Four-time Tony nominee Elaine Stritch was born Feb. 2, 1925, in Detroit. She studied acting with Erwin Piscator in New York at the New School for Social Research, where she made her professional stage debut in the 1944 play Bobino. She made her Broadway debut two years later in the comedy Loco and her musical debut in the 1947 revue Angel in the Wings, where she introduced the song “Civilization.”
Her next musical roles were in Call Me Madam (1950), as standby for Ethel Merman, who famously never missed a performance, and the 1952 revival of Pal Joey (1952), in which she sang “Zip.” Her subsequent musical turns came in the On Your Toes revival (1954) and Goldilocks (1958). Below is Stritch and Russell Nype singing “You’re Just in Love” from Call Me Madam.
Stritch also saw success in non-musical roles, earning her first Tony nomination for Bus Stop (1955) and replacing Uta Hagen as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1963). Her next two Tony nominations were for the musicals Sail Away (1961) and Company (1970), where she introduced “Ladies Who Lunch.” Below is Stritch recording that song, from the 1970 documentary Original Cast Album: Company.
Stritch also appeared in the London premieres of Sail Away (1962) and Company (1972). In 1973, she married Englishmen John Bay, whom she had met during rehearsals for a West End production of Small Craft Warnings, and she lived in England until his death in 1982. Below is the segment on Sail Away from the 1998 TV documentary The Noel Coward Trilogy.
After her husband’s death, Stritch returned to New York, not fully hitting her stride again until the 1990s. She appeared in Hal Prince’s 1994 revival of Show Boat revival (1994), was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1995, and earned her fourth Tony nomination for the 1996 revival of A Delicate Balance. Below is Stritch with Tammy Amerson and the Show Boat revival cast in “Kim’s Charleston” at the 1995 Tony Awards (starting about 1:20).
Then in 2001, she premiered her one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, which transferred from Off-Broadway to Broadway. She won an Obie for the Off-Broadway production, a Tony for the Broadway production, and an Emmy for the TV broadcast, as well as an Olivier nomination for the London production, which you can watch below.
Her TV work includes Two’s Company (1979 BAFTA TV nomination), An Inconvenient Woman (1991 Emmy nomination), Law & Order (1993 Emmy win), and 30 Rock (2007 Emmy win). In addition to cast albums, her recording work includes the children’s spoken word album The Best Halloween Ever (2005 Grammy nomination).
Her final Broadway appearance was in the A Little Night Music revival, replacing Angela Lansbury as Mme. Armfeldt (2009). In 2013, she left New York City for Birmingham, Mich., where she died July 17, 2014.