Carol Lawrence | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Carolina Maria Laraia (1932-09-05)September 5, 1932 (age 93) Melrose Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupations | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1952–2018 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Carol Lawrence (bornCarolina Maria Laraia; September 5, 1932) is an American actress, appearing in musical theatre and on television. She is known for creating the role of Maria onBroadway in the musicalWest Side Story (1957), receiving a nomination for theTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She appeared atThe Muny, St. Louis, in several musicals, includingFunny Girl. She also appeared in many television dramas, includingRawhide,The Six Million Dollar Man andMurder, She Wrote. She was married to fellow performerRobert Goulet.
Lawrence was born Carolina Maria Laraia on September 5, 1932,[1] inMelrose Park, Illinois. Her parents were of Italian ancestry,[2] her father being born inTrivigno, in theprovince of Potenza, and her maternal family coming from the same town.[3] Laraia graduated fromProviso Township High School, in Maywood, Illinois. She spent one year atNorthwestern University and then left to pursue her career.[1]
Lawrence made her Broadway debut as a Ted Adair Dancer in the 1951 revueBorscht Capades, alongsideJoel Grey.[4][5][6][7] She achieved success in the role ofMaria in the original Broadway production ofWest Side Story in 1957,[8] receiving a nomination for theTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (even though the part was the lead), losing toBarbara Cook (The Music Man).[8] She played the role for two years, and after an appearance in the short-lived showSaratoga in 1959[8] she returned toWest Side Story for its 1960 season. Other Broadway successes wereSubways Are for Sleeping,I Do! I Do! (replacement "She/Agnes", 1967), andKiss of the Spider Woman (1992–93, replacement Spider Woman/Aurora).[1][8] Her most recent Broadway credit is serving as standby forLauren Bacall in the 1999 production ofNoël Coward'sWaiting in the Wings.[9]
Lawrence made a few record albums of standards and showtunes includingTonight at 8:30 (1960), where she sang studio versions of the songs "Tonight", and "Something's Coming", both fromWest Side Story.
She appeared in concert, performing at Chautauqua Institute in New York and elsewhere, and on many variety shows on television as a singer and dancer, maintaining her fame as a star performer.
Lawrence played several roles atThe Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, the largest outdoor theater in the U.S., includingFanny Brice inFunny Girl (1975),[10] Charity inSweet Charity (1977), and Lucille Early inNo, No, Nanette (1990). Among her other musical theatre parts are the title role inMame (2000 at the Helen Hayes Center for Performing Arts in Nyack, New York),[11] Guenevere inCamelot (opposite husband Robert Goulet),[1]Do I Hear a Waltz? at the Pasadena Playhouse (2001),[12] andFollies at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles in 2002.[13]
Her television performances include a guest role inBreaking Point (as Evelyn Denner in the 1963 episode titled "There Are the Hip, and There Are the Square"). In October 1976, she appeared as the special guest on the popular weekly variety programThe Bobby Vinton Show, which aired across the United States and Canada. She performed "Friend of the Father". Other appearances includeRawhide;Combat!;Wagon Train;The Fugitive;The Big Valley;Hawaii 5-0;Marcus Welby, M.D.;Medical Center;Kung Fu;Mannix;Murder, She Wrote;Saved by the Bell; andSex and the City.[14]
From 1991 to 1993, she played the role of matriarch Angela Eckart onGeneral Hospital.[14] She hosted five shows ofChef du Jour for theFood Network, cooking fromI Remember Pasta, her own cookbook, and setting a record for cookbook sales on theHome Shopping Network.[14]
In 1999, she appeared in the television movie remake ofJason Miller'sThat Championship Season in a cameo role as Claire's mother (the mother-in-law ofVincent D'Onofrio's character), a role written into the film specifically for her.[15] In 2013, she appeared Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre Downstairs inJason Odell Williams's playHandle with Care.[16]
Lawrence has written her autobiography, with Phyllis Hobe, titledCarol Lawrence: The Backstage Story, published in 1990.[2]
Lawrence married three times:
Lawrence and Goulet married while both were Broadway stars; their romance was treated in the press like a fairy-tale. In her 1990 bookCarol Lawrence: The Backstage Story, she accused Goulet of being an alcoholic and an abusive husband and father.[21]
Lawrence, a registeredDemocrat, accompanied Democratic National Committee (DNC) ChairmanJohn Bailey, DNC Vice-chairwoman Margaret B. Price, DNC SecretaryDorothy Vredenburgh Bush,Lena Horne,Richard Adler, and Sidney Salomon on a visit withPresident John F. Kennedy atThe White House on November 20, 1963, two days beforehis assassination.[22]
Lawrence is Presbyterian and a member of the Bel Air Presbyterian Church.[23]
