Phyllis Newman | |
|---|---|
 Newman in 1966 | |
| Born | (1933-03-19)March 19, 1933 Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | September 15, 2019(2019-09-15) (aged 86) Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1952–2019 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
Phyllis Newman (March 19, 1933 – September 15, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She won the 1962Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Martha Vail in the musicalSubways Are for Sleeping on Broadway, received theIsabelle Stevenson Award in 2009 and was nominated for another Tony forBroadway Bound (1987), as well as two nominations forDrama Desk Awards.
Newman was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, one of three daughters of a Jewish immigrant couple. Her mother, Rachel Gottlieb, from Lithuania, was professionally known as Marvelle the Fortune Teller.[1] Her father, Sigmund Newman, from Warsaw, billed himself as Gabel theGraphologist andhypnotist,[1] working with his wife inAtlantic City boardwalk amusements.[2] Newman performed on-stage as early as age four, impersonatingCarmen Miranda, with encouragement from her father.[1]
Newman had two sisters, Shirley (Mrs. Elliott) Porte, and Elaine (Mrs. Harry) Sandaufer.[2] She attendedLincoln High School, where she was voted "Future Hollywood Star."[3]
Newman made her Broadway debut inWish You Were Here in 1952. Additional theater credits includeBells Are Ringing,Pleasures and Palaces,The Apple Tree,On the Town,The Prisoner of Second Avenue,Awake and Sing!,Broadway Bound, andSubways Are for Sleeping, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, beating outBarbra Streisand inI Can Get It for You Wholesale.[4]
Newman played Stella Deems in the 1985 staged concert version ofFollies atAvery Fisher Hall atLincoln Center in New York. The concert produced both a cast recording as well as a filmed documentary, preserving her performance singing "Who's That Woman?". She recreated the role in the 1998 revival ofFollies at thePaper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.
In June 1979, Newman andArthur Laurents collaborated on the one-woman showThe Madwoman of Central Park West. Produced byFritz Holt, it featured songs byLeonard Bernstein,Jerry Bock,John Kander,Martin Charnin,Betty Comden,Adolph Green,Edward Kleban,Fred Ebb,Sheldon Harnick,Peter Allen,Barry Manilow,Carole Bayer Sager, andStephen Sondheim. The show ran for 86 performances at the22 Steps Theatre in New York City.[5]
An early television role for Newman was in a 1957 episode ofBeverly Garland's crime dramaDecoy. In 1960, she was cast as Doris Hudson on theCBS summer replacement seriesDiagnosis: Unknown, withPatrick O'Neal as Dr. Daniel Coffee.
Newman became a major television celebrity of the 1960s and 1970s, a frequent panelist on the top-rated network game showsWhat's My Line?,To Tell the Truth[1] andMatch Game. Newman was a perennial guest performer withJohnny Carson onNBC'sThe Tonight Show, and was the first woman to guest host the show.[1][2]
Newman played the ever-congenial Gwen Hunter onThe Equalizer in the 1986 episode "Breakpoint," in which she decides to make the best of a deadly-serious hostage crisis created by the terrorist leader, played byTony Shalhoub, and chat with her terrorist captor, portrayed byNed Eisenberg. She also guest-starred as Elaine, the mother of Melissa (played byMelanie Mayron), on the 1980s television seriesThirtysomething.
Newman created the role of former madameRenée Divine Buchanan on theABC soap operaOne Life to Live[2] and was a regular on the primetime series100 Centre Street and the satirical seriesThat Was The Week That Was. Other television credits includeThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.;Burke's Law;ABC Stage 67;Murder, She Wrote; andThe Wild Wild West. Newman departed the cast ofOne Life to Live to appear onComing of Age, a short-lived comedy about a couple living in an Arizona retirement community, with veteran actorsPaul Dooley,Glynis Johns andAlan Young.
