Dorothy Loudon

Dorothy Loudon
Dorothy Loudon
Born September 17, 1925(1925-09-17)[1]
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Died November 15, 2003(2003-11-15) (aged 78)
New York City, New York, USA
Occupation Actor
Spouse Norman Paris (1971-1977)

Dorothy Loudon (September 17, 1925 – November 15, 2003)[2] was an American comedy actress and singer. She won the 1977 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Miss Hannigan in Annie.

Contents

Early life and career

Loudon was born in Boston and raised in Indianapolis and Claremont, New Hampshire. She attended Syracuse University on a drama scholarship but did not graduate, and moved to New York City to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began singing in night clubs, mingling song with ad-libbed comedy patter, and was featured on television on The Perry Como Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.[3]

Loudon made her stage debut in 1962 in The World of Jules Feiffer, a play with incidental music by Stephen Sondheim, under the direction of Mike Nichols. That same year she made her Broadway debut in Nowhere to Go But Up, which ran only two weeks but earned her good reviews and the Theatre World Award.[4] In 1969, The Fig Leaves Are Falling ran for only four performances, although it won her the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance and a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. She followed this with a revival of Three Men on a Horse directed by George Abbott; Lolita, My Love, which closed out-of-town during its pre-Broadway tryout; and a revival of the Clare Boothe Luce comedy The Women.

Broadway fame

Loudon's performance as evil orphanage administrator Miss Hannigan in Annie won her the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical in 1977. In the show she introduced the seminal showtunes "Little Girls" and "Easy Street." Of her portrayal, Clive Barnes wrote, "As the wicked Miss Hannigan, Dorothy Loudon, eyes bulging with envy, face sagging with hatred, is deliciously and deliriously horrid. She never puts a sneer, a leer, or even a scream in the wrong place, and her singing has just the right brassy bounce to it."[5] Loudon later revisited the character of Miss Hannigan in the ill-fated 1990 sequel, Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge, which closed quickly after a dismal pre-Broadway engagement in Washington DC.

In 1979, Michael Bennett cast Loudon as Bea Asher, a widow who becomes romantically involved with a mail carrier she meets at the local dance hall, in Ballroom. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. She performed the number "Fifty Percent" from the musical during that year's Tony Awards ceremony. During her rendition of George Gershwin's "Vodka" at the 1983 Tony Awards ceremony, she ad-libbed, "I'm too good for this room...I'm too good for this song!"[6] At the 38th Annual Tony Awards ceremony in 1984, Loudon performed "Broadway Baby" from Follies. In The New York Times, John O'Connor said of her performance, "Miss Loudon has developed the art of mugging into something of a hyperactive disease."[7]

In 1980, Loudon replaced Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. In reviewing her performance for the Christian Science Monitor, David Sterritt said, "Her body sways like a reed in the emotional storms of her own scatter-brained creation, and her off-hand manner becomes still more off-handed when the most explosive matters are at stake... Miss Loudon gives a comic characterization in the most classical tradition."[8] The following year she co-starred with Katharine Hepburn and Julia Barr in the play The West Side Waltz. In 1982 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. She appeared in the 1983 Jerry Herman revue Jerry's Girls; that same year she created the role of the miserable middle-aged actress Dotty Otley on Broadway in Michael Frayn's farce Noises Off, a huge hit.

Television and film

In 1979, Loudon starred in the television series Dorothy, in which she portrayed a former showgirl teaching music and drama at a boarding school for girls. It lasted only one season. She appeared in only two films, playing an agent in the film Garbo Talks and a Southern eccentric in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Coincidentally, two roles Loudon created for the Broadway stage - Miss Hannigan in Annie and Dotty Otley, a washed-up actress struggling to succeed in a dreadful sex comedy in the 1983 farce Noises Off - were played by Carol Burnett on screen.

Personal life

Loudon was married to Norman Paris, a composer who wrote the theme song for the television game show I've Got a Secret and arranged the music for Stephen Sondheim's television musical Evening Primrose, from 1971 until his death in 1977. She died in New York City of cancer at the age of 78, and was interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla in Westchester County. She left no survivors.[4]

Theatre credits

Television credits

  • It's a Business (1952)
  • The Garry Moore Show (1962–1964)
  • Dorothy (1979)
  • Magnum, P.I. (1986)
  • Murder, She Wrote (1986)
  • Performance at the White House: Showstoppers (1988)
  • A Salute to Broadway: Showstoppers (1988)
  • All My Children (1993)
  • Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (1993)
  • My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies (1999)

Film credits

References

  1. ^ Dorothy Loudon Foundation. [1]
  2. ^ Dorothy Loudon Foundation. [2]
  3. ^ Oliver, Myrna.Dorothy Loudon, 70; Stage Actress Was ‘Miss Hannigan’", Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2003
  4. ^ a b Simonson, Robert."Memorial Service for Dorothy Loudon to Be Held Nov. 20", playbill.com, November 19, 2003
  5. ^ Wilmeth, Don B. and Jacobs, Leonard. The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre (2007), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-83538-0, p. 404
  6. ^ O'Connor, John. "TV:The Tony Awards, With Gershwin Tribute", New York Times, June 7, 1983, p.C8
  7. ^ O'Connor, John. "The 38th Tony Awards", New York Times, June 5, 1984, p.C17
  8. ^ Sterritt, David. Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), Theater Reviews, March 26, 1980, Pg. 23

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Dorothy Loudon — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Dorothy Loudon Nacimiento 17 de septiembre de 1933 Boston, Massachusetts, Estados Unidos Defunción 15 de noviembre de 2003 Nueva York, Estados Unidos Pareja …   Wikipedia Español

  • Dorothy Loudon — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Loudon. Dorothy Loudon est une actrice américaine née le 17 septembre 1933 à Boston, Massachusetts (États Unis), morte le 15 novembre 2003 à New York (New York). Sommaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Loudon — may refer to:People*Agnes Loudon, English children s author *Alex Loudon, English cricketer *Dorothy Loudon, Broadway actress *James Loudon, Canadian professor of physics *Jane C. Loudon, née Webb, novelist and botanist *John Loudon, Dutch… …   Wikipedia

  • Dorothy — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Dorothy est la version anglophone du prénom féminin Dorothée. Cinéma et télévision Dorothy est un film américain réalisé par Van Dyke Brooke en 1915.… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Loudon — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom.  Pour l’article homophone, voir L Oudon. Patronyme Loudon est un nom de famille notamment porté par : Dorothy Loudon (1933 2003), actrice… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ben Bagley — (October 18 1933, Burlington, Vermont – March 21, 1998) was an American musical theatre and record producer. Bagley moved to New York City during the early 1950s, and at age 22 he produced his first hit, Shoestring Revue , starring (among others) …   Wikipedia

  • Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical — The Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical is the Tony Awards award given to the actress who was voted as the best actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival. The award has been announced since 1948, but the nominees who did… …   Wikipedia

  • Marilyn Cooper — in Bye Bye Birdie (1991) Born December 14, 1934(1934 12 14) New York City, New York, U.S. Died April 22, 2009 …   Wikipedia

  • Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical — The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical was first awarded in the 1974 1975 Drama Desk Awards and has subsequently been awarded every year. In the 1993 1994 Drama Desk Awards the award was given under the name of… …   Wikipedia

  • 31st Tony Awards — The 31st Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by ABC television on June 5, 1977 from the Shubert Theatre in New York City. Hosts Performers Presenters were Jack Albertson, Beatrice Arthur, Buddy Ebsen, Damon Evans, Jean Stapleton, and Leslie Uggams.… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”