Leigh French Turns 80

Born this day in 1945 comic actress Leigh French.

Born in Kentucky, a former member of The Committee (based in San Francisco and L.A.), French specialized in three types of characters: hillbillies, hippies, and hippie hillbillies. Like fellow Committee member Rob Reiner, she started out on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967, playing a regular character named Goldie O’Keefe (Keif) in a bit called “Share a Little Tea with Goldie”, all of which consisted of thinly veiled pot references.

Leigh also played hippes in episodes of I Spy and Gomer Pyle (the latter alongside Reiner). She was also on Hey Landlord, The Joey Bishop Show, andThe Dick Cavett Show at around this time. She had bit parts in lots of movies, including How Sweet It Is (1968), WUSA (1970), Norwood (1970), The All American Boy (1973), The Laughing Policeman (1973), The Drowning Pool (1975), White Line Fever(1975), The Great Smokey Roadblock (1977), The Hollywood Knights (1980), The History of the World Part I (1981), Halloween II (1981) and Ghost of Mississippi (1996). She co-starred as Pearl Pyle with George “Goober” Lindsay in the un-bought pilot Goober and the Trucker’s Paradise in 1978. She was also in episodes of CHiPs, St. Elsewhere, Knot’s Landing, etc.

Starting in the ’80s French got more work doing looping and voice-overs. You can hear her work in Summer Rental (1985), Stoogemania (1985), Children of a Lesser God (1986), Summer School (1987), Bright Lights Big City (1987), Talk Radio (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), et al. She seems to have retired sometime around 2013.

For more on show biz historyplease consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, and pleasestay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.