The Shmooze

Blacklisted Actress Steals the Scene in "Sex and the City" Film

By Sarah Kricheff

Madeline Lee Gilford has been working in the entertainment industry since she was 3 years old, and now, at 85, she doesn’t seem to have any intention of retiring. Wife of the late actor Jack Gilford, Lee Gilford just shot a scene with Sarah Jessica Parker in the much anticipated film “Sex and the City” (based on the HBO series), set for release in 2008.

Born to a Jewish family in New York City and raised in the Bronx, Lee Gilford got her start on radio and later worked as a producer with her husband, a renowned actor who was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in the 1973 film “Save the Tiger,” starring Jack Lemmon. The Gilfords were blacklisted during the McCarthy era, but Jack was able to continue to work in theater. “We didn’t work for many years in film or TV,” Lee Gilford told The Shmooze, “but luckily, Jack was able to make a living on Broadway.”

It’s safe to say that the racy “Sex and the City” TV series is not targeted toward audiences in Lee Gilford’s age group, but she’s a fan nonetheless. “It’s great. It’s very well written and very well played,” she said. Her scene in the movie was filmed in Manhattan at Christie’s auction house, and she plays a paranoid, elderly lady whom Parker’s character, Carrie Bradshaw, bumps into.

Lee Gilford doesn’t have any upcoming projects planned, but, accustomed to life as an actress, she is unconcerned. “I’m a freelance actress, so I work when I’m called. I have since I was a child,” she said. For now, she added, “I’m just a happy couch potato.”