Mary Martha Gross (born March 25, 1953) is an American voice actress, comedian, and actress best known for Saturday Night Live and other roles.
Mary Gross was hired on Saturday Night Live during the show's seventh season (1981-1982), where new showrunner, Dick Ebersol, was trying to salvage the show after Jean Doumanian's disatrous turn in 1980. Like most cast members at the time, Gross was often overshadowed by the Spotlight-Stealing Squad of Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo (but only in season seven when the other women in the cast with her were Robin Duke and Christine Ebersole. When Christine Ebersole was replaced with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in season 8, Gross's time onscreen did increase somewhat). In her first season (season seven), Gross was a Weekend Update anchor paired with Brian Doyle-Murray (and occasionally switched out with Christine Ebersole), but that got dropped during the next season when Weekend Update went from being called SNL Newsbreak to Saturday Night News and Brad Hall was chosen as the anchornote .
Gross's recurring characters include Alfalfa from the SNL take on The Little Rascals (and the one who attempted to assassinate Eddie Murphy's Buckwheat), Celeste (a sexually-repressed wife married to an equally repressed husband played by Tim Kazurinsky), Chi Chi (a Latina talk show host with Julia-Louis Dreyfus as her co-host, Consuela), and Siobhan Cahill (a Irishwoman who reports on all things Irish-related)note . Her notable celebrity impressions include Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Brooke Shields, Ann Landers, Lena Horne, Leslie Uggamsnote , Mary Hart from Entertainment Tonight, Marilyn Monroe, Margaret Thatcher, Paul Reubens (as his Pee-Wee Herman character), and Nancy Reagan.
Gross was hot enough in her post-SNL days that she initially found steady comedy work in film: Baby Boom (1987), Hot to Trot (1988), and as assistant troop leader/spy Annie Herman in Troop Beverly Hills the following year. She’s had small television roles on Murphy Brown (the 1990s version, not the 2010s reboot), Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Six Feet Under, Malcolm and the Middle, and The New Adventures of Old Christine (starring her former cast mate, Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Gross has also done voicework for such cartoons as Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, The Angry Beavers, Animaniacs, and Hey Arnold! She also had a small part in the 2003 Christopher Guest film A Mighty Wind, had a recurring role on the soap opera General Hospital in 2008, and appeared on an episode of Californication.
In the late 1990s, Gross lost hearing in her right ear due to Meniere’s disease and has since shied away from returning to stage work in Chicago despite encouragement from Tim Kazurinsky and her brother Michael (yes, Mary Gross's brother is Michael Gross, the same one from Family Ties).
Film Roles
- Club Paradise as Jackie
- Baby Boom (1987) as Charlotte Elkman
- The Couch Trip as Vera Maitlin
- Casual Sex Ilene
- Big Business as Judy
- Hot to Trot as Ms. French
- Feds as Janis Zuckerman
- Troop Beverly Hills as Annie Herman
- There Goes The Neighborhood as Mrs. Bratesman
- The Santa Clause as Ms. Daniels
- Practical Magic as Debbie
- Tremors 3: Back to Perfection as Tourist Mom
- 40 Days and 40 Nights as Bev Sullivan
- A Mighty Wind as Ma Klapper
Television Roles
- Saturday Night Live as Herself/various (1981-1985)
- Tales of the Unexpected as Woman on beach (1 episode)
- The People Next Door as Abigail MacIntyre Kellogg
- Billy as Phoebe Trillman (recurring)
- Murphy Brown as Chris Manheim (1 episode)
- Jacks Place as Rosemary (1 episode)
- Animaniacs as Katie's Mom (recurring)
- The Larry Sanders Show as Mary Gross (1 episode)
- Lois & Clark as Nell Newtrich (1 episode)
- Angry Beavers as Deer/Bird (1 episode)
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch as Mrs. Quick (recurring)
- Hey Arnold! as School Nurse Shelley (3 episodes)
- Providence as Martha Blanekship (1 episode)
- Off Centre as Roberta Flack/Mrs. Platt (1 episode)
- Dharma & Greg as Mary (1 episode)
- As Told by Ginger as Bobbie Lightfoot (1 episode)
- Judging Amy as Marta (1 episode)
- According to Jim as Cynthia/Lisa (2 episodes)
- Malcolm in the Middle as Evelyn (1 episode)
- That's So Raven as Miss Patterson (1 episode)
- The New Adventures of Old Christine as Mrs. Orr (1 episode)
- Boston Legal as Leigh Swift (recurring)
- General Hospital as Aunt Raylene (recurring)
- Life as Maude Paxton (1 episode)
- Californication as Principal Green (1 episode)
- The Defenders (2010) as Judy Baker (1 episode)
- Hart of Dixie as Old Lady #3 (1 episode)
- Pound Puppies (2010) as Mrs. Beasley (1 episode)
- Raising Hope as Denise Jenkins (1 episode)
