Biography
From the 1940s forward and continuing deep into the 2010s, performer Elaine Stritch sustained an extended professional life that encompassed stage work, motion pictures, cabaret engagements, and television appearances. Recognition came most strongly through her theatrical contributions, where she moved between principal assignments in non-musical dramas and book musicals on stages in New York, London, and during national tours. On screen she more commonly received supporting assignments; alongside a run of feature films she held recurring parts in multiple series and made repeated guest appearances, one of which earned her an Emmy. Early in the twenty-first century she assembled recollections drawn from both personal history and professional milestones into the solo evening Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, the production that finally delivered a Tony.
Raised in Michigan under a rigorous Catholic regimen that placed her in a convent school, Stritch developed an early passion for acting and relocated to New York while still a teenager to train at the New School for Social Research. Parts in plays began arriving in 1944; her Broadway bow occurred in the musical revue Angel in the Wings on December 11, 1947, where she performed the popular novelty number “Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo).” The production completed more than three hundred performances. Afterward she joined the casts of two brief television series in 1949—The Growing Paynes and Jack Carter and Company—before returning to Broadway in the play Yes, M’Lord. Even in her mid-twenties she could credibly portray older characters, a facility that opened roles otherwise considered beyond her years; in 1951, for instance, she served as understudy to Ethel Merman in Irving Berlin’s Call Me Madam for the lead of a mature society hostess.
Her next Broadway credit arrived in a featured part in the well-received Rodgers & Hart revival Pal Joey on January 3, 1952, which also marked her first appearance on a cast album. She then headed the national tour of Call Me Madam. Beginning in 1953 she became a frequent television presence, serving as a regular on the quiz program Pantomime Quiz through 1955 and again in 1958 while participating in live productions on Goodyear Television Playhouse and Kraft Television Theatre for the balance of the decade. Another Broadway engagement followed in the Rodgers & Hart revival On Your Toes on October 11, 1954; although the run lasted only eight weeks, a cast album preserved her performance. She moved directly into the William Inge drama Bus Stop on March 2, 1955, which completed 478 performances and brought a Tony nomination for best supporting actress, prompting Dolphin Records to issue her debut solo album, Stritch.
Her first notable screen role came in the crime drama The Scarlet Hour in spring 1956. That autumn she joined the regular cast of the musical-comedy series Washington Square, which continued through the 1956–1957 season. By the time the program left the air she had already appeared in Three Violent People, released in December 1956, and in the five-performance Broadway drama The Sin of Pat Muldoon on March 13, 1957. Later that year she joined the second screen adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. With Goldilocks on October 11, 1958, she received her first opportunity to create a character in a new Broadway musical; the show ran 161 performances and yielded a cast album. After additional film work she was cast in a television series derived from the short story, play, and film My Sister Eileen—the same source that had inspired the musical Wonderful Town—which aired during the 1960–1961 season.
She originated a second starring role in a Broadway musical with Noël Coward’s Sail Away on October 3, 1961. Although the New York engagement lasted only 167 performances, the cast album reached the Top 40 and earned Stritch her second Tony nomination for best actress. She transferred the production to the West End in 1962 and recorded the corresponding London cast album. Even in a concert revival mounted for one week at Carnegie Hall in November 1999 she remained suited to the part. After her London season she appeared in the low-budget 1965 film Who Killed Teddy Bear? and co-starred with Peter Falk in the drama series Trials of O’Brien during the 1965–1966 season. A limited-run Broadway revival of Wonderful Town followed on May 14, 1967, allowing her to portray a musical version of the character she had played on television. In 1969 she headed the national tour of Mame.
Perfect casting placed her as the sardonic Joanne in Stephen Sondheim’s Company on April 26, 1970, where she introduced the biting number “The Ladies Who Lunch,” which became her signature piece. Another Tony nomination resulted, and after the Broadway run she remained with the production for its West End engagement, appearing on both cast albums. She then settled in England and married actor John Bay in 1972, a union that lasted until his death in 1982. London stage credits during this period included Neil Simon’s The Gingerbread Lady and Tennessee Williams’ Small Craft Warnings; she and Bay also co-starred in the British comedy series Two’s Company during the 1975–1976 season. Strong critical response greeted her contribution to Alain Resnais’ 1977 film Providence.
