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{{Infobox person
| birth_name = Henrietta Kaye
| image = Jim and Henny Backus 1969.JPG
| caption = Jim and Henny Backus (1969)
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|3|21}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|12|9|1911|3|21}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| other_names = Henriette Kaye
| resting_place = Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
| occupation = Stage actress
| years_active = 1936–1981
| spouse = Nat Karson<br>[[Jim Backus]] (1943–89) (his death)
}}

'''Henny Backus''' (March 21, 1911 – December 9, 2004) was a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] showgirl in the 1930s whose stage credits include [[Orson Welles]]'s ''Horse Eats Hat''. She was the wife of actor and comedian [[Jim Backus|Jim]].

==Career==
[[Image:Horse-Eats-Hat-04.jpg|right|thumb|260px|Henriette Kaye in [[Orson Welles]]'s surrealistic farce ''Horse Eats Hat'' (1936)]]

Henrietta Kaye was born in Brooklyn March 21, 1911. She studied sculpture at Cooper Union, but she preferred working in the theater and appeared in Broadway musicals during the 1930s. Working as Henriette Kaye, she was a member of the Federal Theatre Project. Described by ''The New York Times'' as "a leggy redhead with a droll sense of humor",<ref name="NYT obit">{{cite news |last=Bayot |first=Jennifer |date=December 17, 2004 |title=Henny Backus, 93, an Actress and Author With Husband Jim, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/arts/17backus.html?pagewanted=print&position=&_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |location= |access-date=2015-02-02 }}</ref> she appeared in [[Orson Welles]]'s Project 891 production ''Horse Eats Hat'' (1936), a surrealistic farce co-starring Welles, Joseph Cotten, Hiram Sherman and Arlene Francis.<ref name="France Theatre of OW">France, Richard, ''The Theatre of Orson Welles''. Cranbury, New Jersey: Associated University Presses, Inc. 1977 {{ISBN|0-8387-1972-4}}</ref>{{Rp|182}} Her husband, Nat Karson,<ref name="NYT obit"/> designed the sets and costumes.<ref name="France Theatre of OW"/>{{Rp|182}}

Kaye married actor and comedian Jim Backus in 1943.<ref name="NYT obit"/> The couple co-starred in the 1960s television series ''Blondie'', and they performed together once on ''Gilligan's Island'', in the sitcom's second-season episode "Gilligan's Mother-In-Law" (1965). She appeared too with her husband in a season-five episode of ''The Love Boat''.

Henny and Jim Backus co-authored several humorous books, including ''What Are You Doing After the Orgy?'' (1962), ''Only When I Laugh'' (1965), ''Backus Strikes Back'' (1984), and ''Forgive Us Our Digressions'' (1988). Henny also wrote ''Care for the Caretaker'' (1999), documenting her husband's battle with Parkinson's disease and offering practical solutions for those facing such dilemmas.<ref name="NYT obit"/>

Jim Backus died from complications of pneumonia in 1989. Fifteen years later, Henny passed away at the age of 93 following a series of strokes. She was buried next to her husband in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cinemascope Two: 20th Century-Fox |author= John Reid|year=2005|publisher=Lulu Press, Inc.|isbn=1-4116-2248-0}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Backus Henny Backus] at Wikipedia
*{{iMDb name|0045737}}
* [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/7778|68905/Henny-Backus/ Henny Backus] at TCM Movie Database
* [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/henrietta-kaye-381124 Henrietta Kaye] at Internet Broadway Database
* [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/henrietta-kaye-47552 Henriette Kaye] at Internet Broadway Database
* [http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/henny-backus/208473/ Henny Backus] at TVGuide.com
* [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=53962 Henny Backus] at Aveleyman
* [http://www.allmovie.com/artist/henny-backus-p206879 Henny Backus] at Allmovie
*{{Find a Grave|10128723}}

==Episode(s)==
* [[Gilligan's Mother-in-Law]]

Henny Backus - Revision history

Adminpeter at 08:21, 4 July 2017