Career
Bishop's big break came when she was cast as the sexy, hard-edged Sheila in the Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Her performance earned her the 1976 Tony Award as "Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical)", as well as the 1976 Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Actress in a Musical". She also acted in the Broadway productions of Six Degrees of Separation, Neil Simon's Proposals, the Tony Award-winning The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Bus Stop. It wasn't long before she was cast opposite Jill Clayburgh in Paul Mazursky's big-screen drama An Unmarried Woman (1978). In 1986, Bishop was initially cast in a much smaller part in the film Dirty Dancing, but was then called upon to play Mrs. Houseman when Lynne Lipton, the actress assigned the role, fell ill during the first week of shooting.
Bishop went on to play a "mom" to several high-profile stars in numerous features: Howard Stern's in the Betty Thomas-directed comedy Private Parts (1997), and Tobey Maguire's in Wonder Boys (2000). Additional feature credits include Ich und Er (USA: Me and Him, 1988), Queens Logic (1991), Café Society (1995), Miami Rhapsody (1995) and Blue Moon (2002). On television, Bishop starred in the Mike Nichols' The Thorns opposite Tony Roberts and Marilyn Cooper. She played Lisa Ann Walter's mother on My Wildest Dreams. She has guest-starred on Kate & Allie, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Murphy Brown.
From 2000-07, Bishop starred in the CW Television Network series Gilmore Girls as wealthy New England matriarch Emily Gilmore, mother of Lorelai and grandmother of Rory.
Bishop was in Becky Shaw at the Second Stage Theatre in 2008. She then performed a briefly in the 2011 revival of Anything Goes alongside Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. She replaced Jessica Walter in the role of Evangeline Harcourt.
As of Summer 2012, Bishop can be seen starring in the recurring role of Fanny Flowers on the ABC Family program Amy Sherman-Palladino's Bunheads, in which she reunites with Sutton Foster.
Read more about this topic: Kelly Bishop
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