Carol Kane has appeared in dozens of movies and scores of plays and television shows. She was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress for Hester Street and won two Best Supporting Actress Emmys for her portrayal of the wacky Simka in Taxi. So why does she still worry about where her next job is coming from?
It's difficult not knowing what's around the corner," Kane says. "I don't know anybody who doesn't worry. I know I[ll work, but not when or where. I never know what to pack."
Kane has been hauling the luggage a lot lately. She's on a three-picture tear, with roles in the summer's Licensed to Drive, co-starring Corey Haim and Corey Feldman; Sticky Fingers, with Melanie Mayron and Eileen Brennan; and Scrooged, directed by Richard Donner.
Interviewed in Los Angeles, Kane had just come from the set of Scrooged, in which she plays the Ghost of Christmas Present, who appears as the Sugarplum Fairy" Bill Murray, who plays Scrooge, wins the standard accolade: "He's not at all precious about himself; he can put everyone at ease, "says Kane. "Bill is very open, but that's probably what makes him so funny."
Kane also has an open manner that, combined with the endearingly goofy Betty Boop voice and stylistic eclectic clothing, makes her a classic American gamine. A native of Cleveland, she was always interested in acting and by the age of fourteen was touring in the play The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. A slew of roles followed until, in 1975, she gained "overnight" fame for her portrayal of an immigrant Jewish wife in Hester Street. But Oscar and Emmy recognition did little for her career.
"The Oscar nomination made me a recognizable name to other actors and people in general," says Kane, "but I had a hard time getting work after that. I was nominated for a character so specific- there weren't a lot of scripts for turn-of-the-century Orthodox Jewish women. Gene Wilder was the first person to call me after that [for a role in The World's Greatest Lover], and that was a full year later. The Emmys were great, but the character of Simka was also so specific...All is Forgiven [a short-lived sitcom in which Kane played a sexy, man-hungry southern writer] did more for me careerwise than the Emmys."
Kane is now plenty in demand- she recently appeared in The Princess Bride, Jumping Jack Flash and Ishtar. She hopes to do a production of Lewis Caroll's Alice books, and she continues to read for parts that call for humour and style. Although she says "I don't like that I'm my own commodity, that I am what I sell," she has no intention of trading in her SAG card and heading for the woods.
"It's my work," says Kane. "It's what I do. I don't put together cars, I put together people. It makes me happy to construct these people, to build another world. I feel happy and free and very consumed." LEWIS BEALE

Phote accompanying article: Sixth page color of Carol with bushy blonde hair- Kane's Oscar nomination for the 1975 "Hester Street" didn't help her career; "there weren't a lot of scripts for turn-of-the-century Orthodox Jewish women."