Carole Cook Of The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Sixteen Candles, And Broadway Fame Dies At 98

Her appearances in movies is where I mostly know her work. She had a small but memorable part as one of Molly Ringwald’s grandmothers in “Sixteen Candles,” and absolutely destroys every time she’s on the screen. Her delivery of “Fred, she’s gotten her boobies” will always get a laugh out of me, no matter what mood I’m in while watching this movie. You’ll also remember this scene ends with her going in for a handful, much to Ringwald’s dismay, and it’s a credit to Cook’s playful performance that the scene comes off as funny and not insanely creepy. Okay, a little creepy, but funny creepy.

’80s kids will remember her from “Grandview, USA,” and ’80s adults would have clocked her in “American Gigolo.” Or maybe some ’80s kids watched Richard Gere as a sex worker too. It was a wild, unregulated time to be a child, so who knows? Cook also appeared as Don Knotts’s wife in “The Incredible Mr. Limpet,” which was a foundational movie for me growing up. 

The thing about Carole Cook is she always brought everything to her roles, letting her own natural spunk and sass shine through, traits that would still garner her attention even as recently as 2018 when she got into a bit of trouble for suggesting to TMZ that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if President Donald Trump was assassinated. “Where is John Wilkes Booth when you need him?” she quipped. 

It was a joke that was taken extremely seriously by the right, to the point that she was even visited by the Secret Service to make sure this 94-year-old woman wasn’t a real threat to the President. 

Cook’s life and career took her through many different eras of show business and she excelled at it all. They don’t make ’em like her anymore and she will be missed.