Georgia Bright Engel (born July 28, 1948, in Washington, D.C.) is an American film and television actress. She is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
She is probably best known as Georgette Franklin Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, on which she appeared from 1972 until the show ended in 1977. The role won her two Emmy nominations.
After that series ended, she teamed up with former Mary Tyler Moore Show co-star Betty White for The Betty White Show during its first and only (1977-1978) season. She then co-starred on the short-lived 1980 sitcom Goodtime Girls, as Loretta Smoot.
Engel also had recurring roles on Coach as Shirley Burleigh, and on Everybody Loves Raymond as Robert Barone's mother-in-law, Pat MacDougall.
She also starred as the voice of Love-a-Lot Bear in The Care Bears Movie (1985).
Engel later returned to her stage roots. In 2006, she appeared on Broadway in the musical The Drowsy Chaperone, with Sutton Foster and Edward Hibbert. She created the role of Mrs. Tottendale, which she continued to perform as of early 2007. In September 2007, she reprised the role in Toronto for the North American tour. She also has been appearing in recent years at The Muny Theater in Forest Park in St. Louis, Mo. She also has been seen in the recurring role of Ezmeralda the good witch on the NBC soap opera Passions.
Engel has never married nor had children, is left-handed, and is a Christian Scientist. Her father was Rear Admiral Benjamin Franklin Engel of the United States Coast Guard. Her sister, Robin Ruth Engle, was Miss Hawaii in 1967.
Attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa
Appears mostly on the stage these days and is based in New York. In 2001, she toured with Barbara Eden in the female version of "The Odd Couple."
Has had regular or recurring roles in five sitcoms but her enduring claim to fame is her first one, as the dinghy, eternatlly naive Georgette, girlfriend-turned-wife of anchorman Ted Baxter, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The featherbrain typecast has been impossible for her to shake.
Her sister, Robin Engel, was Miss Hawaii in 1967.
