Nanette Fabray, a Tony- and Emmy-winning actress perhaps best known for her role in Norman Lear’s original rendition of One Day at a Time, has died. She was 97.
Fabray was a beloved star of stage and screen, as well as a gifted singer and tap dancer. She starred in stage musicals early in her career and later earned three Emmy awards for costarring opposite renowned comedian Sid Caesar on Caesar’s Hour. She died Thursday at her home in Palos Verdes, California, according to the New York Times.
After starting out in Hollywood, making her screen debut at the age of 19 as a lady-in-waiting to Bette Davis’ Elizabeth I in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Fabray found major success on Broadway. She earned a Tony Award for best leading actress in a musical for 1949’s Love Life, which boasted the impressive talents of Elia Kazan as director and Michael Kidd as choreographer.
She returned to the stage throughout her life, also appearing in Broadway hit High Button Shoes in 1947 and earning another Tony nomination playing a fictional first lady in Mr. President. She also toured in several musicals, including Wonderful Town and No, No Nanette.
Fabray continued her success in musicals on the big screen, playing a memorable role alongside Fred Astaire and Jack Buchanan in 1953 classic The Band Wagon, written by Comden and Green and directed by Vincente Minnelli. Fabray portrayed a playwright modeled after Betty Comden and is a part of one of the film’s most memorable numbers, “Triplets,” in which she, Astaire, and Buchanan portray infants with adult-sized heads and bodies, but stubby baby legs. She also sang another iconic number in the film, “That’s Entertainment.”
(Excerpt) Read More in: TV Guide