In 2004, Newman played the meddlesome juror, Mrs. Sewruck, onFox Television's series,The Jury in the episode, "Mail Order Mystery."[1]
Newman's feature film debut was an uncredited role as Juanita Badger inPicnic (1955).[6] She also appeared, uncredited, inThe Vagabond King (1956),[7] which Paramount filmed first, butPicnic was released beforeThe Vagabond King.[6] Other film appearances includeLet's Rock (1958),Bye Bye Braverman (1968),To Find a Man (1972),Mannequin (1987),[8]Only You (1994),The Beautician and the Beast (1997),A Price Above Rubies (1998),A Fish in the Bathtub (1999), andThe Human Stain (2003).[9][10]
In addition to her appearances on original cast recordings, Newman recordedThose Were the Days, an album of contemporary songs, forSire Records in 1968. In England, the album was released asPhyllis Newman's World of Music onLondon Records.[citation needed]
In 1995, Newman founded The Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of theActors Fund of America. Since then, she hosted the annual gala Nothing Like a Dame, which has raised more than US $3.5 million and served 2,500 women in the entertainment industry.[1][11]
In 2009, Newman received the firstIsabelle Stevenson Award, a special Tony Award, for her work with the Health Initiative. This award recognizes "an individual from the theatre community for [his or her] humanitarian work."[12][13]
Her memoirJust in Time — Notes from My Life relates her career; life with her husband, lyricist and playwrightAdolph Green; and her experience with cancer.[14]
Newman was married to lyricist and playwrightAdolph Green from 1960 until his death in 2002. She was the mother of journalistAdam Green and singer-songwriterAmanda Green. Newman died on September 15, 2019, at the age of 86 from complications of a lung disorder.[15][2][16]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Picnic | Juanita Badger - Cool Girl | Uncredited | [6] |
| 1956 | The Vagabond King | Lulu | Uncredited | [7] |
| 1958 | Let's Rock | Kathy Abbott | [8] | |
| 1968 | Bye Bye Braverman | Myra Mandelbaum | [8] | |
| 1972 | To Find a Man | Betty McCarthy | [8] | |
| 1977 | A Secret Space | Ann | [17] | |
| 1987 | Mannequin | Emmy's Mother | [8] | |
| 1991 | Saying Kaddish | Lynn | [17][10] | |
| 1994 | Only You | Faith's Mother | [10] | |
| 1997 | The Beautician and the Beast | Judy Miller | [9] | |
| 1998 | A Price Above Rubies | Mrs. Gelbart | [10] | |
| A Fish in the Bathtub | Sylvia Rosen | [10] | ||
| 2000 | Just for the Time Being | Maggie | AKAUnfaithful Love | [17] |
| It Had to Be You | Judith Penn | [17][9] | ||
| 2003 | The Human Stain | Iris Silk | [9] |
 |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Decoy | Joanne Kittredge | Episode: "Dream Fix"(S1.E5) | |
| 1958 | Decoy | Elsa Kramer | Episode: "The Lost Ones"(S1.E39) | |
| 1960 | Diagnosis: Unknown | Doris Hudson | 9 episodes | |
| 1965 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | Sophie | 1 episode | [9] |
| 1965 | Burke's Law | Comrade Alexia Salov | 1 episode | |
| 1966 | The Wild Wild West | Princess Wanakee | 1 episode | [9] |
| 1966 | ABC Stage 67 | Mary Severance | Episode: "Olympus 7-0000"(S1.E5) | |
| 1968 | CBS Playhouse | Tina Hoffman | Episode: "The People Next Door"(S2.E1) | [10] |
| 1986 | The Equalizer | Gwen Hunter | Episode: "Breakpoint"(S1.E19) | |
| 1986 | Great Performances | Stella Deems | Episode: "Follies in Concert"(S14.E10) | [10] |
| 1987–1988 | One Life to Live | Renée Divine Buchanan | Regular cast | [2][18] |
| 1988–1989 | Coming of Age | Ginny Hale | 15 episodes | |
| 1989–1990 | Thirtysomething | Elaine Steadman | 3 episodes | |
| 1991 | Murder, She Wrote | Edina Hayes | Episode: "The Taxman Cometh"(S7.E15) | [9] |
| 2001–2002 | 100 Centre Street | Sara Rifkind | 15 episodes | |
| 2004 | The Jury | Mrs. Sewruck | Episode: "Mail Order Mystery" | [1] |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
