Fritzi Burr

{{Infobox person

| name = Fritzi Burr

| image = Fritzi Burr Sanford and Son.jpeg

| image_upright = 1.10

| caption = Burr on Sanford and Son in 1976

| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|5|31}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2003|1|17|1924|5|31}}

| death_place = Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.

| other_names = Freda Steinberg

| occupation = Actress, comedienne

| yearsactive = 1953-1997

| spouse = Aaron Heyman, 1990-1995, his death

| children =

| website =

}}

Fritzi Burr (May 31, 1924 – January 17, 2003) was an American character actress who was notable for her television roles, including as Miss Collins on the sitcom What's Happening!!, and as various comedic foils to Fred Sanford on the sitcom Sanford and Son. She was the sister-in-law of Sanford and Son and What's Happening!! producer Saul Turteltaub.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/213334040/ |title=Obituary Fritzi Burr |date=19 January 2003 |newspaper=News-Press |location=Fort Myers, Florida |page=41 |access-date=23 October 2022 |quote=She is survived by her loving sisters, Temmi Salzman of Ft. Myers, FL., Shirley Turteltaub of Beverly Hills, CA.,...}}

Biography

Burr was born Freda Berr in Philadelphia on May 31, 1924,{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6K98-M592 |title= Freda Burr, United States Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT) 1936-2007 |website= FamilySearch |access-date=20 October 2023}} to Pauline Berr (née Devore) and David Berr.{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-69Z6-3N?cc=1589502 |title= Pennsylvania Marriage Application of Dave Berditchofsky and Pauline Devor |website= FamilySearch |access-date=23 October 2022}} Both of her parents were Russian Jews,{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR8H-9H62?i=7&cc=1810731 |title= 1930 US Census for Philadelphia, PA Enumeration District No.51-738 |website= FamilySearch |access-date=23 October 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRCF-LC7?i=10&cc=1810731&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXHW7-SG4 |title= 1930 US Census for Philadelphia, PA Enumeration District No.51-705 |website= FamilySearch |access-date=23 October 2022}} and their families came from the same city, Berdichev.{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:2:77TH-WDF7-B?i=3677&cc=1921483&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AKFDM-Q9L |title= Pennsylvania Philadelphia Passenger List Index Cards |website= FamilySearch |access-date=23 October 2022}} Her father's original last name, "Berdichevsky",{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-69Z6-3N?cc=1589502 |title= Pennsylvania Marriage Application of Dave Berditchofsky and Pauline Devor |website= FamilySearch |access-date=23 October 2022}} before it was shortened to "Berr", is also derived from the name of their native town. Her parents divorced when she was young, and her mother took her to live with her parents, Harry and Rose Devore.{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR8H-9H62?i=7&cc=1810731 |title= 1930 US Census for Philadelphia, PA Enumeration District No.51-738 |website= FamilySearch |access-date=23 October 2022}}

A few years later, her mother would remarry and have two more daughters, Shirley and Thelma, by her second husband, Benjamin Steinberg. In the late 1930s, the family moved from Philadelphia to Newark, New Jersey,{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L99M-33JW?i=1 |title= 1940 US Census for Newark, NJ Enumeration District No.25-496 |website= FamilySearch |access-date=23 October 2022}} where Freda spent her formative years in close proximity to the New York stage scene. Eventually, her stepfather formally adopted her, at which time she became officially known as Freda Steinberg,{{cite web |url=https://ibb.co/Yyb4SY3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215122158/https://ibb.co/Yyb4SY3 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 15, 2024 |title= 1950 US Census for Newark, NJ Enumeration District No.30-326 |website= 1950census.archives.gov |access-date=23 October 2022}} keeping a slightly modified "Burr" as her stage name.

Burr performed in small theaters and in skits with the vaudeville comedy team Smith and Dale. By the late 1950s, she was working on Broadway, appearing in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, the show in which Barbra Streisand first gained national attention.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-23-me-passings23.3-story.html|title=Fritzi Burr, 78; Versatile Vaudeville, Stage, TV and Movie Performer|work=Los Angeles Times (.com), Obituaries/PASSINGS, from Staff and wire reports|date=January 23, 2003|access-date=August 9, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619134610/http://www.latimes.com/about/la-about-us-storygallery.html |archive-date=June 19, 2017}} In the mid-1960s, Burr replaced Kaye Medford as the mother of Fanny Brice (played by Streisand) in Funny Girl. Her other Broadway credits include portraying Sylvia Goldman in The Family Way in 1965.{{cite web |title=Fritzi Burr |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/fritzi-burr-96036 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=February 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302185038/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/fritzi-burr-96036 |archive-date=March 2, 2021}}

