Tammy Grimes | |
|---|---|
 Grimes in 1966 | |
| Born | Tammy Lee Grimes (1934-01-30)January 30, 1934 Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | October 30, 2016(2016-10-30) (aged 82) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1952–2016 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Amanda Plummer |
Tammy Lee Grimes (January 30, 1934 – October 30, 2016) was an American film and stage actress and singer.
Grimes won twoTony Awards in her career, the first for originating the role ofMolly Tobin in the musicalThe Unsinkable Molly Brown and the second for starring in a 1970 revival ofPrivate Lives as Amanda Prynne. Her first husband,Christopher Plummer, and their daughter, actressAmanda Plummer, are also Tony Award winners.
She originated the role of Diana in the Broadway production ofCalifornia Suite. The role of Diana was played in the film byMaggie Smith, who won an Oscar for her performance. Grimes played the role of Elmire in the 1978 Broadway and television production ofTartuffe. She originated roles in several works byNoël Coward, including Elvira inHigh Spirits and Lulu inLook After Lulu! In 1966, she starred in her own television series,The Tammy Grimes Show. Grimes was also known for her cabaret acts. In 2003, she was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.
Grimes was born on January 30, 1934, inLynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard (née Niles), a naturalist and spiritualist, and Luther Nichols Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer.[1][2]
She attended high school at a then all-girls school,Beaver Country Day School, and thenStephens College. She studied acting at New York City'sNeighborhood Playhouse.[3] She studied singing withBeverley Peck Johnson.[4]
Known for a speaking voice compared to a buzz saw,[5] she made her debut on the New York stage at the Neighborhood Playhouse in May 1955 inJonah and the Whale. That same year, she portrayed the title role in the musicalThe Amazing Adele, a work which she performed intryout performances and on tour, but which ultimately never made it toBroadway.[6]
She made her Broadway stage debut as an understudy forKim Stanley in the starring role inBus Stop in June 1955.[3][7] In 1956, she appeared in theoff-Broadway production,The Littlest Revue, and had the lead role in 1959 in the Broadway production ofNoël Coward's play,Look After Lulu!, after she was discovered in a nightclub by the playwright.[8]
She starred in the 1960musical comedyThe Unsinkable Molly Brown, for which she won aTony Award (Best Featured Actress in a Musical, though it was the lead role) for whatThe New York Times called her "buoyant" performance as a rough-hewn Colorado social climber. She portrayed the title character, a Western mining millionairess who survived the sinking of theTitanic. In 1964, she appeared in the episode "The He-She Chemistry" ofCraig Stevens'sCBS dramaMr. Broadway. She made two appearances on the early '60s TV seriesRoute 66.[9]
On May 16, 1960, Grimes acted and sang as Mehitabel in an abridged version of the musicalArchy and Mehitabel as part of the syndicated TV anthology seriesThe Play of the Week presented byDavid Susskind, and co-written byMel Brooks andJoe Darion. The cast includedEddie Bracken (who reprised the role in the 1970 animated feature versionShinbone Alley withCarol Channing in the Mehitabel role) andJules Munshin. Grimes was originally chosen to play the part given toElizabeth Montgomery in the hit television situation comedyBewitched, but she turned down the offer, preferring to star inThe Tammy Grimes Show.[10][11] She appeared in the television dramaRoute 66 on December 13, 1963, in an episode titled "Come Home Greta Inger Gruenschaffen".
In 1964, she appeared on Broadway as Elvira Condomine inHigh Spirits, a musical version of Noël Coward'sBlithe Spirit.
In 1966, Grimes starred in her ownABC television series,The Tammy Grimes Show, in which she played a modern-day heiress who loved to spend money. The series ran for only a month, although an additional six episodes had already been made.[12] Critics described Grimes as a talented performer misused in the series.[13][14] She played "Mrs. Fred Beery" oppositeRoddy McDowall in a 1979 episode ofThe Love Boat.
Returning to the Broadway stage in 1969 after almost a decade of performing in whatThe New York Times called "dubious delights", Grimes appeared in a revival of Noël Coward'sPrivate Lives as Amanda, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress.Clive Barnes in aNew York Times review called her performance "outrageously appealing. She plays every cheap trick in the histrionic book with supreme aplomb and adorable confidence. Her voice moans, purrs, splutters; she gesticulates with her eyes, almost shouts with her hair. She is allcampy, impossible woman, a lovable phony with the hint of tigress about her, so ridiculously artificial that she just has to be for real."[15]
Grimes' intermittent film appearances includedPlay It as It Lays (1972),Mr. North (1988) andHigh Art (1998).
