She debuted in the movies in 1968 with a role in De Düva: The Dove. Her most famous roles followed in the 1970s: she appeared in What's Up, Doc (1972), Paper Moon (1973), Young Frankenstein (1974), Blazing Saddles (1974), and High Anxiety (1977). The final three films were all directed by Mel Brooks, who many Hollywood observers claimed was able to bring out the best of Kahn's comic talents. For her work in Paper Moon and Blazing Saddles, the young comedienne received nominations for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Kahn's roles were primarily comedic rather than dramatic. After her success in Brooks's films, she played in a number of less successful films in the 1980s. At the end of her career, she returned to the stage and won a Tony Award for her role in The Sisters Rosensweig, a play by Wendy Wasserstein. In the final years of her life, she played a major role on the sitcom Cosby, before succumbing to ovarian cancer in 1999.

Table of contents

1 Theatre 2 Movies 3 Television

Theatre

• Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1968 - 1968
• Two By Two - 1970
• Boom Boom Room - 1973
• On the Twentieth Century - 1978
• Born Yesterday - 1989
• The Sisters Rosensweig - 1993

• De Düva: The Dove - 1968
• What's Up, Doc - 1972
• Paper Moon - 1973
• ''From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - 1973
• Blazing Saddles - 1974
• Young Frankenstein - 1974
• At Long Lsat Love - 1975
• ''The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother - 1975
• Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood - 1976
• High Anxiety - 1978
• The Cheap Detective - 1978
• The Muppet Movie - 1979
• Simon - 1980
• Wholly Moses - 1980
• First Family - 1980
• ''Happy Birthday, Gemini - 1980
• ''History of the World: Part I - 1981
• ''Slapstick (Of Another Kind) - 1982
• Yellowbeard - 1983
• Scrambled Feet - 1983
• City Heat - 1984
• Clue - 1985
• My Little Pony: The Movie - 1983 (animated)
• An American Tail - 1986 (animated)
• Betsy's Wedding - 1990
• Mixed Nuts - 1994
• Nixon - 1995
• A Bug's Life - 1998 (animated)
• Judy Berlin - 1999