Nanette Fabray, Broadway, stage, and television star, has died at 97. From her Variety obit:
Born in San Diego, Nanette Ruby Bernadette Fabares was a singer and tap dancer in vaudeville as a child.
As an ingenue, she appeared in the 1939 films “Essex and Elizabeth,†“The Monroe Doctrineâ€and “A Child Is Born,†credited as Nanette Fabares, but she never developed a substantial movie career.
Much later, she appeared in “The Happy Ending†(1969) and was among the stars of the 1970 comedy Western “Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County†and of the comedy “Harper Valley P.T.A.†(1978). She appeared in the 1981 indie “Amy,†starred as an IRS investigator in the 1987 film “Personal Exemptions†and made her last bigscreen appearance in 1994’s “Teresa’s Tattoo.â€
She was a fixture on television in the 1950s and 60s. I remember vividly when she replaced Imogene Coca as Sid Caesar’s comedic partner when Your Show of Shows folded and Caesar and Coca started their own shows.
However, if she had appeared in nothing else, she’d still be eternal for her performance in The Band Wagon. Vincent Minelli could really coax great performances from his leading ladies, couldn’t he? She was just luminous in it, more than holding her own against top stars Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan, and Oscar Levant, playing a character inspired by Betty Comden. Maybe her greatest acting feat was looking beautiful while standing next to Cyd Charisse.
She was just about the same age as my mom. I wonder if their paths ever crossed? She was in vaudeville at just about the same time, presumably playing in the same western circuits. Well, their paths have crossed now.
