Jenna McMahon

Mary Virginia Skinner (May 24, 1925 – March 2, 2015), known professionally as Jenna McMahon, was an American writer, producer, actress and comedian. She was best known for her Emmy Award-winning work as a writer on the variety/sketch comedy program The Carol Burnett Show and for co-creating the television sitcoms It's a Living, The Facts of Life, and Mama's Family along with her writing partner Dick Clair.

Early life McMahon was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She later moved to New York City where she studied acting under Stella Adler. As an actress, she appeared on such television shows as Dennis the Menace, The Twilight Zone, Love, American Style, The Bob Newhart Show, and Welcome Back, Kotter. The latter series ran for nine seasons on NBC, making it one of the longest-running sitcoms of the 1980s. McMahon and Clair then co-created It's a Living with Stu Silver; this series aired on ABC for two seasons and in first-run syndication for another four. In 1983, McMahon and Clair created Mama's Family, based on a recurring series of comedy sketches they wrote for The Carol Burnett Show called "The Family." McMahon and Clair also wrote for, and were producers on, the 1987 ABC comedy special Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin, for which Robin Williams won the first of his two Emmy Awards.

Later life Following Clair's death in 1988, McMahon produced the short-lived sitcom Julie, starring Julie Andrews, before retiring from television. She died of heart failure in Monterey, California, on March 2, 2015, at age 89.