Tammy Grimes, Tony-Winning Broadway Star, Dies at 82
Two-time Tony Award winner Tammy Grimes, known for her gritty voice and identifiable charm, died Sunday in Englewood, N.J., reports The New York Times. She was 82.
The Broadway star was born in Lynn, Mass. to Luther Nichols and Eola Willard in 1934. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. before making her stage debut in “Jonah and the Whale” with the Neighborhood Playhouse in 1955. She would go on to win her first Tony award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1961 as the titular character in Meredith Wilson’s musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”
The award-winning actress would go on to star in a multitude of Broadway productions, such as “Rattle of a Simple Man,” “High Spirits” and “The Only Game in Town.” Grimes won her second Tony Award for 1969’s revival of Noël Coward’s “Private Lives.”
Grimes’ career was not exclusive to the stage — she appeared in films such as “Play It as It Lays,” “High Art,” “The Last Unicorn” and “Slaves of New York.” She also starred in several television movies and series, including the short-lived ABC sitcom “The Tammy Grimes Show.”
Grimes is survived by her brother and daughter, Tony-winning actress Amanda Plummer.
(Pictured: Tony winners, from left, in 1970: Cleavon Little, Lauren Bacall, Tammy Grimes and Fritz Weaver)
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