Paula Trueman, the Actress Who Played Sylvia Schumacher

Paula Trueman playing Sylvia Shumacher in Dirty Dancing

The IMDb biography of Paula Trueman, who played Sylvia Schumacher in the movie Dirty Dancing, includes the following passages:

.... Character actress Paula Trueman was born in 1897 in New York City. She was the daughter of Joseph and Eva (Cohn) Trueman and was educated at Hunter College before preparing for the stage on a fellowship at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Long trained in dance, Paula made her first stage appearance as a musical performer at the Hippodrome in a production of The Thunderbird in 1922. From there she appeared in revues, particularly the Grand Street Follies of 1924 -- staying with that annual show until 1929.

Dramatic roles were not beyond her as she made her straight-acting debut in The Little Clay Cart in December of 1924. For the next four decades she was a theater presence to be reckoned with. Over the years she delighted audiences in such plays as The Dybbuk (1927), A Midsummer Night's Dream (as Puck) (1932), The Merchant of Venice (1932), You Can't Take It With You (1936), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), The Solid Gold Cadillac (1954), Wonderful Town (1963), The Music Man (1965) and Catsplay (1977).

.... She then got on a roll and appeared as a number of feisty, dotty, careworn grannies. She co-starred in the cult movie Homebodies (1974) and Clint Eastwood handed her a prime featured part in his western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). For the next decade she continued to spring up in a number of comedies, albeit bit parts, including Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) and Zelig (1983). This adorable little bundle of joy made her last film appearances with Sweet Lorraine (1987) and Moonstruck (1987).

She died of natural causes in her beloved New York in 1994, aged 96.

This biography does not mention Dirty Dancing (1987),

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A videoclip from the 1934 movie Crime Without Passion. Trueman appears at 0:49 in the video.

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A videoclip from the 1974 movie Homebodies. Trueman appears at 4:00 in the videoclip.

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A videoclip from the 1976 movie The Outlaw Josey Wales. Trueman appears at the beginning.

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The Schumacher Couple's Happy Old Age

The Schumachers and Pressmans Were Eastern European Jews