This Strasberg-trained supporting actor came out of musical theater to gain face recognition on panel shows before moving into playing character and mother roles on sitcoms and features. Anita Gillette is best recalled as Mona, Vincent Gardenia's mistress in Norman Jewison's "Moonstruck" (1987) and as Mary-Louise Parker's outspoken mother in Herbert Ross' "Boys on the Side" (1995).The petite, light-haired performer began on stage in a 1958 summer stock production of "Roberta" at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, MA, then made her Broadway debut the following year as Thelma in the
