Celebrity Nooz: Anita Gillette

Anita Gillette (Actress) - Moonstruck

Updated: 12/16/20

Name: Anita Gillette

Birth Name: Anita Luebben

Born: August 16, 1936 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Claim To Fame: Anita Gillette is an American actress best known for her extensive Broadway credits, many appearances on television game shows, and for her role as Mona in Moonstuck (1987).

Family Life: She was previously married to Armand Eugene Coullet and Dr. Ronald William Gillette. He has two children with Gillette.

Info: The daughter of Juanita and John Alfred Luebben.

Raised in suburban Rossville, she graduated from Kenwood High School.

Gillette studied at the Peabody Conservatory and made her Broadway debut in Gypsy in 1959.

Additional Broadway credits include Carnival!, All American, Mr. President, Kelly, Jimmy, Guys and Dolls, Don't Drink the Water, Cabaret, They're Playing Our Song, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Chapter Two, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

She received a 1960 Theatre World Award for her performance in Russell Patterson's Sketchbook.

Appeared in the 1998 tour of Harold Prince's "Show Boat" as Parthy. During its run at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (Florida), Cloris Leachman had family obligations and had to leave the show for a few weeks. She played the part until Cloris Leachman returned to the show.

Co-Starring in "Zorba" at the North Show Music Theatre with Ron Holgate.

Appearing off-Broadway in "Flamingo Court" with Jamie Farr.

Trivia: Gillette's first television appearance on The Edge of Night in 1956.

Gillette's biggest exposure on a national scale came as a celebrity guest on various New York City-based game shows, mostly those produced by Goodson-Todman and Bob Stewart; shows like "What's My Line?", "To Tell the Truth", and "I've Got a Secret".

The 1980s marked Gillette's transition from Broadway and television into a character film actress. Prior to this transition, she had sizeable television roles as Nancy Baxter on the national run of The Baxters, Quincy's second wife Dr. W. Emily Hanover on the last season of Quincy M.E. (having previously portrayed his deceased first wife Helen Quincy in a flashback), and a role on Search for Tomorrow at the end of that series' long run.

She and Olympia Dukakis have had the same on-screen love interest, twice: Larry Haines on Search for Tomorrow and Vincent Gardenia in Moonstruck (1987).

On February 17, 2020, Gillette was bestowed Honorary Member of The Lambs, America's oldest professional theatrical association, in recognition of her outstanding career.

Where Are They Now: Gillette currently has a comedy-drama film in post-production entitled, Bleeker.

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