Rose Marie | |
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 Rose Marie in 1970 | |
| Born | Rose Marie Mazzetta (1923-08-15)August 15, 1923 New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 28, 2017(2017-12-28) (aged 94) Van Nuys,California, U.S. |
| Other names | Baby Rose Marie |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1926–2017 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Rose Marie Guy (néeMazzetta;[1] August 15, 1923 – December 28, 2017), known professionally asRose Marie, was an American actress, singer, comedian, andvaudeville performer with a career spanning nine decades, which included film, radio, records, theater, night clubs and television. As a child performer from the late 1920s onward, she had a successful singing career under the stage nameBaby Rose Marie.
Rose Marie was widely known for her role on theCBS situation comedyThe Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966) as television comedy writerSally Rogers, "who went toe-to-toe in a man's world".[2] Later, she portrayed Myrna Gibbons onThe Doris Day Show and was a featured celebrity onHollywood Squares for 14 years.[2]
She is the subject of a 2017 documentary film,Wait for Your Laugh, which includes interviews with her and her co-stars includingCarl Reiner,Dick Van Dyke,Peter Marshall, andTim Conway.[3]
Rose Marie was born Rose Marie Mazzetta in Manhattan, New York, on August 15, 1923, to Polish-American Stella Gluszcak and Italian-American vaudeville actor Frank Mazzetta, who went by the name of Frank Curley.[4] Her mother took her to see local vaudeville shows regularly and afterwards Rose Marie would sing what she had heard for neighbors, who eventually entered her in a talent contest.[5] At the age of three, Marie started performing under the name "Baby Rose Marie". At five, she was offered a seven-year contract and became a radio star on the NBC Radio Network and made a series of films.[6][7][8]
Rose Marie later recalled:
"I had a deep voice, not likeShirley Temple but more likeSophie Tucker. I never sounded like a child so there were some people who thought I was really a 30-year-old midget."
To counteract these rumors, NBC arranged for her to undertake a national stage tour, and she appeared in a few short films includingBaby Rose Marie the Child Wonder (1929),[9] aVitaphone sound short.[2] Between 1930 and 1938, she made 17 recordings, three of which were not issued. Her first issued record, recorded on March 10, 1932, featured accompaniment byFletcher Henderson's orchestra, one of the leading African American jazz orchestras of the day. Henderson and the band were said to be in theRCA Victor studios recording the four songs they were intending to produce that day and were asked to accompany Baby Rose Marie, reading from a stock arrangement.[10]
She continued to appear in films through the mid-1930s, making shorts and one feature picture,International House (1933), withW. C. Fields forParamount.[11]
As she entered adulthood, Rose Marie turned to nightclub and lounge performances. According to her autobiographyHold the Roses, she was assisted in her career by many members of organized crime, includingAl Capone andBugsy Siegel.[12] In 1946, Siegel invited her to be the opening act at his newly builtFlamingo Hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.[13] Because of the Flamingo's organized crime ties, she had to seek permission to perform in other casinos and remained loyal to "the boys" at the Flamingo for the rest of her life.[14]
Concurrently with her nightclub work, Rose Marie continued to work in radio, earning the nickname "Darling of the Airwaves".[15][citation needed]
In the 1960–1961 season, Marie co-starred withShirley Bonne,Elaine Stritch,Jack Weston,Raymond Bailey, andStubby Kaye inMy Sister Eileen.[16]
After five seasons (1961–1966) as Sally Rogers onThe Dick Van Dyke Show, Rose Marie co-starred in two seasons (1969–1971) ofThe Doris Day Show as Doris Martin's friend and co-worker Myrna Gibbons. She also appeared in two episodes ofThe Monkees in the mid-1960s. She later had a semi-regular seat in the upper center square on the original version ofThe Hollywood Squares.[17] Because contestants tended to pick corner squares first, the phrase "Rose Marie to block" was uttered so often she frequently joked that she should legally change her name to that.
Rose Marie performed on three 1966 and 1967 episodes ofThe Dean Martin Show onNBC and also twice (1964 and 1968) onThe Hollywood Palace on ABC.
In the mid-1970s, Rose Marie appeared in the recurring role of Hilda on the police dramaS.W.A.T. Hilda brought fresh doughnuts, made coffee for the team, and provided some comic relief.[2]
In the March 8th, 1986, episode ofRemington Steele, Rose Marie played a key role in "Steele in the Spotlight".
In the early 1990s, Rose Marie had a recurring role as Frank Fontana's mother onMurphy Brown.
She appeared as Roy Biggins' domineering mother Eleanor "Bluto" Biggins in an episode ofWings.
Rose Marie andThe Dick Van Dyke Show co-starMorey Amsterdam appeared together in an October 1993 episode ofHerman's Head and guest-starred in a February 1996 episode ofCaroline in the City, shortly before Amsterdam's death in October of that same year.[18]
Rose Marie appeared oppositePhil Silvers in the hit Broadway musicalTop Banana in 1951, also appearing in the well-received1954 film adaptation. She later claimed that her musical numbers were cut from the film in retaliation for her publicly refusing the producer's sexual advances. Near the end of her life, she testified that it was the only time she had ever experienced sexual harassment in the entertainment industry in her 90-year career.[19]
In 1965, Rose Marie appeared in the Dallas production ofBye Bye Birdie as Mae Peterson, the mother of the character played by Dick Van Dyke on Broadway and in the film.[20]
From 1977 to 1985, Rose Marie co-starred withRosemary Clooney,Helen O'Connell, andMargaret Whiting in the musical revue4 Girls 4, which toured the United States and appeared on television several times.[21]
Rose Marie was the celebrity guest host of a comedy play,Grandmas Rock!, written by Gordon Durich. It was originally broadcast on radio in 2010 onKVTA andKKZZ, and rebroadcast on KVTA and KKZZ again in September 2012 in honor ofNational Grandparents Day.[citation needed]
Rose Marie was married to trumpeter Bobby Guy from 1946 until his death in 1964.[22][23] The couple had one daughter, television producer Georgiana Guy Rodrigues.[4]
Though it was presented in the press as romantic, in the 1970s Rose Marie maintained aplatonic relationship withPussycat Theaters co-owner Vince Miranda.[24]
In her later years, Rose Marie was active on social media, particularly developing a following on Twitter, where she offered support for women who, like her, had suffered fromsexual harassment.[25]
Rose Marie died at her home in theVan Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles on December 28, 2017, at the age of 94.[4]Nell Scovell memorialized her as "the patron saint of female comedy writers".[26]
Rose Marie's long-time friend and agent, Harlan Boll, says that the legendary actress's death had to do with "age problems." Boll was with Marie shortly before she died. He explained to reporters that Marie had lain down to rest on Thursday afternoon, and by the time her caregiver checked in on her, to see if she wanted something to eat, she discovered she had stopped breathing.[27]
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