Madeline Kahn, born Madeline Gail Wolfson on September 29, 1942 in Boston, grew up in a young Russian Jewish family and discovered performing early, training as an opera singer and acting in school productions before earning an honorary doctorate from Boston Conservatory. She became a comic powerhouse in the 1970s, breaking through with Paper Moon and cementing her legacy in Mel Brooks films like Blazing Saddles, where her Marlene Dietrich inspired Lili Von Shtupp earned her one of two Oscar nom