Madeline Kahn was born on September 29, 1942, in Boston, Massachusetts. She began her acting career in high school and went on to university where she trained as an opera singer and starred in several campus productions, ultimately earning a doctorate in her chosen field. Her finest years came in Paper Moon with Ryan O'Neal, which was followed the next year by Mel Brooks's outrageous Blazing Saddles as Lili Von Shtupp, a cabaret singer. She was so delightful in both that Madeline was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in both movies. In 1998, Madeline lent her voice to Gypsy in the wildly popular animated film A Bug's Life. Tragically, on December 3, 1999, Madeline died of ovarian cancer in New York, a disease from which she suffered for about a year while she was a cast member of Cosby. The accomplished stage and screen actress was just 57.
Performed custom voice-over work for the "Gypsy" character in the PlayStation game "A Bug's Life" (1998). [source: game credits] Graduate of Martin Van Buren High School (1960), Queens Village, Queens, New York. Daughter of Paula Kahn. Sister of Jeffrey Kahn. Aunt of Eliza Kahn. Father's name is Bernard Wolfson. Has a half sister named Robyn. graduate of Martin Van Buren High School (1960), Queens Village, Queens, New York graduated from Hofstra on a drama scholarship operatically trained singer Won Broadway's 1993 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for Wendy Wasserstein's "The Sisters Rosensweig." She had previously been nominated for three other Tonys: in 1974, as Best Actress (Dramatic), for David Rabe's "In the Boom Boom Room;" in 1978 as Best Actress (Musical) for "On the Twentieth Century;" and in 1989 as Best Actress (Play) for playing the role of Billie Dawn in a revival of "Born Yesterday." Her performance as Lili von Shtupp in "Blazing Saddles" (1974) is ranked #74 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).