Elaine Stritch

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Elaine Stritch
SpouseJohn Bay (1973-1982)

Elaine Stritch (born February 2 1926)[1] is an American actress and vocalist, known for her trademark performance of "The Ladies Who Lunch" in Company and her recent award-winning one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty. As a child, she was called Lainie by her father, and as an adult, Noël Coward nicknamed her Stritchie.

Biography

Early life and career

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Publicity photo of Elaine Stritch early in her Broadway career
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Audio performance by Elaine Stritch

Stritch was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Mildred (née Jobe), a homemaker, and George Joseph Stritch, a business executive with B.F. Goodrich.[2] Her family was wealthy and devoutly Roman Catholic.[3][4] Stritch's father was of Irish descent, and her mother was of Welsh descent.[1] Stritch is the niece of Samuel Cardinal Stritch, the former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago.[5] Stritch trained at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research in New York City under Erwin Piscator; other students at the Dramatic Workshop at this time included Marlon Brando and Bea Arthur.

Broadway

Her Broadway debut came in the revue Angel in the Wings. Stritch was also standby to Ethel Merman for the Irving Berlin musical Call Me Madam and, at the same time, appeared in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey, singing "Zip", a pivotal number. Stritch later starred in the national tour of Call Me Madam.

Stritch became known as a singer with a brassy, rough voice who could portray brash characters, most notably originating on Broadway the role of Joanne in Company (1970). After over a decade of successful runs in shows in New York, Stritch moved in 1972 to London, where she starred in the West End production of Company.

Television

In the 1960-61 season, she costarred with Rose Marie and Stubby Kaye in theshort-lived CBS sitcom My Sister Eileen. In the 1970s, Stritch decided to stay in London to work on stage and in British television, having married John Bay, a younger actor she had met there. Previously on American television she had many series television appearances, the earliest most-notable being The Growing Paynes (1948) and the Goodyear Television Playhouse (1953-55). She also appeared on episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show in 1954.

For the British television network ITV she appeared in the London Weekend Television comedy series Two's Company opposite Sir Donald Sinden. She played Dorothy, an American living in Britain who was famous for her lurid and sensationalist thriller novels. Sinden played Robert, her butler, who disapproved of practically everything Dorothy did; this was the essence of the series, the culture clash between Robert's very British stiff-upper-lip attitude and Dorothy's devil-may-care New York view of life. Two's Company was exceptionally well-received in Britain, despite being buried in the 'graveyard slot' of Sundays at 10:30pm. Stritch and Sinden also sang the theme tune to the programme.

Stritch was the original Trixie in an early The Honeymooners sketch with Jackie Gleason, Art Carney and Pert Kelton, but she was replaced after a single appearance.

Her British television appearances included Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected (1978 – 1989). Although she appeared several times in different roles, perhaps her most memorable appearance was in the story "William and Mary", in which she played the wife of a man who has cheated death by having his brain preserved. In his introduction to the episode, Dahl observed that humor should always be used in horror stories, in order to provide light to the shade, and that was why Stritch had been cast, as "an actress who knows a lot about humor."

Stritch became a darling of the British chat show circuit, appearing with Michael Parkinson and Terry Wogan many times, usually ending the appearance with a song. She also appeared on BBC One's iconic children's series, Jackanory, reading, amongst other stories, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Stritch has many other television credits, including a number of dramatic programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including Studio One. More recently, she has been seen on One Life to Live and recurring roles on Law & Order, 3rd Rock from the Sun and 30 Rock.

Stritch was reportedly considered for the role of Dorothy on The Golden Girls, but, by her own admission, offended the producers by improvising profanity into the script. The role was subsequently cast with Bea Arthur (who had appeared with Stritch in 1956 in the television series Washington Square).

BBC Radio

In 1982, Stritch appeared on an edition of the long running BBC Radio comedy series Just a Minute alongside Kenneth Williams, Clement Freud and Barry Cryer. Discoursing on such subjects as "Kangaroo Pie", "What Makes Me Fall About Laughing", "Keeping My Figure" and "The Most Important Thing In My Life", Stritch finished the game in second place, despite being routinely targeted by the other panellists. It was on this occasion that Stritch famously described Kenneth Williams as being able to make "one word into a three-act play".

