AKA Verla Eileen Regina Brennen

Born: 3-Sep-1932
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA

Gender: Female
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Capt. Lewis on Private Benjamin

Eileen Brennan is an American character actress best known for tough, cranky roles, such as Goldie Hawn's commanding officer in Private Benjamin. She was also a regular in the first season of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. She studied at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and shared an apartment with Rue McClanahan and Macy Janney (later the mother of Allison Janney). Her breakthrough was the title role in an off-Broadway musical, Little Mary Sunshine, and she later appeared in the original Broadway run of Hello Dolly with Carol Channing.

Playing Miss Hannigan in a production of Annie, Brennan broke a leg falling from the stage into the orchestra pit. In 1982, she was critically injured when she was hit by a car crossing the street. "I woke up two days later in the hospital. I don't have any recollection. I just know what I read in the papers. My legs were broken. Every bone in the left side of my face was broken". Brennan overcame both the accident and her subsequent addiction to painkillers.

She continues appearing in films and on television, and in the early 2000s had recurring roles on 7th Heaven and Will & Grace.

Father: (doctor)
Mother: Jean Manahan (silent film actress)
Husband: David Lampson (m. 1968, div. 1975, two sons)
Son: Patrick Oliver (b. 1973)
Son: Samuel John (b. 1974)

    University: Georgetown University

    Emmy 1981 for Private Benjamin
    Golden Globe 1982 for Private Benjamin
    Alcoholics Anonymous 1976
    Betty Ford Center painkillers Aug-1984
    Mastectomy 1990
    Risk Factors: Alcoholism, Breast Cancer, Depression

    TELEVISION
    Laugh-In 1968
    A New Kind of Family Kit Flanagan (1979-80)
    Private Benjamin Capt. Doreen Lewis (1981-83)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (11-Mar-2005)
    The Amateurs (6-Feb-2005)
    The Hollow (25-Aug-2004)
    Comic Book Villains (1-Jan-2002)
    Jeepers Creepers (20-Jul-2001)
    Toothless (5-Oct-1997)
    Boys Life 2 (7-Mar-1997)
    Changing Habits (1997)
    If These Walls Could Talk (11-Sep-1996)
    Reckless (15-Sep-1995)
    Freaky Friday (6-May-1995)
    I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore (24-Apr-1992)
    White Palace (19-Oct-1990)
    Texasville (28-Sep-1990)
    Stella (2-Feb-1990)
    The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (29-Jun-1988)
    Babes in Toyland (19-Dec-1986)
    Clue (13-Dec-1985)
    Pandemonium (1982)
    Private Benjamin (10-Oct-1980)
    The Cheap Detective (23-Jun-1978)
    FM (Apr-1978)
    Murder by Death (23-Jun-1976)
    Hustle (25-Dec-1975)
    The Night That Panicked America (31-Oct-1975)
    At Long Last Love (1-Mar-1975)
    Daisy Miller (22-May-1974)
    The Sting (25-Dec-1973)
    Scarecrow (31-Aug-1973)
    The Last Picture Show (3-Oct-1971)
    Divorce American Style (21-Jun-1967)

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