(Anita Gates’s article appeared in The New York Times, 7/31.)
Eileen Brennan, a smoky-voiced actress who had worked in show business for more than
20 years before gaining her widest attention as a gleefully tough Army captain in both the film and television versions of “Private Benjamin,” died on Sunday at her home in Burbank, Calif. She was 80.
Her manager, Kim Vasilakis, confirmed the death on Tuesday, saying the cause was bladder cancer.
Ms. Brennan had had a solid career on the New York stage and in films like “The Last Picture Show” and “The Sting” when she was cast for the film “Private Benjamin,” a 1980 box-office hit starring Goldie Hawn in the title role.