Gail Boggs

Gail Boggs
Boggs in 2014
Born	Gail Charlene Boggs (1951-08-10) August 10, 1951 (age 73) Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Spouse	Eric Larson ​ ​ (m. 1987; div. 2011)​ [1]
Children	2, including Mattie Larson[2][3]

Gail Charlene Boggs (born August 10, 1951) is an American actress. She played Louise Brown in the 1990 film Ghost.

Career

[Boggs] is a zesty belter in the theatrical pop-soul mold of Donna Summer and Irene Cara.

Stephen Holden[4]

Gail Boggs, the daughter of Willie Boggs, a tree surgeon, and Alice, a dietitian, described having always dreamed of being a Broadway star. Her professional acting break came in 1971 playing Silvia with a touring group in Australia in a pop-rock version of Shakespeare's play The Two Gentlemen of Verona.[5] She signed with William Morris Agency and went on to act in several plays, including rock opera Mother Earth, an off-Broadway revue, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Candide.[4][6]

In a 1975 interview, she reported that a chance meeting with Todd Rundgren at an intersection in Manhattan led her to singing backup alongside her friend Darcy Miller and Laura Nyro on Felix Cavaliere's second album, Destiny, before singing with Hall & Oates on War Babies as well as with Carly Simon on Spy and Come Upstairs.[5][7] During the mid-1970s, Boggs provided vocals and percussion as a member of "The Striders" alongside "The Original Flying Machine"-alum Joel "Bishop" O'Brien and Robbie Dupree.[8] Boggs was also a vocalist in David Sancious's short-lived band "Tone".[9]

In 1984, Boggs starred in the one-woman cabaret nightclub act The Gail Boggs Show at "Upstairs at Greene Street". The show ran weekly for the next year and a half.[4][10][11] Boggs was one of the first to hear a recording of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and she pushed Grammy Award-winning writer and producer Nile Rodgers to release the song as the first single off Madonna's then-upcoming album.[12] Images of Boggs are found in the Martha Swope archive at the New York Public Library.[13]

Personal life

Boggs was married to Eric Larson, a voice actor and music editor.[2] They have two daughters, Willie and Mattie, a former gymnast.[2][14]

Acting

• 1971 The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Silvia)[15]
• 1972 Derek Walcott's Ti-Jean and His Brothers[16]
• 1972 Mother Earth at the Belasco Theatre[17]
• 1974 Candide (Penitente / Whore / Houri) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music[18] [19]
• 1979 Ain't Misbehavin'[20]
• 1982 Elizabeth Swados's Lullabye and Goodnight (Velvet Puppy)[21][22][23]
• 1987 The Bronx Zoo (Roz Hemphill)
• 1988 And God Created Woman (Denise)[24][25]
• 1989 The Boss (Luanda)[26]
• 1990 Ghost (Louise Brown, sister of Ode Mae Brown played by Whoopi Goldberg)[27][28]
• 1991 Curly Sue (Anise Hall)[29][30][31]
• 1993 Cancelled Lives: Letters from the Inside[32]
• 1995 Get Smart (2nd nurse)[33]
• 1995 Boy Meets World (nurse)[34]
• 1999 EDtv[35]
• 2020 Better Things

Citations

1. "Good Sports: Meets and Music". UCLA Magazine Online. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
2. "Mattie Larson Biography". UCLA Bruins Official Athletic Site. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
3. Stein, Jeannine (2004-08-23). "Young athletes dream: 'That could be me'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
4. Holden, Stephen (11 November 1984). "Cabaret: Gail Boggs, Songs". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
5. White, Tim (1975-10-23). "Childhood friends are on brink of success in music business". The Daily Republic. Mitchell, South Dakota: Newspapers.com. p. 20. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
6. "Signings". Billboard. 1973-02-10. p. 26.
7. Heinrichs, Paul (1973-03-02). "Who is Sylvia? She's runnin' jumpin' Gail". The Age. p. 2. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
8. "The Striders". The Clarion Call. Vol. 48, no. 1–28. Clarion University of Pennsylvania. August 22, 1976 – May 12, 1977. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
9. Wien, Gary (2003). Beyond the Palace. Trafford Publishing. p. 75. ISBN 9781412003148.
10. New York Media, LLC (Mar 11, 1985). "Nightlife". New York. 18 (10): 135.
11. Kane, E. A., ed. (May 1985). "Preferred" (PDF). East Village Eye: 60. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-08.
12. Rodgers, Nile (2011). Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny. Spiegel & Grau. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-385-52965-5. OCLC 699764805.
13. "Martha Swope Photographs ca. 1955 – 2002 and undated" (PDF). New York Public Library. p. 3.
14. Pucin, Diane (5 June 2008). "Cleaning Up Her Act". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
15. Dash, Irene G. (2010). Shakespeare and the American Musical. Indiana University Press. pp. 161, 204. ISBN 9780253354143.
16. Dietz 2010, p. 456.
17. Gilbert, Ruth, ed. (1972-10-23). "In and Around Town". New York Magazine: 14.
    Gilbert, Ruth, ed. (1972-10-09). "In and Around Town". New York Magazine: 15.
    Gilbert, Ruth, ed. (1972-10-16). "In and Around Town". New York Magazine: 14.
    Gilbert, Ruth, ed. (1972-11-06). "In and Around Town". New York Magazine: 16.
18. Dietz 2010, p. 74.
19. Osborne, Jerry (2002). Movie/TV Soundtracks and Original Cast Recordings Price and Reference Guide. Jerry Osborne Enterprises. p. 96. ISBN 9780932117373.
20. "Ain't Misbehavin'" (PDF). New Mexico Daily Lobo. 1979-11-15. p. 7.
21. Dietz 2010, p. 270.
22. Rich, Frank (February 10, 1982). "Elizabeth Swados's 'Lullabye'". The New York Times.
23. "Belknap Playbills and Programs Collection 1787". University of Florida. 2004. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
24. Maslin, Janet (March 4, 1988). "And God Created Woman (1987) Film: 'And God Created Woman'". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
25. Steinmetz, Johanna (1988-03-04). "Vadim's 'Woman' Falters In Plot, Dialogue". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
26. Shaffer, Mike. "The Boss". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
27. "Ghost". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
28. Ebert, Roger (1990). "Ghost Movie Review & Film Summary". rogerebert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
29. Flanagan, Sylvia P. (1991-11-25). "Movies to See". Jet Magazine: 62.
30. Klotman, Phyllis Rauch (1997). Frame by Frame Two. Indiana University Press. p. 118. ISBN 9780253211200.
31. Willis, John (1993). Screen World 1992. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 114. ISBN 9781557831354.
32. Sigler, Robert T. (1993). "Cancelled Lives: Letters from the Inside". Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. 1 (5): 48–51. ISSN 1070-8286. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
33. Smith, Laura. "Get Smart". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
34. Arbeiter, Michael. "Boy Meets World". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
35. Milne, Jeff (2009-07-20). Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: The Complete Guide to the Movie Trivia Game. Jeff Milne. ISBN 9780615285214.

References

• Dietz, Dan (2010). Off Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows. McFarland Publishing. ISBN 9780786457311.

Further reading

• Stewart, John (2006). Broadway Musicals, 1943-2004. McFarland Publishing. ISBN 9780786495658.

External links

• Gail Boggs at IMDb
• Gail Boggs at TV Guide
• Gail Boggs at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gail Boggs at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Gail Boggs at Rotten Tomatoes