Janet Carroll obit

Janet Carroll Passes Away

 She was not on the list.

Janet Carroll, who was one of Hollywood’s most working film, TV, recording, and stage actress died early this morning at her home on Riverside Drive. She had been battling a brain tumor and the tumor finally won. Sadly, she passes away almost to the day, a year after producer Randall Wreghitt  lost his battle with long-term exposure to carbon monoxide. In 2004—2005 Janet starred on Broadway creating the role of Aunt March in the new Musical Little Women produced by Randall Wreghitt.

Janet’s face is one you may know  from the many years as an actress but, another part of Janet’s calling was to become an ordained spiritual minister. After 12 years of studying and formal training she was ordained and licensed at the West Los Angeles’ Church of Inner Light. Her ministry has become one of Janet’s greatest joys in counseling.

Janet’s first feature film proved to be a “big break” playing Tom Cruise’s Mom in the classic, Risky Business. Many other features have shown her in a wide variety of roles including: Sidney Lumet’s Family Business with Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick, The Killing Time with Kiefer Sutherland and Beau Bridges, Talent For The Game with Edward James Olmos and Lorraine Braccho, Memories Of Me with Alan King and Billy Crystal, Born To Be Wild with Peter Boyle and Alan Ruck, Destiny Turns On The Radio, with Quentin Tarrintino, James Belushi and Dylan McDermott, TimeMaster, The Platinum Triangle, and Secret Admirer with C. Thomas Howell, The Omega Code with Michael York, the Dreamworks’ hit Forces Of Nature in which Janet plays opposite Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock and Ugly Naked People with Henry Winkler. Janet’s 2002 released feature film All You Need won Best Picture in 5 Film Festivals and finds her in her most challenging film role thus far. The sympathetic heroine she portrays, Jane Sabistan is both a lovely and refined wife and mother suffering the torment of an uncontrollable debilitating disease. A performance not to be missed! Also, in 2002 Janet co-starred in Michael Apted’s Enough! with Jennifer Lopez and Billy Campbell along with Changing Hearts with Lauren Holly, Faye Dunaway and Tom Skerritt. Recent films are The Marriage Undone, Sweet Little Lies, Living ’til the End, and Confession.

Janet has also played an incredible range of Television characters. For ten years she recurred simultaneously on “Murphy Brown” as Doris Dial, on “Melrose Place” as the troublesome Marian Shaw, on “Married With Children” as Al’s boss, Gary, the Comedy Channel’s, “Frank Leaves For The Orient” as Frank’s Mom, as Carroll Danzig on “Bronx Zoo” as Mrs. Halloway on FOX’s “Time Of Your Life” and recurred on CBS’s hit series “Still Standing”. As a series regular she was seen on “The Bonnie Hunt Show” as the dreaded Diane Fulton, on NBC’s “I Gave At The Office,” CBS’s “Hat Squad,” Showtime’s “The Boys,” CBS’s “Double Dare” and with Brad Pitt in “Glory Days.”

A few of her noted guest star appearances have been on “Brothers & Sisters” “Scrubs” “Ally McBeal” as Ellen Fish, “Judging Amy,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Third Rock From The Sun’s 100th episode,” “7th Heaven,” “Cupid,” “Mad About You”, “Touched By An Angel”, “The Norm Show,” “Maggie,” “Life Goes On,” “Pacific Blue,” “Golden Girls,” “Quantum Leap,” “Designing Women,” “Boy Meets World,” “Coach,” “L.A. Law,” “Matlock,” “21 Jump Street,” “Cagney & Lacey,” “Knight Rider,” “Alice,” “Mary,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Hill Street Blues,” and “The Jeff Foxworthy Show”. Current TV commercials include OutBack Steakhouse, 1st Gov. Gov., ING Financial, Diet Coke and the SAG Awarded Holiday Inn spots to name a few.

Janet’s television Movies-Of-The-Week credits include: ABC’s “Betrayed: A Story Of Three Women,” “Bluffing It,” and “Right Of The People,”, NBC’s “Daughter of Privilege,” and “Good Enough To Win,” CBS’s “Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story,” “Sharing Richard,” “When He’s Not A Stranger,” “One Special Victory,” “Getting Physical,” and “Chicago Story.