Stritch returned to the United States in the early 1980s. In September 1985 she took part in a concert presentation of Sondheim’s Follies that was both recorded and filmed. She joined the short-lived series The Ellen Burstyn Show in 1986–1987. Now in her early sixties, she had grown fully into the wise, older-woman roles she had long been given and began appearing regularly in television movies, as a guest on episodic series, and occasionally in features, among them Woody Allen’s September (1987). Recurring parts followed on The Cosby Show in 1989–1990 and on Law & Order throughout the 1990s, the latter earning her an Emmy for Outstanding Guest in a Drama Series for an episode aired in 1992.
In 1993 she left a profitable television career to join a Broadway-bound revival of Show Boat in Toronto, playing the crusty mother Parthy Ann Hawkes; a cast album was recorded before the production reached New York on October 2, 1994. She remained until September 12, 1995, past her seventieth birthday. Still drawn to eight-performance weeks, she reappeared on Broadway on April 21, 1996, in a revival of Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance. Rather than easing her schedule, she intensified it during her seventies, taking roles in feature films such as Out to Sea (1997), Krippendorf’s Tribe (1998), Autumn in New York (2000), Woody Allen’s Small Time Crooks (2000), and Screwed (2000); returning to Law & Order; accepting a recurring role on the situation comedy 3rd Rock from the Sun; and assembling the solo show Elaine Stritch: At Liberty. The production opened off-Broadway at the Public Theater in November 2001, transferred to Broadway on February 21, 2002, and closed on May 26. On June 2, 2002, she received her first Tony, for Best Theatrical Event, having already won a Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical for the evening. DRG issued a two-CD recording of At Liberty, and the seventy-seven-year-old performer carried it to London for a West End opening on October 9, 2002; six years later she brought it to Hartford Stage.
In July 2010 she succeeded Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt in a Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, remaining through January 2011. She continued presenting a cabaret act at the Hotel Carlyle until late 2011. Retirement to metro Detroit followed in March 2013; she died there at age 89 in July 2014.
Raised in Michigan under a rigorous Catholic regimen that placed her in a convent school, Stritch developed an early passion for acting and relocated to New York while still a teenager to train at the New School for Social Research. Parts in plays began arriving in 1944; her Broadway bow occurred in the musical revue Angel in the Wings on December 11, 1947, where she performed the popular novelty number “Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo).” The production completed more than three hundred performances. Afterward she joined the casts of two brief television series in 1949—The Growing Paynes and Jack Carter and Company—before returning to Broadway in the play Yes, M’Lord. Even in her mid-twenties she could credibly portray older characters, a facility that opened roles otherwise considered beyond her years; in 1951, for instance, she served as understudy to Ethel Merman in Irving Berlin’s Call Me Madam for the lead of a mature society hostess.
Her next Broadway credit arrived in a featured part in the well-received Rodgers & Hart revival Pal Joey on January 3, 1952, which also marked her first appearance on a cast album. She then headed the national tour of Call Me Madam. Beginning in 1953 she became a frequent television presence, serving as a regular on the quiz program Pantomime Quiz through 1955 and again in 1958 while participating in live productions on Goodyear Television Playhouse and Kraft Television Theatre for the balance of the decade. Another Broadway engagement followed in the Rodgers & Hart revival On Your Toes on October 11, 1954; although the run lasted only eight weeks, a cast album preserved her performance. She moved directly into the William Inge drama Bus Stop on March 2, 1955, which completed 478 performances and brought a Tony nomination for best supporting actress, prompting Dolphin Records to issue her debut solo album, Stritch.
