Ilene Graff to Star in TRAVELIN' THRU at Catalina Jazz Club This October

Native New Yorker Ilene Graff is an actress, singer, teacher, and Grammy-nominated recording artist. Best known to audiences for playing Marsha Owens on the long running ABC-TV comedy Mr. Belvedere, her five-and-a half seasons on the show made her one of America's most beloved TV moms, garnering her fans from around the world. She made her Broadway debut in the Neil Simon, Burt Bacharach/Hal David hit musical Promises, Promises, understudying the leading lady and singing backups from the orchestra pit. She performed the role of Fran Kubelik in New York a dozen times before starring in the National Tour. Ilene went on to play Sandy for two-and-a-half years in the original Broadway production of Grease, but her biggest Broadway triumph was creating the role of Cleo in the Cy Coleman/Michael Stewart musical comedy hit I Love My Wife, directed by Tony Award-winner Gene Saks. She can be heard on the show's Original Cast Album. Ilene was a recurring character on the CW's Hart of Dixie, and in addition to playing the role of Bob Uecker's wife on Mr. Belvedere, starred in two other series, several pilots, and guest-starred on many game shows, episodic TV shows, movies, and mini-series. She is very proud to have co-starred in the ABC/Walt Disney Company film South Pacific, working with Glenn Close, Harry Connick, Jr., and Lori Tan Chinn. Ilene also shared the screen with Rodney Dangerfield in the feature film Ladybugs. Ilene is an accomplished singer who enjoys an active cabaret concert career, selling out such ionic venues as 54 Below and Birdland in New York, as well as Vitello's and The Catalina Club in Los Angeles. Her Grammy-nominated CD, Baby's Broadway Lullabies, a collection of beautiful theater songs arranged especially for sleepy time, is available everywhere music is streamed. Ilene's late husband of 46 years, Ben Lanzarone, was an ASCAP Award-winning composer and renowned pianist. They were musical partners for nearly 50 years, with Ben writing all her arrangements, musical directing and playing her shows, and producing her recordings. Ilene and Ben created her popular class, Making the Song Your Own: Vocal Performance Workshop, bringing their love of music to their many students. Their daughter Nikka Graff Lanzarone is an accomplished musical theatre performer (Chicago, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). Ilene proudly serves as an officer of Western Council of The Entertainment Community Fund. www.ilenegraff.com