Janet won Los Angeles’ coveted DramaLogue Critics Award for “Outstanding Achievement In Theatre” as Klytemnestra in Ezra Pound’s Elektra. She created the roles of Julia Rajik in Shadow of Heros at the St. Nicholas Theatre in Chicago, Dorothea in Nancy Shayne’s musical comedy, Two Bitter Women In A Coffee Shop which was featured at HBO’s Aspen Comedy Festival and Ensemble Studio in New York, directed by Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City) along with the roles of Mary in Louis LaRusso’s Sweatshop and in 2004 Margaret in D. Ferrara’s Sister Edith’s Mission directed by stage and film veteran Billy Graham.

Janet’s musical stage career includes leading roles in Mame, Gypsy, Hello Dolly!, Guys & Dolls, Showboat, South Pacific, Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, West Side Story, Kismet, On A Clear Day, Carousel, The Sound Of Music, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Peter Pan, The Boyfriend, Annie Get Your Gun, My Fair Lady, and Funny Girl (just to name a few). Janet also appeared in eight major musicals every summer for five years at the legendary Kansas City Starlight Theatre. In addition, she is heard in innumerable Radio & TV voice-overs and seen in educational films, live convention, trade, and industrial shows and hosted her own Radio & TV Talk Shows.

In addition to her acting carreer, since 1982 Janet (accompanied by her seven piece swing, traditional, blues and jazz band) has performed at Jazz Festivals throughout the United States and Canada, such as Victoria and Vancouver Festivals in British Columbia, Monterey, Los Angeles Classic, Newport Beach, Catalina Island, New Orleans, along with concerts at USO Shows, the Palmer House in Chicago, the Fountainblue Hotel in Florida, Ritz Carton Hotels, the Biltmore Hotel, at the River Walk in San Antonio, Texas and many performing art centers. Janet was the recipient of the “Best Vocalist Award” from the Redding Jazz Festival and is given rave reviews by fans and critics across the county for her one-woman concerts and cabaret appearances. In 2004, she was the featured performer at the Porrath Foundation for Cancer Patient Advocacy Event tribute to film star Rhonda Fleming. She was in production on her fourth album/CD titled “A Tribute To The Great Ladies of Song!”.

For eight years she was the Artistic Director of The Jazz Series at The Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, featuring great names in the jazz world and promising young artists. Janet is on the Executive Board of Directors of Ginny Mancini’s Society of Singers and is the co-founder of “The Victory Ball” in Westport, CT annually benefiting the ALS Foundation (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Janet is a longstanding member of the Screen Actor’s Guild, American Federation of TV & Radio Artists, and Actors Equity Association.

“Janet Carroll was the Best Entertainer at the Sacramento Jazz Festival……She tore the joint down!” Herb Caen— San Francisco Chronicle

Filmography

Film

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1983    Risky Business            Joel's Mother  

1985    Secret Admirer            Toni's Mother 

1987    The Killing Time         Lila Daggett   

1988    Memories of Me         Dorothy Davis

1989    Family Business          Margie

1990    The Platinum Triangle            Lt. Smith        

1991    Talent for the Game    Rachel Bodeen           

1995    Born to Be Wild          Judge Billings 

1995    Destiny Turns on the Radio    Escabel           

1995    Timemaster      Miss Spinell   

1999    Forces of Nature         Barbara           

1999    The Omega Code        Dorothy Thompson    

2001    All You Need  Jane Sabistan  

2002    Changing Hearts         Mrs. Lane       

2002    Enough            Mrs. Hiller      

2002    The Marriage Undone Judge Dunbar 

2005    Confession      Mother Superior         

2005    Living 'til the End       Constance Whilton     

2007    Beyond the Quest        Julia Baron     

2009    (Untitled)         Helen Finkelstein       

2009    The Art of War III: Retribution           Secretary General Barnes      

2011    What Happens Next    Gloria 

2015    College Debts Grandma Clare            Posthumous Release

2016    Crosser            Julia Barron     Final Film Role, Posthumous Release

Television

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1983    Knight Rider   Denise Merritt Episode: "Soul Survivor"

1983, 1986      Hill Street Blues          Peg / Peggy     2 episodes

1984    Getting Physical          Myra Gibley    Television film

1984    E/R      Beth     Episode: "Son of Sheinfeld"

1984    Son of Sheinfeld          Assistant          Television film

1984, 1985      Spencer           Donna 2 episodes

1985    Alice    Dr. Rose Goodwin      Episode: "Kiss the Grill Goodbye"

1985    Cagney & Lacey         Helene Ledding           Episode: "Con Games"

1985    Double Dare    Lt. Samantha Warner  6 episodes

1986    Mary    Rachel Episode: "The Death Threat"

1986    The Right of the People          Marjorie           Television film

1986    The Twilight Zone      Marilyn Cavendish     Episode: "Cold Reading"

1986    Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story   Susan Baker    Television film