She was a member of theStratford Festival of Canada acting company in 1956, and returned again in 1982 to appear as Madame Arcati inBlithe Spirit.[16] In addition to appearing in a number of television series and motion pictures, Grimes also entertained at various New York City night clubs and recorded several albums of songs. She recited poetry as part of a 1968 solo act in the Persian Room of thePlaza Hotel. Her voice can be heard in romantic duets on some ofBen Bagley's anthology albums of Broadway songs on hisPainted Smiles Records label. In 1982, Grimes hosted the final season of theCBS Radio Mystery Theater replacingE.G. Marshall who had hosted the show since it premiered in 1974. In 1983, Grimes was dismissed from her co-starring role in theNeil Simon playActors and Actresses, reportedly due to an inability to learn her lines.[17]
In 1974, Grimes provided the voice for Albert, the cerebral-minded mouse that does not believe inSanta Claus, in the animatedRankin-Bass annual television Christmas special,Twas the Night Before Christmas; she later worked with Rankin/Bass again for 1982'sThe Last Unicorn. In 1980, she starred in the original Broadway production of the musical42nd Street. In 2003, Grimes was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.[18] She also appeared in the rotating cast of the off-Broadway staged reading ofWit & Wisdom.[19]
In December 2003, Grimes was invited by theNoël Coward Society to be the first celebrity to lay flowers on the statue of Sir Noël Coward at theGershwin Theatre in Manhattan to celebrate the 104th birthday of "The Master". In 2004, she joined the company ofTasting Memories, a "compilation of delicious reveries in poetry, song, and prose", with a starry rotating cast includingKitty Carlisle Hart,Rosemary Harris,Philip Bosco,Joy Franz, andKathleen Noone.[20]
In 2005, Grimes worked with director Brandon Jameson to voiceUNICEF's multiple award-winning tribute toSesame Workshop. Two years later, she returned to the cabaret stage in a critically acclaimed one-woman show.[21] Around this time, she was voted as vice president of the Noël Coward Society.[22]
Grimes marriedChristopher Plummer on August 16, 1956,[23][24] with whom she had a daughter, actressAmanda Plummer. They divorced in 1960.
Her second husband was actorJeremy Slate, whom she married in 1966 and divorced a year later. Her third husband was composer Richard Bell; they remained together until Bell's death in 2005.[25][26]
In 1965, Grimes made headlines after she had been beaten and injured twice in four days in New York City, by what were described as "whiteracists". According to a report, she believed the attacks were related to her association with several black entertainers and recent appearances in public withSammy Davis Jr., who was said to be staging a nightclub act for her.[27]
Grimes died on October 30, 2016, inEnglewood, New Jersey, aged 82 from natural causes. She was survived by her brother Nick, daughter Amanda and her ex-husband Christopher who died in 2021.[28]
Grimes released three known one-off singles during the 1960s, none of which charted:
Her debut solo album,Julius Monk presents Tammy Grimes (1959), featured the music from her one-woman show at the NYC nightclub Downstairs at the Upstairs. The album was re-released on the AEI label in 1982. She recorded two albums for Columbia Records,Tammy Grimes (CS-8589 stereo/CL 1789 mono) in 1962, andThe Unmistakable Tammy Grimes (CS 8784 stereo/CL 1984 mono) in 1963. In 2004, the Collectables CD label licensed both LPs from Sony Music and released the combination asThe Unmistakable Tammy Grimes (Collectables CD 7649).
She is featured on the following original cast recordings:The Littlest Revue,The Unsinkable Molly Brown,High Spirits,42nd Street, andSunset, as well as a TV cast album of the televised version ofGeorge M. Cohan's45 Minutes from Broadway. All have been released on CD, althoughHigh Spirits in now out of print.[citation needed]
Grimes did the introductory narration for the American rebroadcast of the BBC's 1981 radio production ofThe Lord of the Rings. She recorded an album of children's stories, read out loud, calledHurray for Captain Jane! in 1975.[29]
 |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | The Play of the Week | Mehitabel | Episode: "Archy and Mehitabel"(S1.E32 based onthe play) |
| 1963 | Route 66 | Celli Brahms / Greta Inger Gruenschaffen | 2 episodes |
| 1964 | Mr. Broadway | Nella | Episode: "The He-She Chemistry" |
| 1966 | The Tammy Grimes Show | Tammy Ward | 6 episodes |
| 1971 | NBC Children's Theatre | Self | Episode: "Super Plastic Elastic Goggles" |
| 1973 | The Horror at 37,000 Feet | Mrs. Pinder | TV movie |
| 1973 | The Borrowers | Homily Clock | TV movie |
| 1974 | 'Twas the Night Before Christmas | Albert (voice) | TV special |
| 1979 | The Love Boat | Christine (Mrs. Fred Beery) | 1 episode |
| 1986 | The Equalizer | Julia Jacobs | Episode: "A Community of Civilized Men" |
| 1987 | My Little Pony | Catrina (voice) | Episode: "My Little Pony: Escape from Catrina" |
Tammy Lee Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Lucky break The original star of "Bewitched" was to be Tammy Grimes, an English stage actress who'd just signed a deal with ScreenGems TV. But she didn't like the script. She turned it down in favor of a concept that becameThe Tammy Grimes Show
