Lynne Lipton, the First Marjorie Houseman

The role of Marjorie Houseman was supposed to be played originally by Lynne Lipton.

The Wow website's article about Dirty Dancing includes the following passage:

The part of Baby's mother was originally given to Lynne Lipton, who is briefly visible in the beginning, when the Houseman family first pulls into Kellerman's (she is in the front seat for a few seconds; her blonde hair is the only indication), but she became ill during the first week of shooting and was replaced by actress Kelly Bishop, who had already been cast to play Vivian Pressman, the highly sexed resort guest. Bishop moved into the role of Mrs. Houseman, and the film's assistant choreographer Miranda Garrison took on the role of Vivian.

The same article reports that the weather in the filming's first days at Lake Lure, North Carolina, made several people sick.

Filming started on September 5, 1986 but was plagued by the weather, which ranged from pouring rain to sweltering heat. The outside temperature rose to 105 °F (41 °C), and with all the additional camera and lighting equipment needed for filming, the temperature inside could be as high as 120 °F (49 °C). According to choreographer Kenny Ortega, on one day 10 people passed out within 25 minutes of shooting. The elderly Paula Trueman collapsed and was taken to the local emergency room to be treated for dehydration.

The article does not specify that Lipton's illness was caused by the weather.

The following screenshot from the movie shows Lipton sitting in the front passenger seat of the Housemans' car as it drives into the scene.

Lynne Lipton in the final movie,
sitting in the front passenger seat. 

The following photograph is from the extra features of some special-edition DVD of the movie.

Actress Lynne Lipton playing Marjorie Houseman
before she became too sick to continue.

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During the year 1986, when Dirty Dancing was filmed, Lipton was employed primarily as doing the voice of the character Cheetara in an animated TV series called ThunderCats.

On the left, Cheetara in the "ThunderCats" first episode in 1985

The following video of the series first episode shows Cheetara speaking, beginning at 1:45.

The following video shows a montage of Cheetara in action scenes.

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Lipton had struggled as an actress since 1969, and the opportunity to play Marjorie Houseman might have catapulted her career. In the following video, Lipton tells how, during her early acting years, she supported herself by waitressing and selling magazine subscriptions (beginning at 8:44).

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Lipton is 5'11" tall, which might have been a consideration in the casting decision, because Jake Houseman was played by the tall actor Jerry Orbach, who is 6'2".

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In the following video, Lipton tells how she provided the voice-over for Katherine Hepburn singing in a scene in the 1981 movie On Golden Pond.

I don't know what year the video was made or whether it's just a joke, but it does show Lipton, probably in the mid-1980s.

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The following video shows Lipton pretending to be a Jewish-American princess (JAP) singing a "JAP Rap".

I don't know what year this video was made. The video indicates to me that Lipton is Jewish.

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To hear Kelly Bishop tell how she replaced Lynne Lipton in Marjorie Houseman's role, see my my previous article titled An Interview With Kelly Bishop, Who Played Marjorie Houseman.