Liz Sheridan obit

'Seinfeld' Liz Sheridan Dead at 93 Played Jerry's Mom

 

She was not on the list.

Liz Sheridan, who played Jerry Seinfeld's mom on "Seinfeld" ... has died, TMZ has learned.

Liz passed peacefully in her sleep from natural causes Friday at 2:30 AM ... just 5 days after her 93rd birthday.

Liz brilliantly played Helen on the show for the entire run -- from 1990-1998. She's the only non-central character who played during the full run. If you recall, Helen and her hubby, Morty, lived in Florida. Her iconic catchphrase -- "How could anyone not like him?" She played a VERY over-protective mom.

In addition to "Seinfeld," Liz played the eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Ochmonek, on "ALF."

Liz was an accomplished Broadway actress, appearing in 12 productions on the Great White Way, including "Happy End" with Meryl Streep.

She famously dated James Dean and even wrote a book about it called "Dizzy and Jimmy."  They had a super passionate affair. The book is being turned into a feature film.

Liz, who was a go-go dancer in the 50s, loved to sing and performed a one-woman show, "Mrs. Seinfeld Sings," all over the country.

Liz is survived by her daughter and son-in-law.

She was 93.

She was born and raised in Rye, New York, the daughter of concert singer Elizabeth Poole-Jones and classical pianist, Frank Sheridan.

Sheridan began her professional life in New York City and the Caribbean as a nightclub dancer and singer, moving on to stage work. She was cast in Broadway productions throughout the 1970s, both in musicals and plays. Sheridan co-starred with Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd in the 1977's musical, Happy End, before moving to Los Angeles. Working in Hollywood, she came to prominence in supporting roles in over a dozen feature films and 60 prime time network television movies, mini-series, and series including Kojak, Archie Bunker's Place, St. Elsewhere, Newhart, Moonlighting, The A-Team, Who's the Boss, Hill St. Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Family Ties, Murder, She Wrote, and Double Rush. Her first major role was playing nosy neighbor Raquel Ochmonek on the NBC TV series ALF, from 1986 to 1990. Following that she secured her most renowned and long-lived role, as Jerry's mother, Helen, in Seinfeld. She appeared in all nine seasons, from 1990 to 1998, the only actor to do so apart from the four leads.

In the 1950s and 1960s, she lived and worked in the Caribbean, "singing and playing the piano in almost every bar and saloon in the West Indies." In the late 1960s, back in New York, she performed in one of Julius Monk's annual cabaret reviews at Plaza 9, located in the Plaza Hotel.

In 2009, with Andy Griffith and Doris Roberts, Sheridan co-starred in the feature film Play the Game, a romantic comedy about a lonely, widowed grandfather who, after a 60-year hiatus, learns dating tricks from his serial romancer of a grandson. The film stirred up controversy due to its octogenarian sex scene between Sheridan and Griffith.

While working as a dancer in New York City nightclubs, Sheridan met the then-unknown James Dean. She wrote a book, Dizzy & Jimmy: My Life with James Dean: A Love Story, chronicling their time together in 1952. In it, she describes them as each other's first romantic love. "We had great times... We didn't want to be apart. We found a place and lived together... [b]efore he really hit it big." Dean pursued work on the stage in New York, with film roles in Hollywood soon to follow. Without sure footing or a serious plan, forging a future was not an option, thus bringing about the end of their relationship. "He was being hauled away into this career, and I couldn't follow him," she said in an interview.

Early in 1953, Sheridan departed New York for the Virgin Islands. She lived for over a decade in St. Thomas and later Puerto Rico. She earned a living as a dancer and also by singing and playing piano. Together with a neighbor who had a dance troupe, she won a dance contest she choreographed for the first Carnival in St. Thomas. She also earned a six hundred dollar purse finishing first in a horse race, atop her stallion, Generalé. After a brief engagement to a man, Justus Villa (aka Pancho), she realized she didn't want to marry him, broke it off, and returned, for a time, to New York City. There, at a party, she again met Dean. Afterwards, in a cab, he told her, "Nothing's lost between us. It never will be. You're a part of me and I'm a part of you. I take you with me wherever I go." That was the last time she saw him. Back in the Caribbean, in Puerto Rico, she met jazz musician [William] Dale Wales (1917–2003) in Puerto Rico. They shared a life from 1960 until his death; they wed in 1985. Their daughter is a photographer living in New York City's Greenwich Village.

