Background
She was born in Pueblo, Colorado and grew up in Oakland, California.
She was born in Pueblo, Colorado and grew up in Oakland, California.
Born in 1912 to Jewish immigrants from Romania, her early career included working as a stand-up comedian and nightclub performer. Sawyer"s first television appearances were in The Milton Berle Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Jackie Gleason Show in the late 1940s. In 1959 she was cast in the comedy film A Hole in the Head, which starred Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson and Eleanor Parker.
She had performed in the original Broadway play as Mission Wexler, a character she created.
When Sinatra bought the rights to the movie, the writer informed him that he hadn"t written the part of Mission Wexler and Sinatra would have to ask Sawyer for rights to that character. Sinatra decided to hire Sawyer for his movie as the same role she played in the Broadway play.
He later nominated her for membership in the Academy of Motion Pictures. She turned 100 in November 2012.
Author and gerontologist Jacob Appel Doctor of Medicine paid tribute to Sawyer by modelling a minor character after her in his novel, The Manitoba Who Wouldn"t Stand Up (2012).