Her first notable screen role came in the crime drama The Scarlet Hour in spring 1956. That autumn she joined the regular cast of the musical-comedy series Washington Square, which continued through the 1956–1957 season. By the time the program left the air she had already appeared in Three Violent People, released in December 1956, and in the five-performance Broadway drama The Sin of Pat Muldoon on March 13, 1957. Later that year she joined the second screen adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. With Goldilocks on October 11, 1958, she received her first opportunity to create a character in a new Broadway musical; the show ran 161 performances and yielded a cast album. After additional film work she was cast in a television series derived from the short story, play, and film My Sister Eileen—the same source that had inspired the musical Wonderful Town—which aired during the 1960–1961 season.
She originated a second starring role in a Broadway musical with Noël Coward’s Sail Away on October 3, 1961. Although the New York engagement lasted only 167 performances, the cast album reached the Top 40 and earned Stritch her second Tony nomination for best actress. She transferred the production to the West End in 1962 and recorded the corresponding London cast album. Even in a concert revival mounted for one week at Carnegie Hall in November 1999 she remained suited to the part. After her London season she appeared in the low-budget 1965 film Who Killed Teddy Bear? and co-starred with Peter Falk in the drama series Trials of O’Brien during the 1965–1966 season. A limited-run Broadway revival of Wonderful Town followed on May 14, 1967, allowing her to portray a musical version of the character she had played on television. In 1969 she headed the national tour of Mame.
Perfect casting placed her as the sardonic Joanne in Stephen Sondheim’s Company on April 26, 1970, where she introduced the biting number “The Ladies Who Lunch,” which became her signature piece. Another Tony nomination resulted, and after the Broadway run she remained with the production for its West End engagement, appearing on both cast albums. She then settled in England and married actor John Bay in 1972, a union that lasted until his death in 1982. London stage credits during this period included Neil Simon’s The Gingerbread Lady and Tennessee Williams’ Small Craft Warnings; she and Bay also co-starred in the British comedy series Two’s Company during the 1975–1976 season. Strong critical response greeted her contribution to Alain Resnais’ 1977 film Providence.
Stritch returned to the United States in the early 1980s. In September 1985 she took part in a concert presentation of Sondheim’s Follies that was both recorded and filmed. She joined the short-lived series The Ellen Burstyn Show in 1986–1987. Now in her early sixties, she had grown fully into the wise, older-woman roles she had long been given and began appearing regularly in television movies, as a guest on episodic series, and occasionally in features, among them Woody Allen’s September (1987). Recurring parts followed on The Cosby Show in 1989–1990 and on Law & Order throughout the 1990s, the latter earning her an Emmy for Outstanding Guest in a Drama Series for an episode aired in 1992.
In 1993 she left a profitable television career to join a Broadway-bound revival of Show Boat in Toronto, playing the crusty mother Parthy Ann Hawkes; a cast album was recorded before the production reached New York on October 2, 1994. She remained until September 12, 1995, past her seventieth birthday. Still drawn to eight-performance weeks, she reappeared on Broadway on April 21, 1996, in a revival of Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance. Rather than easing her schedule, she intensified it during her seventies, taking roles in feature films such as Out to Sea (1997), Krippendorf’s Tribe (1998), Autumn in New York (2000), Woody Allen’s Small Time Crooks (2000), and Screwed (2000); returning to Law & Order; accepting a recurring role on the situation comedy 3rd Rock from the Sun; and assembling the solo show Elaine Stritch: At Liberty. The production opened off-Broadway at the Public Theater in November 2001, transferred to Broadway on February 21, 2002, and closed on May 26. On June 2, 2002, she received her first Tony, for Best Theatrical Event, having already won a Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical for the evening. DRG issued a two-CD recording of At Liberty, and the seventy-seven-year-old performer carried it to London for a West End opening on October 9, 2002; six years later she brought it to Hartford Stage.
In July 2010 she succeeded Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt in a Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, remaining through January 2011. She continued presenting a cabaret act at the Hotel Carlyle until late 2011. Retirement to metro Detroit followed in March 2013; she died there at age 89 in July 2014.
Albums
