Imogene Coca - Life and Legacy

Life and Legacy

Coca had no children, but had been married twice; for 21 years to Bob Burton, from 1934 until his death in 1955, and later for 27 years to King Donovan, from 1960 until his death in 1987. On a foggy night in 1973, while driving to their dinner theater performance in Florida, she and Donovan collided with another car. Donovan sustained a slight leg injury, but the rear-view mirror entered Coca's right eye, smashing her cheekbone. Plastic surgery and a cosmetic lens covered her now-blind eye for the rest of her career, which resumed with her long stint in Broadway's On the Twentieth Century beginning in 1978.

Performers citing Coca as an influence include Burnett, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg and Tracey Ullman. Your Show of Shows is considered a television classic, and was the basis for a well-received 1982 film, My Favorite Year, with the character Alice Miller loosely based on Coca. A 1992 musical version of the film made its way to Broadway, where Andrea Martin won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Alice Miller.

In 1995 she was honored with the second annual Women in Film Lucy Award, honoring women's achievement in television and named after Lucille Ball.

On June 2, 2001, Coca died at her home in Westport, Connecticut, of natural causes incidental to Alzheimer's disease.