image, Stanley and Iris, A Shock to the System, Walking the Dog, The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader- Murdering Mom, And the Band Played On, Reality Bites, One Christmas a.k.a. Truman Capote’s One Christmas, Storybook, Betrayed: A Story of Three Women, The Magic Schoolbus, Little Girls in the Pretty Boxes, Touched by an Angel, More Tales of the City, The White River Kid, Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes, Bubble Boy, That’s Life, Street Time, The Rules of Attraction, Duplex, True, Nadine in Date Land, American Dad!, Superman: Doomsday, Living Proof and An Englishman in New York etc.

Role on ‘Pushing Daisies’

Swoosie Kurtz appears as Lily Charles on ‘Pushing Daisies’. She’s Chuck’s aunty and is often seen heavily drunk. While cleaning the litter box, she lost her right eye. The lady has a fear of clowns and is among the important characters of ‘Pushing Daisies’.