Verla Eileen Regina Brennen was an American film, television, and theatre actress who, for Disney, she voiced Lilith DuPrave on the Disney animated series Bonkers. She also played Principal Handel in the television film remake of Freaky Friday, Mrs. Wikerson in the 1990 Touchstone Pictures film Stella, Joe #1 in Toothless, and Marge in the Disney Channel original series Lizzie McGuire.
Born in Los Angeles, California and after graduating from high school, she relocated to Washington, D.C., to attend Georgetown University before transferring to New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began her career during her school years with stage productions of Arsenic and Old Lace, The Miracle Worker, Little Mary Sunshine, The Student Gypsy, and originated the role of Irene Molloy in the original Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! with Carol Channing.
She made her film debut in 1967's Divorce American Style and continued in films such as The Last Picture Show, The Sting, Murder by Death, The Cheap Detective, Clue, Babes in Toyland, The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, If These Walls Could Talk, Jeepers Creepers, and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. She, however, was best known for her role as Captain Doreen Lewis in the 1980 comedy film Private Benjamin, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and reprised her role in the television adaptation on CBS.
Her other television credits include Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, All in the Family, Barnaby Jones, A New Kind of Family, Taxi, The Love Boat, Off the Rack, Magnum, P.I., Murder, She Wrote, Newhart, Blossom, Home Improvement, Tales from the Crypt, Walker, Texas Ranger, 7th Heaven, and Will & Grace.
She passed away at her home in Burbank, California, on July 28, 2013, of bladder cancer.
