What Is Carol Kane's Net Worth?
Carol Kane is an American actress who has a net worth of $3 million. Kane is probably best known for the Emmy-winning role of Simka Dahblitz-Gravas on the ABC/NBC sitcom "Taxi" (1980–1983), and she played Lillian Kaushtupper on the Netflix series "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (2015–2020). Carol has more than 160 acting credits to her name, including the films "Hester Street" (1975), "Annie Hall" (1977), "The Muppet Movie" (1979), "When a Stranger Calls" (1979), "Norman Loves Rose" (1982), "The Princess Bride" (1987), "Addams Family Values" (1993), "Man on the Moon" (1999), and "Sleepwalk with Me" (2012) and the television series "All is Forgiven" (1986), "American Dreamer" (1990–1991), "Brooklyn Bridge" (1991–1992), "Pearl" (1996–1997), "Gotham" (2014–2016), "Los Espookys" (2019), and "Hunters" (2020–present). Kane has also performed on Broadway, playing Esme Train in "Ring Around the Bathtub" (1972), Tillie in "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" (1978), Miss Fancy in "Sly Fox" (2004), Betty Chumley in "Harvey" (2012), and Madame Morrible in "Wicked" (2013–2014).
Early Life
Carol Kane was born Carolyn Laurie Kane on June 18, 1952, in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the daughter of Joy and Michael Kane, and she comes from a Jewish family. Joy was a teacher, jazz singer, pianist, and dancer, and she and Michael divorced when Carol was 12 years old. Kane attended the Connecticut boarding school the Cherry Lawn School, and she also studied at New York City's Professional Children's School. In 1966, she made her professional theatre debut in a production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie."
Career
Carol's onscreen acting career began in 1971, when she appeared in the films "Desperate Characters" and "Carnal Knowledge." She followed those films with "Wedding in White" (1972), "The Last Detail" (1973), "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), "Harry and Walter Go to New York" (1976), "Valentino" (1977), "The World's Greatest Lover" (1977), "The Muppet Movie" (1979), and "La Sabina" (1979), and she earned an Academy Award nomination for 1975's "Hester Street." In 1977, starred in the Woody Allen-directed film "Annie Hall," which won an Academy Award for Best Picture, and in 1979, she played the lead role of Jill Johnson in the psychological horror movie "When a Stranger Calls." She reprised her role in the 1993 TV movie "When a Stranger Calls Back." Kane appeared in the television films "We, the Woman" (1974) and "The Greatest Man in the World" (1980), and from 1980 to 1983, she played Simka Dahblitz-Gravas, the eventual wife of Andy Kaufman's Latka Gravas, on "Taxi." The series won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Comedy three times, and Carol won two Emmys for her performance.
In the '80s, Carol appeared in films such as "Strong Medicine" (1981), "Norman Loves Rose" (1982), "Over the Brooklyn Bridge" (1984), "The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud" (1984), "Transylvania 6-5000" (1985), "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1986), "Ishtar" (1987), "License to Drive" (1988), and "Scrooged" (1988), and she co-starred with Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Billy Crystal, and Mandy Patinkin in 1987's "The Princess Bride," which was preserved in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2016 for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." Kane guest-starred on "Laverne & Shirley" (1982), "Cheers" (1984), "Tales from the Darkside" (1985), "Tales from the Crypt" (1990), "Seinfeld" (1994), "Empty Nest" (1994), "Chicago Hope" (1996), "Ellen" (1996), and "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1997), and she played Nicolette Bingham on "All is Forgiven" (1986), Lillian Abernathy on "American Dreamer" (1990–1991), Aunt Sylvia on "Brooklyn Bridge" (1991–1992), and Annie Caraldo on "Pearl" (1996–1997). Carol appeared in more than 20 films in the '90s, including "Flashback" (1990), "My Blue Heaven" (1990), "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" (1993), "Addams Family Values" (1993), "The Pallbearer" (1996), "Jawbreaker" (1999), and the Andy Kaufman biopic "Man on the Moon" (1999).
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Kane lent her voice to the animated shows "Family Guy" (2001), "Dora the Explorer" (2011), "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" (2011–2012), "Phineas and Ferb" (2011; 2014), "Star vs. the Forces of Evil" (2017), "Vampirina" (2018), "F Is for Family" (2018), "Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure" (2018–2019), and "Big Mouth" (2019), and she guest-starred on "Two and a Half Men" (2009), "Monk" (2009), "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2009; 2013), "Ugly Betty" (2010), "Girls" (2013), and "Halt and Catch Fire" (2017). She appeared in the films "My First Mister" (2001), "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" (2004), "The Pacifier" (2005), "Four Christmases" (2008), "The Bounty Hunter" (2010), "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" (2010), "Sleepwalk with Me" (2012), "Clutter" (2013), "Ava's Possessions" (2015), and "The Sisters Brothers" (2018), and she reunited with her "Scrooged" co-star Bill Murray in the 2019 zombie movie "The Dead Don't Die." From 2014 to 2016, Kane had a recurring role as Gertrud Kapelput, the Penguin's mother, on the Batman prequel series "Gotham," and from 2015 to 2020, she starred as eccentric landlady Lillian Kaushtupper on "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," which was created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. Carol reprised her role in the 2020 interactive film "Kimmy vs the Reverend." In 2019, she starred as Bianca Nova on HBO's "Los Espookys" alongside Fred Armisen, who played her "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" love interest, murderer Robert Durst. In 2020, Carol began co-starring with Al Pacino and Logan Lerman on the Amazon Prime Video series "Hunters."
Personal Life
Carol dated actor Woody Harrelson in the '80s. Harrelson said of the relationship, "We had a friendship that became a romance and then a friendship again."
Awards and Nominations
In 1976, Kane earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Hester Street," and in 1983, she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for "Taxi." She has been nominated for three Primetime Emmys, winning Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1982) and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, Variety or Music Series (1983) for "Taxi." Her other nomination was for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for "Chicago Hope" (1996). Carol was inducted into the Online Film & Television Association Hall of Fame in 2018, and she won a Cinema Writers Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for "La Sabina" in 1980. "Emoticon ;)" received the Cast Collaboration Award – Feature Film at the 2013 Gen Art Film Festival, and "Taxi" won the Medallion Award at the 2007 TV Land Awards. Kane also earned a TV Land Award nomination for Most Wonderful Wedding (shared with the late Andy Kaufman) for "Taxi" in 2006.
Carol received American Comedy Award nominations for Funniest Supporting Female Performer – Motion Picture or TV for "The Princess Bride" (1988) and Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for "Addams Family Values" (1994), and she earned an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actress in a Lead Role for "Norman Loves Rose" in 1982. Kane received a Women Film Critics Circle Award nomination for Best Actress for "Clutter" in 2014, and the "Les frères Sisters" cast earned a Best Ensemble Performance nomination at the 2019 Faro Island Film Festival. For her stage work, Carol received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" in 1978.
