Stritch, Elaine

Stritch, Elaine, 1925–2014, American actress and singer, b. Detroit. Forthright and witty, with a commanding stage presence and a raspy singing voice, she had a long career in show business, and numbers from the musicals she appeared in became signature songs, including Zip from Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey (1952), Why Do the Wrong People Travel from Noël Coward's Sail Away (1961), and The Ladies Who Lunch from Sondheim's Company (1970). She also won praise for her performances in Inge's Bus Stop (1955) and Sondheim's A Little Night Music (2010). Her one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, won a Tony for its stage (2002) and an Emmy for its television (2004) versions, and made I'm Still Here from Sondheim's Follies her defiant own. Stritch also appeared in films, sang in cabaret shows, and had a recurring role in the sitcom Thirty Rock (2007–12).

See biography by A. Jacobs (2019).

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