Biography
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1924, Julie Wilson grew up as the daughter of Russell Wilson, a coal salesman, and Emily Bennett Wilson, who later worked as a hairdresser, and she would go on to earn recognition as a cabaret singer and musical theater star. An early fascination with theater and music prompted her to begin performing with local bands once she turned 14. Although she attended Omaha University as a drama major with a music minor, she left school after landing an audition that placed her in a touring company of the musical revue Earl Carroll's Vanities to fill in for an indisposed cast member when the production reached her hometown. Six months later she exited the tour upon its arrival in New York during the spring of 1943.
Once settled in New York she launched a nightclub career that brought bookings at the Latin Quarter and the Copacabana while also leading to occasional appearances alongside the orchestras of Johnny Long and Emil Stern. Her Broadway debut came as an understudy in the 1946 revue Three to Make Ready. Much of the remainder of the decade found her on the West Coast, where she played such rooms as the Mocambo in Los Angeles and the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco. In 1949 she stepped into the role originated by Lisa Kirk as the second female lead in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate on Broadway, remained with the national touring company through 1951, and on March 8, 1951, opened the London production that completed 501 performances; cast recordings of the score were issued on the English Columbia label, and she later participated in an American television version broadcast in 1958. She next took the starring part in the London musical Bet Your Life, which opened February 18, 1952, ran 361 performances, and yielded a cast album on English Columbia, after which she succeeded Mary Martin in the London mounting of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific.
Although she kept a London base while shuttling to New York, she continued nightclub work that included an engagement in the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel and recorded for Philips Records in London. She later assumed a replacement starring role in the Broadway production of The Pajama Game and appeared in the London company as well. Returning to New York for good in 1955, she issued her first album, Love, on Dolphin Records the following year. Two films occupied her in 1957—the drama The Strange One and the musical comedy This Could Be the Night, whose soundtrack appeared on MGM Records featuring her vocals. Three further LPs followed: My Old Flame in 1957 and Julie Wilson at the St. Regis in 1958, both on Vik Records, and Meet Julie Wilson on Cameo Records in 1962. Activity diminished after her 1961 marriage to theatrical producer Michael McAloney, with whom she had two sons in the mid-1960s before the couple divorced.
She created her first original Broadway role in the musical Jimmy, which opened October 23, 1969, completed 84 performances, and generated an RCA Victor cast album; shortly afterward she appeared in the short-lived Park, which opened April 22, 1970, and closed after five showings. During the early 1970s she performed in national tours of the Stephen Sondheim musicals Company, Follies, and A Little Night Music. Following the release of the albums Julie Wilson at Brothers & Sisters, Vol. 1 and Julie Wilson at Brothers & Sisters, Vol. 2, she withdrew from performing in 1976 and returned to Omaha to attend to her ailing parents. A January 1984 engagement at Michael’s Pub in New York celebrating Porter’s music marked her comeback; now in her sixties, she found renewed acclaim as a leading cabaret artist at such rooms as the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel and the Café at the Carlyle Hotel. Signed to DRG Records, she recorded songbook collections devoted to Sondheim in 1988, Kurt Weill in 1988, Harold Arlen in 1989, Porter in 1989, George Gershwin in 1999, and Cy Coleman in 2000. She returned to Broadway in Peter Allen’s Legs Diamond, which opened December 26, 1988, ran 64 performances, and produced an RCA cast album, then starred in the off-off-Broadway Bob Merrill musical Hannah...1939 that opened May 31, 1990, completed 46 performances at the Vineyard Theatre, and was recorded by the British label TER. Julie Wilson suffered a stroke in Manhattan on April 5, 2015, and died the same day at the age of 90.
Once settled in New York she launched a nightclub career that brought bookings at the Latin Quarter and the Copacabana while also leading to occasional appearances alongside the orchestras of Johnny Long and Emil Stern. Her Broadway debut came as an understudy in the 1946 revue Three to Make Ready. Much of the remainder of the decade found her on the West Coast, where she played such rooms as the Mocambo in Los Angeles and the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco. In 1949 she stepped into the role originated by Lisa Kirk as the second female lead in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate on Broadway, remained with the national touring company through 1951, and on March 8, 1951, opened the London production that completed 501 performances; cast recordings of the score were issued on the English Columbia label, and she later participated in an American television version broadcast in 1958. She next took the starring part in the London musical Bet Your Life, which opened February 18, 1952, ran 361 performances, and yielded a cast album on English Columbia, after which she succeeded Mary Martin in the London mounting of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific.
Although she kept a London base while shuttling to New York, she continued nightclub work that included an engagement in the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel and recorded for Philips Records in London. She later assumed a replacement starring role in the Broadway production of The Pajama Game and appeared in the London company as well. Returning to New York for good in 1955, she issued her first album, Love, on Dolphin Records the following year. Two films occupied her in 1957—the drama The Strange One and the musical comedy This Could Be the Night, whose soundtrack appeared on MGM Records featuring her vocals. Three further LPs followed: My Old Flame in 1957 and Julie Wilson at the St. Regis in 1958, both on Vik Records, and Meet Julie Wilson on Cameo Records in 1962. Activity diminished after her 1961 marriage to theatrical producer Michael McAloney, with whom she had two sons in the mid-1960s before the couple divorced.
She created her first original Broadway role in the musical Jimmy, which opened October 23, 1969, completed 84 performances, and generated an RCA Victor cast album; shortly afterward she appeared in the short-lived Park, which opened April 22, 1970, and closed after five showings. During the early 1970s she performed in national tours of the Stephen Sondheim musicals Company, Follies, and A Little Night Music. Following the release of the albums Julie Wilson at Brothers & Sisters, Vol. 1 and Julie Wilson at Brothers & Sisters, Vol. 2, she withdrew from performing in 1976 and returned to Omaha to attend to her ailing parents. A January 1984 engagement at Michael’s Pub in New York celebrating Porter’s music marked her comeback; now in her sixties, she found renewed acclaim as a leading cabaret artist at such rooms as the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel and the Café at the Carlyle Hotel. Signed to DRG Records, she recorded songbook collections devoted to Sondheim in 1988, Kurt Weill in 1988, Harold Arlen in 1989, Porter in 1989, George Gershwin in 1999, and Cy Coleman in 2000. She returned to Broadway in Peter Allen’s Legs Diamond, which opened December 26, 1988, ran 64 performances, and produced an RCA cast album, then starred in the off-off-Broadway Bob Merrill musical Hannah...1939 that opened May 31, 1990, completed 46 performances at the Vineyard Theatre, and was recorded by the British label TER. Julie Wilson suffered a stroke in Manhattan on April 5, 2015, and died the same day at the age of 90.
Albums
