Comedian and longtime "Late Show" host David Letterman's mother died Tuesday night, according to reports.
Dorothy Mengering, who appeared several times on Letterman’s program, was 95.
Ron Bracket of the Tampa Bay Times first reported the news. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Mengering's daughter, Gretchen, works there.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that her first time on screen was in 1996 at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, "when she offered to bring ice skater Nancy Kerrigan hot chocolate and asked Hillary Clinton if the first lady could get the speed limit adjusted in Connecticut."
She told the New York Times after the experience: "After Lillehammer, I couldn't believe how it all took off. I think it's about the idea of mom and of a family. People are eager for families to be like they used to be. Even though there are lots of working moms and single-parent families now, you can still be a family in spite of the size and form it takes."
Mengering had a stroke in 2015. Letterman said at the time, "She had a stroke a couple of weeks ago, but she's fine. She's 94, for heaven's sake. If I had a stroke, I'd be hospitalized for the rest of my life. My mom has one, and she's fine."
Mengering's husband, Hans Paul Mengering, died in 2013, just before he turned 90. Letterman's father, Harry Letterman, died in 1973.
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