Burr worked regularly in small theaters and dinner theaters, as well as in touring companies of musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof, in which she played, at different times, Yente and Tevye's long-suffering wife, Golde. After moving to Hollywood, she found steady work as a character actress in movies and on television.{{cite web|url=http://www.fandango.com/fritziburr/biography/p9741|title=Biography: Fritzi Burr|work=Fandango.com|accessdate=August 9, 2016}}

Burr appeared in the movies How Do I Love Thee? (1970), Frasier, The Senusous Lion (1973), Chinatown (1974), The New, Original Wonder Woman (1975), Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night (1977) and 3 Ninjas (1992). Her television appearances include The Rockford Files (6 different roles in 6 episodes), What's Happening! (as high school teacher Miss Collins in 7 episodes), Starsky & Hutch, Quincy, M.E.,The Nanny, Melrose Place, Hunter, The Golden Girls, The Incredible Hulk, Sanford and Son, (10 episodes), Seinfeld, Friends and The Odd Couple.

Personal life and death

Burr was married to Aaron Heyman until his death in 1995. Burr died in Fort Myers, Florida, of natural causes on January 17, 2003,{{cite web |last1=Buchanan |first1=Jason |title=Fritzi Burr |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/fritzi-burr-p9741 |website=AllMovie |access-date=February 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204015944/https://www.allmovie.com/artist/fritzi-burr-p9741 |archive-date=February 4, 2022}} age 78.{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=John |last2=Hodges |first2=Ben |title=Theatre World 2002-2003 |date=November 2004 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-1-55783-635-9 |page=313 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LjnN7pSkDbgC&dq=%22Fritzi+Burr%22+actress&pg=PA313 |access-date=September 7, 2022 |language=en}}

Filmography

= Television =

1967, N.Y.P.D. (1 episode) as Landlady
1970, That Girl (1 episode) as Laura
1973, A Touch of Grace (1 episode) as Mrs. Sherman
1973, The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1 episode) as Mrs. Davis
1973 – 1974, Love, American Style (2 episodes) as Mabel/The Moderator
1974 – 1975, The Odd Couple (2 episodes) as Angry Woman/Mrs. Perkins
1974 – 1977, Sanford and Son (10 episodes) as various
1975, The ABC Afternoon Playbreak (1 episode) as Florence Darwin
1975, Baretta (1 episode) as Mrs. Schwartz
1975, The Rookies (1 episode) as Apartment House Manager
1975, Wonder Woman (1 episode) as Saleslady
1975 – 1979, The Rockford Files (6 episodes) as various
1976, One Day at a Time (1 episode) as Ginny
1976, Harry O (1 episode) as Apartment Manager
1976, Starsky and Hutch (1 episode) as Mrs. Haberman
1976, Holmes & Yoyo (1 episode) as Mrs. Buchanan
1976, Police Woman (1 episode) as Landlady
1977, Sanford Arms (1 episode) as Secretary
1977 – 1979, What's Happening!! (7 episodes) as Miss Collins
1979, Delta House (1 episode) as Gretl Kemp
1979, Detective School (2 episodes) as Madame Duchamp
1979, The Incredible Hulk (2 episodes) as Rose Brown/Gladys
1979 – 1982, Quincy M.E. (3 episodes) as Dr. Finkel/Maybelle/Doreen
1980, One in a Million (1 episode) as Nurse
1981, Strike Force (1 episode) as Mrs. Greenstreet
1982, One of the Boys (1 episode) as The Bank Manager
1982, Maggie (1 episode) as Mrs. Spaulding
1983, The Facts of Life (1 episode) as Mrs. Waldman
1985, Crazy Like a Fox (1 episode) as Mabel
1985, Days of our Lives (4 episodes) as Beulah Boden
1986, Divorce Court (1 episode) as Marianne Walker
1986, You Again? (2 episodes) as Mabel
1987, Throb (1 episode) as Makler
1988, The Golden Girls (1 episode) as Ruth
1988, My Sister Sam (1 episode) as Checker
1989, Moonlighting (1 episode) as Lenora Viola
1989, Chicken Soup (1 episode) as Lillian
1991, Hunter (1 episode) as Ida Green
1991, Dream On (1 episode) as Waitress
1992, Sisters (1 episode) as Mrs. Visconti
1993, Seinfeld (1 episode) as Mah-Jongg Lady
1993, The Nanny (1 episode) as Woman at the Movie
1995, Platypus Man (1 episode) as Marjorie McAllister
1995 – 1996, Friends (3 episodes) as Mrs. Weinberg/Woman (uncredited)/Ms. Tedlock
1997, Mad About You (1 episode) as Klarik's Customer