Raised in Maryland

After completing graduate studies at Southern Methodist University, moved to NYC

While working as a waitress, began keeping diary; later used her experiences as basis for stage musical "Pump Boys and Dinettes"

Was member of the acting company at the Colonnades Theatre Laboratory in NYC

Spent one season with the Arena Stage in Washington, DC

Breakthrough stage role as Prudie Cupp in "Pump Boys and Dinettes"; also co-wrote; show transferred to Broadway in 1982

TV debut recreating Prudie in "Pump Boys and Dinettes on Television" (NBC)

Was guest artist at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky

Co-wrote and co-starred in "Oil City Symphony"

Co-starred in the stage play "Prelude to a Kiss"

Played Sarah Jane Moore, one of the women who attempted to shoot US President Gerald Ford, in the controversial Stephen Sondheim musical "Assassins"

Feature film debut as Aunt Dorothy in the film version of "Prelude to a Kiss"

Appeared as the sardonic aunt of a piano prodigy in Lanford Wilson's "Redwood Curtain"; won Tony Award

Earned second Tony nomination as the spinster Rosemary Snyder in "Picnic"

Played a formidable analyst in the Woody Allen one-act "Central Park West", performed under the umbrella title of "Death Defying Acts"

Recreated her award-winning role as a lumber company owner in "Redwood Curtain" (ABC)

Offered a stinging turn as Joanne in the Roundabout Theater revival of the George Furth-Stephen Sondheim musical "Company"; delivered a fine interpretation of the song "The Ladies Who Lunch"

Cast as the former wife of Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) on "NYPD Blue"

Played Christian Slater's mother in "Bed of Roses"

Garnered a third Tony nomination as the brassy burlesque singer participating in a dance marathon in "Steel Pier"; performed the showstopping "Everybody's Girl"

Co-starred as one of the title character's nasty aunts in "Ellen Foster" (CBS)

Appeared as the senator's secretary in "Bulworth"

Reprised role as Katie Sipowicz on "NYPD Blue"; received an Emmy Award

Returned to the New York stage as star of a revival of Arthur Laurents' "The Time of the Cuckoo"

Played an overbearing stage mother in "Center Stage"

Appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival's staging of "The Seagull" in Central Park; directed by Mike Nichols (July-August)

Starred opposite Troy Garity in "Milwaukee, Minnesota"

Played the Little Old Lady Investor in "The Producers," the film based on the Tony-winning musical by Mel Brooks

Co-starred with David Hyde Pierce in the Broadway musical, "Curtains"; earned a Tony nomination