Ida Engel

Who is Ida Engel?

Ida Engel was an American actress.

Ida Engel was born in Winnipeg, Canada to parents of Russian-Jewish descent. In 1907, at the age of 4, she moved to Los Angeles, California.

She took up the piano at 15 and then matriculated at UCLA.

In 1924, she married Murray Engel, a Czech immigrant.

In 1985, Engel appeared on The Gong Show, singing the song "Secondhand Rose".

In her nineties, Engel landed herself a Hollywood agent. She would appear at bar mitzvahs, synagogues and senior citizen centers.

In 1994, she appeared as herself in the movie Young at Hearts, a documentary about eight Los Angeles women who remain happy and young at heart.

Ida Engel became best known in the commercials for Holiday Inn. A Generation X slacker in his thirties would make demands of his grandmother, played by Engel, and the grandmother would cachinnate, and ask, "What do you think this is, the Holiday Inn?"

Engel was a member of a choral group, The Chansonettes.