Who are Jennifer Grey’s parents? All about dad Joel Grey and mom Jo Wilder as ‘Dirty Dancing’ star reveals mother’s death at 94

Actress Jennifer Grey is mourning the loss of her mother Jo Wilder, who died over the weekend in Los Angeles, California. Sharing a carousel of Jo’s throwback images in sepia and black-and-white modes on Instagram, the grieving daughter wrote in the caption:

“My mother, Jo Wilder, passed away on July 4th at 94 — by her own choosing, on her own terms, exactly as she lived. A week earlier, she learned she had lung cancer. True to who she was, she chose grace over fear, understanding that leaving this world with dignity is an honor, not a tragedy.”

Jennifer Grey, 66, continued:

“She was gorgeous and talented — a promising young actress on the New York stage in her youth. She used to say she never fully answered that calling; she became a mother instead. If she’d chosen ambition over my brother and me, we never would have had the mother we had. Her passion found other outlets: she was a lifelong activist, fiercely attuned to right and wrong. And for years, many people discovered her extraordinary eye through Wilder Place, her store on Melrose.”

Jo Wilder was a Broadway performer, activist, and mother. She divorced Joel Grey in 1982 after 24 years of marriage. Besides Jennifer, they have a son, James Katz, who is a professional chef. Joel Grey, 94, is an Oscar-winning actor, singer, dancer, theatre director, and photographer.

Jennifer Grey, best known for her role in Dirty Dancing, ended her tribute by calling her mother “brave and deep”:

“I love you, Mom. Thank you for showing me how to do it all, even this, with grace.”

Jennifer Grey’s parents: More on Joel Grey and Jo Wilder

Jo Wilder was born in Brooklyn, New York, in August 1938. She attended the Neighborhood Playhouse and studied under Sanford Meisner alongside actor Peter Falk and Steve McQueen, according to IMDb.

Her most recognized and longest-running role was as Polly in Threepenny Opera. Thereafter, Jennifer Grey’s mom also starred in the Broadway production of She Loves Me and the regional show of Peter Pan and Gypsy. Jo Wilder also played Nerissa in Shakespeare’s off-Broadway adaptation of The Merchant of Venice.

Jo Wilder married Joel Grey in June 1958. She put her acting-singing dreams on hold to start a family. Jennifer Grey arrived in March 1960, followed by James Grey two years later. The marriage ended in the early 1980s. Joel Grey’s memoir, Master of Ceremonies: Me, gives credit to his ex-wife for raising their two children beautifully.

When Joel Grey came out as gay in 2015, he told PEOPLE:

“I don’t like labels. But if you have to put a label on it, I’m a gay man.”

When asked if Jo Wilder had any idea about his sexuality, he continued:

“None. Know why? Because I was totally in love with her. We were living totally a heterosexual life. I made a decision about what I wanted in life: a family and a career. As a small boy, I always was attracted to babies. I knew I would be a dad, never knowing anything else or that this might be difficult. It never occurred to me because it was such a powerful force in me. Today, of course, you can be gay and have babies.”

The father of two also mentioned that his marriage to Jennifer Grey’s mother was “the happiest [time] of my life” and that people “close” to him knew about who he is “for years” before he publicly came out. However, it still took him time to “embrace that other part of who I always was.”

Back then, Jennifer Grey told the same publication that she felt “happy” for her dad and that he’d reached a point in his life where he felt “safe and comfortable enough to declare himself” in public as a gay man.

“Mostly because the more people are free to own their true nature and can hopefully come closer to love and accept themselves as they really are, no matter what age. No matter how long it takes, to finally be free of the lies or half-truths, it is freedom,” Jennifer explained.

In a follow-up interview in 2022, Ms Grey further told PEOPLE how his father’s coming out affected her mother.

“At the time, it was, like, warfare. It was an act of aggression. Perhaps she was offended by the lack of transparency. I don’t know what anybody else is thinking. All I know, all I knew at the time, was that it felt like it was a sniper attack. The idea was that I was a fool and that everyone knew but me.”

That same year, Jennifer Grey published her memoir Out of the Corner in which she recalled that the first time she heard about her father’s sexuality was in the late 1980s from her then-boyfriend Matthew Broderick’s mother. It was years later that she realized that her dad’s sexuality was “really only for him” and nobody else - not her, her brother, her mother, or the rest of the world had any say,

Joel Grey was born Joel David Katz in Cleveland, Ohio, in April 1932, to actor-musician Micky Katz and his wife Goldie “Grace” Epstein. Since he was nine, Joel knew he wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps. In fact, he appeared on Mickey’s variety show as a teenager and became popular for performing a Yiddish song.

Soon, Joel Grey became a song-and-dance man for local theatre groups and was hired to sing Romania, Romania. Once, Eddie Cantor saw him perform in Florida and cast him in the Colgate Comedy Hour TV show. Subsequently, he played across nightclubs in the country.

In 1952, Jennifer Grey’s father made his film debut in About Face, followed by a Broadway debut in the musical Anything Goes. He is, however, best known for winning both a Tony and an Oscar for portraying the same role of Master of Ceremonies (MC) on stage and screen in Cabaret 1972.

Other Broadway musicals Joel Grey starred in include Goodtime Charley, The Grand Tour, George M! and Wicked. He also became typecast as doctors on medical procedural dramas on television and appeared on Private Practice (2009) and House M.D. (2006).

Other small-screen credits include Oz, Law & Order, and Brooklyn Bridge. On the big screen, Jennifer Grey’s father was seen in Man on a Swing, Dancer in the Dark, and Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.

Joel, who is active on social media, is also a professional photographer. In fact, he has published four photography books. In December 2020, he told The Guardian that back in the day, he almost gave up acting and planned to work on a hot dog stand, but thanked his stars for making it.

“Life is tough, but it’s also beautiful,” the recipient of a Hollywood Walk of Fame star noted.

In 2023, Jennifer Grey honored her father with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tonys.

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Now, in the aftermath of Jennifer Grey’s tribute for his late mom, celebrities including Maggie Wheeler, Tracy Pollan, Julienne Moore, and Richard E. Grant have offered their condolences in the comment section. Jennifer’s ex-husband, Clark Gregg, also joined in the tribute.

Ms Grey has always celebrated her parents’ legacies online, including marking their career milestones, birthdays, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day, among others.

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