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Kaye Ballard
Ballard's late 1950s publicity photo
Born	Catherine Gloria Balotta (1925-11-20)November 20, 1925 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died	January 21, 2019(2019-01-21) (aged 93) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
Occupations	Actress, comedian, singer
Years active	1940s–2017

Kaye Ballard (November 20, 1925 – January 21, 2019)^[1] was an American actress, comedian, and singer.

Ballard was bornCatherine Gloria Balotta inCleveland, Ohio, one of four children born to Italian immigrant parents, Lena (née Nacarato) and Vincenzo (later Vincent James) Balotta. Her parents immigrated to the United States fromCalabria, a region of southern Italy.^[2]

Ballard established herself as a musical comedian in the 1940s, joining theSpike Jones touringrevue of entertainers. Capable of playing broad physical comedy as well as stand-up dialogue routines, she became familiar in television and stage productions.^[3] Ballard made her television debut onHenry Morgan's Great Talent Hunt, a short-lived program hosted byHenry Morgan which first aired January 26, 1951.^[4] In 1954, she was the first person to record the song "Fly Me to the Moon."^[3][5]

In 1957, she andAlice Ghostley played the two wicked stepsisters in the live telecast ofRodgers and Hammerstein'sCinderella, starringJulie Andrews in the title role.^[1] During the 1961–1963 television seasons, Ballard was a regular onThe Perry Como Show, as part of theKraft Music Hall Players, along withDon Adams,Paul Lynde, andSandy Stewart. In 1962, she released the LPPeanuts, on which she playedLucy van Pelt from the comic strip namesake of the album (with Arthur Siegel playingCharlie Brown), and dramatizing a series of vignettes drawn from the strip's archive.^[3] In 1964, she had a guest role onThe Patty Duke Show (Season 1,Episode 25), playing a teacher for would-be models. From 1967 to 1969, she co-starred as Kaye Buell, a woman whose son marries her next door neighbor's daughter, in the sitcomThe Mothers-in-Law, withEve Arden playing her neighbor. From 1970 to 1972, she appeared as a regular onThe Doris Day Show, playing restaurant owner Angie Pallucci.^[3] She made appearances on the game showMatch Game. In 1977, she was a guest star onThe Muppet Show. She also appeared on the television seriesAlice, in which she played akleptomaniac and phonymedium as well asDaddy Dearest, where she guest-starred oppositeRichard Lewis andDon Rickles.^[6]

Ballard starred on Broadway as Helen inThe Golden Apple (1954) introducing the song "Lazy Afternoon".^[3] She portrayed Ruth inJoseph Papp'sThe Pirates of Penzance, Rosalie inCarnival! and the title role inMolly, an unsuccessful musical adaptation of the popular radio serialThe Goldbergs. She created the role of the Countess and closed out-of-town inMarc Blitzstein'sReuben, Reuben, and played Ruth Sherwood inWonderful Town atNew York City Center in 1963.^[7]

In Long Beach, California, she played Mama Morton inChicago and fought with a vacuum cleaner as Pauline inNo, No, Nanette. In 1998, she played Hattie Walker in thePaper Mill Playhouse's acclaimed revival ofStephen Sondheim'sFollies.^[8] In 2005, she appeared in a road-company production ofNunsense, written byDan Goggin. The following year, she completed her autobiographyHow I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years.^[8]

In 1995, she was awarded a Golden Palm Star on thePalm Springs Walk of Stars.^[9]

She appeared inThe Super Mario Bros. Super Show! as Madam A-Go-Go, a mysterious fortune teller who appears in the episode "Fortune Teller". She also performed withThe Fabulous Palm Springs Follies at thePlaza Theatre in Palm Springs, California.^[10]

In December 2010, she,Donna McKechnie andLiliane Montevecchi starred in a production ofFrom Broadway with Love, staged at theLensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico.^[11] Ballard was in the 2012 cabaret showDoin' It for Love, which premiered in Austin, Texas at theParamount Theatre. Starring Ballard and Montevecchi, the cast included Broadway dancerLee Roy Reams. (The Austin performance benefited the Texas Humane Legislation Network.^[12]) The show then went on to play in Los Angeles on March 8 and 10, 2012. Ballard announced her official retirement in 2015 at the age of 89.^[13]

Ballard died at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, on January 21, 2019, at the age of 93. The cause was kidney cancer, according to a friend.^[14][15]

• Kaye Ballard atIMDb
• Official website (archived)
• Kaye Ballard atPlaybill Vault
• Kaye Ballard at theTCM Movie Database
• Kaye Ballard at theInternet Broadway Database
• Tinseltown Talks: Kaye Ballard atThe News Herald
• Kaye Ballard at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

• 1925 births
• 2019 deaths
• Actresses from Cleveland
• American film actresses
• American musical theatre actresses
• American stage actresses
• American television actresses
• Deaths from kidney cancer in California
• Singers from Ohio
• American people of Italian descent
• 21st-century American comedians
• 21st-century American women
• American women comedians
• Comedians from Cleveland

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