Thelma Leeds
Thelma Goodman, aka
Thelma Bernstein, aka
Thelma Leeds (born
1912-died
May 27,
2006), was an
American actress.
She was the mother of actor/director
Albert Brooks,
Bob Einstein (TV's Super Dave Osborne), and Clifford Einstein, chairman of Dailey & Associates Advertising in
West Hollywood, California and chairman of the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
In the early 1930s, Leeds sang
light opera on the radio. She also performed in
New York nightclubs as Thelma Goodman, her birth name. One night in the mid-1930s a
RKO talent scout caught her nightclub act. The studio signed her to a contract and gave her the name Thelma Leeds.
She had an uncredited role in the
1936 Fred Astaire-
Ginger Rogers musical
Follow the Fleet. She later had supporting roles in
The Toast of New York and
New Faces of 1937.
She met her husband
Harry Einstein, a dialect comedian, while filming
New Faces of 1937. Leeds retired from show business after marrying Einstein in
1937.
Two years after Einstein's death in
1958, she married Irving "Bernie" Bernstein. He died in
1983.
In
1981 Leeds played Albert Brooks' mother in
Modern Romance. She also served as the inspiration for Brooks'
1996 comedy
Mother, in which
Debbie Reynolds played the title role.
"I think mom was bugged that she couldn't play (Brooks' mother in
Mother)," Clifford Einstein told the
Los Angeles Times. "She loved to laugh at herself and loved the portrayal of
Mother that, while not her story, was certainly loosely based on her: the kind of mother that loves to control everything."
Leeds died at her home in
Beverly Hills, California. Her death was attributed to natural causes.
*
McLellan, Dennis. (2006, May 31). Thelma Bernstein, 95; Mother of Albert Brooks Was Former Actress. Los Angeles Times.