Back in the U.S., in 1986 she was cast as Ellen Burstyn's meddling mother on the short-lived ABC comedy series The Ellen Burstyn Show and then as stern schoolteacher Mrs. McGee on three episodes of The Cosby Show (1989-1990). She followed later with appearances on Law & Order (1992, 1997) as Lainie Steiglitz; as Judge Grace Lema on Oz (1998); and as the character Martha Albright on two episodes of 3rd Rock From the Sun (1997, 2001).

In 2007, at age 81, she was honored with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for one of two guest appearances on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock as Colleen Donaghy, mother of Alec Baldwin's lead character, Jack Donaghy.

In 2008, Stritch appeared as herself in an episode during the second season of The Big Gay Sketch Show. She was spoofed during the first season as well as the second season.

Return to stage

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Elaine Stritch in DVD of the 2004 D. A. Pennebaker documentary

After John Bay's death from brain cancer in 1982, Stritch returned to America. After a lull in her career and struggles with alcoholism, Stritch began performing again in earnest in 1990. Among her appearances were roles in a revival of the musical Show Boat, a one-night only concert of Company and Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance.

Her one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, a summation of her life and career, began at New York's Public Theatre in 2001 and ran on Broadway from February 21 to May 27, 2002. Newsweek noted:

Now we see how At Liberty, the amazing one-woman show Stritch is moving to Broadway from the Public Theater this week, acquired the credit "Constructed by John Lahr. Reconstructed by Elaine Stritch." "The reconstruction means I had the last say," she says. "Damn right I did."... In case you didn't notice, Stritch is not the kind of woman who goes in for the sappy self-indulgence that pollutes most one-person shows. In fact, At Liberty is in a class by itself, a biting, hilarious and even touching tour-de-force tour of Stritch's career and life. Almost every nook and cranny of "At Liberty" holds a surprise. Turns out she dated Marlon Brando, Gig Young and Ben Gazzara, though she dropped Ben when Rock Hudson showed an interest in her. "And we all know what a bum decision that turned out to be," she says. And then there were the shows. A British writer recently called Stritch "Broadway's last first lady," and when you see her performing her signature numbers from Company and Pal Joey and hear her tell tales of working with Merman, Coward, Gloria Swanson and the rest, it's hard to argue. Especially since she does it all dressed in a long white shirt and form-fitting black tights. It's both a metaphor for her soul-baring musical and a sartorial kiss-my-rear gesture to anyone who thinks there isn't some life left in the 76-year-old diva. "Somebody said to me the other day, 'Is this the last thing you're going to do?' " says Stritch. "In your dreams! I can't wait to get back into an Yves Saint Laurent costume that isn't mine--but will be when the show is over.[6]

Elaine Stritch at Liberty played to British audiences in 2002-03. In 2005-06, she performed a cabaret act at the Carlyle Room at New York's Hotel Carlyle, where she is a resident. The 90-minute show consists of a selection of songs from her vast Broadway repertoire (including "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company), as well as a rendition of the theme from The Sopranos ("Woke Up This Morning"). Between musical numbers, Stritch kept the audience captivated with stories from the world of stage and screen, tales from her everyday life and personal glimpses of her private tragedies and triumphs. Stritch reprised At Liberty at Hartford Stage in June 2008.[7]

Feature films

Stritch performed in more than 30 feature films and TV movies, including A Farewell to Arms, Woody Allen's September and Small Time Crooks, Screwed, Out to Sea, Monster-In-Law and Autumn in New York. She has also been seen in such documentaries as Broadway: The Golden Years, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) and The Needs of Kim Stanley (2005).

