She first appeared with Burt Reynolds in a 1969 season episode of "Love American Style", then later in the movie "Paternity" in 1981, as a guest star in his television series "B.L. Stryker" in 1989, and finally as a cast member in his final television series, "Evening Shade", from 1990 to 1994 as Aunt Frieda Evans. In 1991, this role garnered her an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She was originally supposed to appear in the 1995 movie "Mallrats", playing the governor of New Jersey; however, the entire sequence was cut and replaced.