| re: Saddened by Gavin Creel's passing, thinking of other notable Broadway performers taken quite young | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 08:06 pm EDT 09/30/24 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 08:05 pm EDT 09/30/24 | |
| In reply to: Saddened by Gavin Creel's passing, thinking of other notable Broadway performers taken quite young - PlayWiz 06:21 pm EDT 09/30/24 | |
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| Very, very sad about Gavin Creel. Here are a few other people who died way too young. Lenny Baker, whom I saw onstage a number of times, died in 1982 at the age pf 37. Best remembered now for his Tony-winning performance in I Love My Wife and for starring in Paul Mazursky's terrific movie Next Stop Greenwich Village, he was a brilliant actor. His Lucio in Measure for Measure at the Delacorte set a standard in that role that I've never seen equaled or even close to equaled. I think it was the greatest comic performance I've ever seen in Shakespeare. But he stood out in every show I saw him in. Margaret Linn, a marvelous actress whom I saw as a wonderful Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, died in 1973 at the age of 39. She was the first Corinna Stroller in The House of Blue Leaves and is probably best known today (to the degree she's known at all) for playing Bessie in the PBS production of Hogan's Goat. Jane Romano, died in 1962 at the age of 33 of Hodgkin’s disease. She is best remembered now for having been Merman's standby in Gypsy. She was about to play Rose on Long Island when she died. People who saw her in various shows remembered her as having been a brilliant talent. Brian Kellow in his bio of Merman tells a story that is at least partly false. He says that when she subbed for Merman for seven performances in August 1959, she was reviewed, and then asked Merrick and Leland Hayward for a salary increase, then she was soon dropped as standby. I have never come across evidence that she was reviewed, but I can't swear that she wasn't reviewed by anyone, and I can't say she didn't ask for a salary increase. But I can say that she remained the standby till a week or two before Gypsy closed 19 months later. (As often happened back then, the cast changes that were to be made for the tour were made first on Broadway. So Betty Bruce replaced Maria Karnilova at that time and became Merman's understudy. Karnilova was never Merman's understudy.) Joan McCracken, died in 1961 at the age of 43. Sadly, she is probably most often mentioned nowadays for having been married to Bob Fosse, but she was by all accounts a fantastic performer. She's also pretty well-remembered for her supporting role in the Good News remake, where she leads "Pass That Peace Pipe." She made became known as the so-called "Girl Who Falls Down" in the original cast of Oklahoma! and later starred in Billion Dollar Baby and played notable supporting roles in Bloomer Girl and Me and Juliet. Her rather limited singing voice can be heard on the cast albums of those shows. Perhaps if she'd had a stronger singing voice she would have become a bigger star. There is so much more to say about her, but you can read about all of that in Lisa Jo Sagolla's biography of McCracken, The Girl Who Fell Down. |
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