Isabel Bigley
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| Isabel Bigley | |
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| Born | February 23, 1926 Bronx, New York |
| Died | September 30, 2006 (aged 80) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Stage actress |
Isabel Bigley (23 February 1926 – 30 September 2006) was a Tony-winning musical theatre star.
Born in The Bronx, Bigley is best remembered for originating the part of Sarah Brown in Frank Loesser's masterpiece Guys and Dolls.
In 1951, she had been playing the role of Laurey in the London production of Oklahoma! when she was offered the role of Sarah Brown, the "mission doll," in Guys and Dolls. She received the Antoinette Perry Award (Tony) for "Best Performance by a Featured or Supporting Actress in a Musical" in 1951 for that role. Bigley premièred the song If I Were A Bell in the show and features in the original cast recording. That record is widely considered among the all-time great original cast recordings of Broadway shows.
In 1953 she starred as Jeanie, the chorus girl, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein show Me and Juliet, a role created especially for her. Isabel Bigley performed frequently in the early days of television in such shows as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Colgate Comedy Hour. On 25 June 1951, she appeared with other entertainers in a one-hour program on CBS that was the start of nationally broadcast color television.
In 1953, she married Lawrence R. Barnett, then president of the Music Corporation of America. She retired in 1958 to raise their children. Barnett and their six children survive her.
She and her husband made many charitable contributions to arts education, including establishing a graduate program in arts policy and administration at Ohio State University. In 2005 Bigley was named chairwoman of the board of the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California.
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Juanita Hall for South Pacific |
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical 1951 for Guys and Dolls |
Succeeded by Helen Gallagher for Pal Joey |
[edit] External links
- Isabel Bigley at the Internet Broadway Database
- Isabel Bigley at the Internet Movie Database
- Isabel Bigley at Find A Grave
- Isabel Bigley obituary in Variety