1986    You Again?     Stacey Wendell            Episode: "Marry Me A

1987    The Golden Girls        Phyllis Hammerow     Episode: "The Actor"

1987    Silver Spoons  Arlene Episode: "Hero Worship"

1987    Designing Women      Sissy Tate        Episode: "Seams from a Marriage"

1987    Bluffing It       Margaret Duggan        Television film

1987    A Year in the Life        Joanne 2 episodes

1987    227      Emily Mortimer           Episode: "The Facade"

1987–1988      The Bronx Zoo           Carol Danzig   8 episodes

1988    21 Jump Street            Mrs. Poolish    Episode: "A Big Disease with a Little Name"

1988    L.A. Law         Judge Geraldine Parker           Episode: "Hey, Lick Me Over"

1988–1989      The Boys         Marjorie           4 episodes

1989    Jake and the Fatman    Joan Thompson           Episode: "I'll Never Smile Again"

1989    Quantum Leap Janie Wilson    Episode: "Camikazi Kid"

1989    When He's Not a Stranger       Counselor        Television film

1990    Mancuso, F.B.I.          Corinne           Episode: "Shiva Me Timbers"

1990    Glory Days      Mrs Lovejoy   Episode: "The Kids Are Allright"

1990    Life Goes On  Elaine Oslot    Episode: "Corky and the Dolphins"

1990    Empty Nest     Leah    Episode: "There's No Accounting"

1990    The Famous Teddy Z  Fay Parr           Episode: "Teddy's Big Date"

1990–1996      Murphy Brown           Doris Dial       10 episodes

1991    Daughters of Privilege            Gail Brody      Television film

1991    Pacific Station Judy Epstein    Episode: "Waiting for the Other Gumshoe to Drop"

1992    Reasonable Doubts     Tori Slade        Episode: "The Shadow of Death"

1992–1993      The Hat Squad            Kitty    6 episodes

1993–1997      Melrose Place  Marion Shaw  7 episodes

1994    The Mommies Cindy the Clown         Episode: "A Day in the Life"

1994    Boy Meets World        Nurse Jill         Episode: "I Dream of Feeny"

1994–1997      Married... with Children         Gary    7 episodes

1995    Betrayed: A Story of Three Women    Patty    Television film

1995    Matlock           Anita Montrose           Episode: "The Heist"

1995, 1996      Bonnie Diane Fulton   2 episodes

1996    Coach  Loretta Episode: "Somebody's Baby"

1996    Pacific Blue    Dorothy           Episode: "All Jammed Up"

1996    Touched by an Angel  Diana Abernathy         Episode: "Something Blue"

1997    The Jeff Foxworthy Show      Esme Channing           Episode: "Jeff, You the Man"

1998    The Closer       Maude Bertram           Episode: "Dobbs Takes a Holiday"

1998    Living in Captivity      Nancy  Episode: "The Unkindest Cut"

1998    Maggie            Eleanor            2 episodes

1998    Cupid  Dr. Darcy Wyatt          Episode: "End of an Eros"

1999    7th Heaven      Betty Tomlin   Episode: "Yak Sada"

1999    Time of Your Life       Georgia Halloway       Episode: "The Time Sarah Got Her Shih-Tzu Together"

1999    3rd Rock from the Sun           Mrs. Runquist Episode: "Dial M for Dick"

1999    The Norm Show         Martha Episode: "Norm vs. Norm"

1999    Beverly Hills, 90210   Patsy Regan    Episode: "Family Tree"

1999    Frank Leaves for the Orient    Frank's Mom   2 episodes

2001    Dead Last        Lucy Vard       Episode: "He Who Smelt It"

2002    Ally McBeal    Ellen Fish        Episode: "What I'll Never Do for Love Again"

2002    Pasadena         Phyllis Cameron          Episode: "The Body"

2002, 2004      Still Standing  Helen Michaels           2 episodes

2003    Judging Amy   Atty. Marx       Episode: "Sixteen Going on Seventeen"

2006    Scrubs Mrs. Cooke     Episode: "My Own Personal Hell"

2006    Brothers & Sisters       Sloane Dodelson         Episode: "Family Portrait"

2008    The Clown Project      Boob's Mother Episode: "Boob Visits His Parents!"

2010    Law & Order: SVU    Brenda Fairchild          Episode: "Bullseye"

2011    Christmas Spirit          Betty    Television film