Honors and awards

Stritch has been nominated for the Tony Award four times as an actress:

In 2002, her one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty won the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. In Elaine Stritch at Liberty she shared stories and songs from her life in theatre and observations on her experiences with alcoholism. The D.A. Pennebaker documentary of Elaine Stritch at Liberty (2004) combined rehearsal elements and her stage performance to win several Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Achievement in a Variety or Music Program. Her televised acceptance speech alone seemed worthy of another Emmy, encapsulating the unbridled honesty and electricity that made her a legend: With the cameras on all five nominees, the winning Stritch could be seen clutching her hands to the sky and saying "Oh. My. God!" and "Oh Shit!", gesticulating to herself and the audience and ranting aloud all the way to the stage:

Oh my God! Listen! (audience applause) (waves her hand to stop, shakes her head) No! That just takes time. Listen to me! I cannot tell you what would have happened to me if I couldn't have gotten out what's inside of me tonight. I don't know what I would have done with it! I... I try not to drink. But shit! I... (applause and laughter) (clasps hands) And look at the company I'm in! Just look at it!! And I mean I'm so glad none of them won! I'm so glad! None of them won! I won! And listen: I can hardly take a compliment. I've got a problem. Tonight: be my guest! (opens her arms wide) I am so happy to have won this award: number one, for Sheila Nevins and John Hoffman; number three, for Charles... no, no Sheila... Chris Albrecht. Everybody at HBO: a class act. I think they do such a great job. And now I'm just going to start saying names, and then they can take me off the stage when they want to. John Schreiber. Pennebaker. Rick Boruda. Marjorie Macdonald, my darling Marjorie Macdonald! Charlotta Freeman. Um, um, Scott Saunders... I don't like him very much but... (audience laughter) he got the money. He got the money for me to do the show! So tonight I love him! (audience laughter) Now I'm not moving from here until somebody comes and gets me. (laughter) You'll never know! You'll just effin' never know! (orchestra plays and she exits)

Stritch also received an Emmy Award in September 2007 for Best Guest Actress in A Comedy Series for her appearance on NBC's 30 Rock. In her acceptance speech she exclaimed, to applause: “I can’t get over that I still feel the way I do, it’s un-fucking-believable! I’m a recovering alcoholic, a riddled diabetic and I’ve got laryngitis… but I just won an Emmy.” This would be just one example in a long career of being a brash (and beloved) scene-stealer.

In popular culture

Stritch's voice and vocal delivery are spoofed in the Forbidden Broadway songs "The Ladies Who Screech" and "Stritch", parodies of "The Ladies Who Lunch" and "Zip", songs she performed in the musicals Company and Pal Joey.

On The Big Gay Sketch Show she was spoofed as herself in a new job as a Wal-Mart greeter who's still a theater gal at heart. ("I'm heeere. I'm still heeeerrre." "Here's to the ladies who shop... at Wal-Mart!") This draws inspiration from footage of D.A. Pennebaker's documentary film, Company: Original Cast Album, in which she says "I'm just screaming" while self-critiquing herself recording "The Ladies Who Lunch." The sketch also spoofs Elaine Stritch at Liberty in which she refers to her feat, as a young stage actress and understudy for Ethel Merman, of appearing for a time in two different shows a night, involving commuting from New York to Connecticut and back to New York.

Personal life

Her late husband, John Bay (Chicago, Illinois), was part of the family that owns Bay's English Muffins, and Stritch sends cases of English muffins as gifts to friends. When she was based in London, instead of renting or buying a property Stritch and her husband lived at the Savoy Hotel. She is good friends with gossip columnist Liz Smith, and they share the same birthday, February 2, albeit two years apart.

Stritch has been candid about her struggles with alcohol. She took her first drink at 13, and began using it as a crutch prior to performances to vanquish her stage fright and insecurities. Her drinking worsened after Bay's death, and she sought help after experiencing issues with effects of alcoholism, as well as the onset of diabetes. Elaine Stritch at Liberty discusses this topic at length.[4]

Work

Stage work

Filmography

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Elaine Stritch in Small Craft Warnings on cover of Plays and Players (March 1973)

References

  1. ^ a b c ‘Stritch At Liberty,’ as she always was and will be
  2. ^ Elaine Stritch Biography (1925?-)
  3. ^ STAGE STRUCK : 'Elaine Stritch at Liberty' & 'The Last Five Years'. - theater review | Commonweal | Find Articles at BNET.com
  4. ^ a b BBC - BBC Four Music - Elaine Stritch at Liberty
  5. ^ http://www.thebostonphoenix.com/bostorts/theater/documents/04220728.asp
  6. ^ Peyser, Marc. "A Stritch in Time," Newsweek, February 11, 2002.
  7. ^ "Elaine Stritch At Liberty". Hartford Stage. 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-17.

Watch

External links

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