<Tr> <Th> Years active </Th> <Td> 1962--present </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Peter Miller (divorced) Lee Leonard (1981 - present) </Td> </Tr> <P> Carole "Kelly" Bishop (born February 28, 1944) is an American actress and dancer, best known for her roles as matriarch Emily Gilmore on the series Gilmore Girls and as Marjorie Houseman, the mother of Jennifer Grey's Frances "Baby" Houseman in the film Dirty Dancing . Bishop created the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical . She also starred as Fanny Flowers in the ABC Family short - lived comedy - drama series Bunheads . </P> <P> Bishop was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Jane Lenore (née Wahtola) and Lawrence Boden Bishop . She grew up in Denver, Colorado, where she trained to be a ballet dancer, attending American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and the San Jose Ballet School . At eighteen, she headed to New York City and landed her first job dancing in a year - round ballet company at Radio City Music Hall . Bishop continued to dance in Las Vegas, summer stock and on television until she was cast in 1967 in Golden Rainbow, her first Broadway role . </P>

Who played baby's mother in the original dirty dancing