Actress. She is best remembered for her portrayal of the tart tongued Mrs. Sturak in the cult classic "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" (1991). Born Clarissa Helena, she was raised within a traditional working-class Jewish family. After attaining her degree in speech and drama from Hunter College, she began her career as a leading lady on the Broadway stage. After a decade and a half of stage work, she was introduced to director Ruth Berlau while attending a seminar at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Impressed by her dark good looks, slim physique, and distinctive voice, she took notice of her potential and arranged for her to begin a career in the film industry beginning with her appearing under her supervision per a leading role in "The Life of Galileo" (1947). From there, she would go on to flourish as a notable character actress appearing in over 75 features; often typecast as wives, mothers, grandmothers, old maids, widows, nannies, secretaires, nurses, white-collared workers, historical or literary figures, housekeepers, reporters, landladies, neighbors, eccentrics, curmudgeons, snobs, dowagers, immigrants, foreigners, clergywomen, retail clerks, managers, businesswomen, waitresses, madams, busybodies, social workers, city slickers, matrons, seamstresses, educators, and matriarchs. She appeared in such feature films as "An Act of Murder" (1948), "Knock on Any Door" (1949), "No Way Out" (1950), "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" (1951), "Don't Bother to Knock" (1952), "Lili" (1953), "The Shrike" (1955), "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" (1968), "Hester Street" (1975), "The Prince of Central Park" (1977), "First, You Cry" (1978), "The Frisco Kid" (1979), "Fog" (1980), "A Piano for Mrs. Cimino" (1982), "Enormous Changes at the Last Minute" (1983), "Ghostbusters" (1984), "The Black Cauldron" (1985), "Crossing the Mob" (1988), "Double Your Pleasure" (1989), "The Washing Machine Man" (1992), and "For Better or Worse" (1995). On television, she appeared in various guest spots on such syndicated sitcoms as "Schlitz Playhouse," "Personal Appearance Theatre," "The DuPont Show of the Month," "East Side/West Side," "The Robert Herridge Theatre," "Charlie's Angels," "Police Story," "Baretta," "240-Robot," "The White Shadow," "Code Red," "It's a Living," "Family Ties," "Crisis Counselor," "Mama's Family," "Cagney & Lacey," "St. Elsewhere," "Hill Street Blues," "Night Court," "Highway to Heaven," "Mr. Belvedere," "Beauty and the Beast," "Hunter," "Throb," "Hooperman," "Annie McGuire," "Dream On," "Sydney," "The Wonder Years," "Dear John," "Nurses," "The New Adam-12," "Murder, She Wrote," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Civil Wars," "Family Album," and "ER". During her career, she was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, had been a member of the Hollywood Democratic Committee, was an active parishioner of the Temple Israel of Hollywood, presided on her local charters of the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity, was a theatrical instructor for the Pasadena Playhouse, had been among the several founding members of the Canyon Theatre Guild, had been a notable audiobook narrator, was a commercial model for the Forbes Agency, and she was married to pharmaceutical technician Richard Strauss from 1946 until his death in 1976 (their union produced two children). Following her 1995 retirement, she spent the remainder of her life being a regular attendee at autograph conventions and was involved in charitable and religious causes, until her death from the complications of advanced age.