Henny Backus

Henny Backus
Jim and Henny Backus (1969)
Born	Henrietta Kaye (1911-03-21)March 21, 1911 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	December 9, 2004(2004-12-09) (aged 93) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Henriette Kaye
Occupation	Stage actress
Years active	1936–1981
Spouse(s)	Nat Karson Jim Backus (1943–89) (his death)

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

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. Woking 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", 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. Her husband, Nat Karson, designed the sets and costumes.

Kaye married actor and comedian Jim Backus in 1943. They co-starred in the 1960s television series, Blondie, and she appeared with her husband in the TV sitcom, Gilligan's Island, in the second-season episode "Gilligan's Mother-In-Law" (1965). She also acted with her husband in a Season 5 episode of The Love Boat.

Henny and Jim Backus also co-wrote 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 wrote Care for the Caretaker (1999), documenting her husband's battle with Parkinson's Disease and offering practical solutions for those facing such dilemmas.

In 1989, Jim Backus died from complications of pneumonia. Upon her own death at age 93, following a series of strokes, Henny was buried next to her husband in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.