Liz Sheridan and actress Elizabeth Montgomery were best friends: Dizzy and Lizzie. Montgomery only took on the nickname "Lizzie" following her performance in the Emmy Award-winning TV movie, The Legend of Lizzie Borden; Dizzy was a shortened version of "Dizabeth," which is how her sister managed to pronounce her name when they were young.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1982      Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again              Mrs. Larson        

1983      Star 80 Makeup Woman              

1984      Nickel Mountain               Reception Nurse              

1985      Avenging Angel Nurse   

1985      School Spirit       Mrs. Kingman   

1986      Legal Eagles        Little Old Lady  

1987      Who's That Girl Nurse #1             

1992      Only You              Mrs. Stein           

1992      Wishman             Ms. Finger          

1993      Brainsmasher... A Love Story       Ma Molly            

1995      Forget Paris        Woman in Car   

1996      Wedding Bell Blues          Mrs. Samuel Levine        

1997      Always Say Goodbye      Muriel Evans     

2002      Now You Know Grandma            

2004      Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes         N/A       

2009      Play the Game   Edna Gordon     

2010      Trim       Helen   

2016      The Last Laugh N/A       

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1977      Kojak     Rose      Episode: "Kojak's Days: Part 1"

1981      The White Shadow          Restaurant Customer     Episode: "B.M.O.C."

1981      Archie Bunker's Place     Lady       Episode: "Billie"

1982      World War III     Naomi Glass       Miniseries

1982      Gimme a Break!                Nurse Whales    Episode: "The Emergency"

1982      In the Custody of Strangers          Caseworker        Television film

1982      Tucker's Witch   Secretary             Episode: "Big Mouth"

1983      St. Elsewhere     Dr. Susan Mauri                Episode: "The Count"

1983      Oh Madeline      Mrs. Phelps         Episode: "Mummy Dearest"

1983      Scarecrow and Mrs. King               Lydia Lowell        Episode: "If Thoughts Could Kill"

1983      One Day at a Time           Mrs. Muller         Episode: "The Dentist"

1983, 1985          The A-Team        Hildegard Henderson / Tina Lavelle          2 episodes

1984      Second Sight: A Love Story           Mrs. Carlisle       Television film

1984      Three's a Crowd                Miss Rockwell    Episode: "Daddy's Little Girl"

1984      The Cartier Affair              Miss Carpenter Television film

1984      Riptide Everitt's Secretary            Episode: "Father's Day"

1985      Sins of the Father             Middle-Aged Woman     Television film

1985      It's Your Move   Eunice   Episode: "A Woman Is Just a Woman"

1985      Newhart              Mrs. Spencer      Episode: "Look Homeward, Stephanie"

1985      Moonlighting     Selma    Episode: "Pilot"

1985      Generation         Clara      Television film

1985      Santa Barbara    Nurse Greta Bayley          3 episodes

1985      Brothers               Zelda March       Episode: "Happy Birthday, Baby Brother"

1985      Who's the Boss?               Gertrude             Episode: "Custody: Part 2"

1985, 1986          Remington Steele            Greta Swenson / Woman in Hallway        2 episodes

1986      Hill Street Blues                Dorothy Miskin Episode: "I Want My Hill Street Blues"

1986      Cagney & Lacey                 Dr. Vernon          Episode: "Sorry, Right Number"

1986      Easy Street          Mrs. Bolton         Episode: "Charity Begins at Home"

1986      Kate's Secret      Evelyn   Television film

1986      The Magical World of Disney       Hostess                Episode: "Sunday Drive"

1986      A Year in the Life              Lois        Episode: "The First Christmas"

1986–1990          ALF         Raquel Ochmonek           34 episodes

1987      Warm Hearts, Cold Feet                Amanda McPherson       Television film

1987      Throb    Adele    Episode: "The Golden Guys"

1988      The Secret Life of Kathy McCormick         Mrs. Van Adams               Television film

1988      Family Ties          Ginny McCoy      Episode: "Heartstrings: Part 3"

1989      It's a Living          Sophie Episode: "Matchmaker, Matchmaker"

1990      Piece of Cake     Mrs. Katz             Television film

1990      Good Grief          Widow Blackwell              Episode: "Warren Learns to Fly"

1990      Dr. Ruth's House               Jessica Dimmesdale         Television film

1990, 1994          Empty Nest         Mrs. Coover / Elspeth     2 episodes

1990–1998          Seinfeld                Helen Seinfeld   21 episodes

1991      Equal Justice      Judge Constance Adler   Episode: "Do No Harm"

1991      Changes               Mrs. Hahn           Television film

1991      Murder, She Wrote         Rose Tessler       Episode: "Bite the Big Apple"

1992      Herman's Head Miss Cracknick   Episode: "To Err Is Herman"

1992      Melrose Place    Woman Shopper              Episode: "My Way"

1994      Blossom               Mrs. Walker        Episode: "Blossom Gump"

1994–1997          Muriel Evans      Mrs. Stillman      7 episodes

1995      Double Rush       Marge   Episode: "Slamming Into a Car Isn't Good"

1995      Sliders   Miss Miller          Episode: "Prince of Wails"

1995      Deadline for Murder:

From the Files of Edna Buchanan

                Wendy Padison                 Television film

1995      Cleghorne!          Madame Bourreau          2 episodes

1997      A Match Made in Heaven             Ruthie Klein        Television film

2005      Complete Savages           Mrs. O'Hara        Episode: "Crimes and Mini-Wieners"

2005      Numbers             Landlady              Episode: "Bones of Contention"

2007      American Dad! Mrs. Rothberg (voice)     Episode: "An Apocalypse to Remember"

2021      History of the Sitcom      Helen Seinfeld   Episode: "Just Friends"