Kurtz and the pigeon on Pushing Daisies
Kurtz, second from left, and Big Bird in 1981
Swoosie Kurtz (b. 1944) is an actor best known for her work on TV and stage. She's had major roles on Love, Sidney, Sisters, Mike & Molly, Call Me Kat, and Pushing Daisies, the fourth episode of which featured an animatronic pigeon created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
Kurtz and her fellow Love, Sidney castmates Tony Randall and Kaleena Kiff, as well as Brooke Shields, met Big Bird in 1981.
Kurtz's other TV credits include Man with a Plan, Suddenly Susan, and two episodes each on Still Standing, Heroes, Nurse Jackie, and Grace and Frankie, with guest parts on The Donna Reed Show, Kojak, Touched by an Angel, ER, Carol & Company, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
She's appeared in such films as Dangerous Liaisons (with Glenn Close), Liar Liar (with Jim Carrey), Cruel Intentions (with Sarah Michelle Gellar), and The Rules of Attraction (with James Van Der Beek). Kurtz won Tony Awards for Fifth of July and The House of Blue Leaves. Other credits include Tartuffe, Ah, Wilderness!, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Vagina Monologues, and Heartbreak House.