Julienne Marie

Julienne Marie (born March 21, 1937)^[1] is a retired American actress and singer, best known for her work on the Broadway stage.

Biography

Julienne Marie Hendricks was born in 1937^[2] to John Hendricks, a chemist, and his wife.^[3] Her mother was a stage mother who pushed her into performing at a young age. She was named for her paternal grandmother, Julia Hendricks. Her grandfather's name was George Gyurko. She dropped her last name and used Julienne Marie as her stage name as she thought the surname Hendricks sounded "too Midwestern". During her school years she took piano lessons and participated in local pageants. She moved from Toledo to New York City with her family where she started voice training at Juilliard at the age of 10.^[1]

Theatre

Julienne Marie made her Broadway debut in the original production of The King and I, in which she played the youngest child bride to Yul Brenner. She received her first Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1959 for her portrayal of a young Indian maiden in Whoop-Up. Whoop-Up played 56 performances. She then turned down a role playing the sister of Lucille Ball in Wildcat to step into the original production of Gypsy as Louise in the role originated by Sandra Church. Marie has said that she and the show's star Ethel Merman got along quite well. Gypsy Rose Lee herself praised Julienne's performance. Marie performed 585 shows as Louise opposite Merman.^[4]

In 1963, she won a Theatre World Award for her work in the Off-Broadway revival of The Boys from Syracuse. In 1964 Julienne received her 2nd Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her work in Foxy starring Bert Lahr. Foxy played for 72 performances. In 1965 she starred in Do I Hear a Waltz?, alongside Elizabeth Allen; the show played 220 performances. Her final Broadway appearance came in 1980 for the musical Charlie and Algernon; the show played just 17 performances.^[5] In the late 1980s she performed a cabaret act.^[6]

Television

Julienne Marie has appeared on Our Private World (1965) and Ryan's Hope (1978).

Personal life

She first wed Gerald Kean, a writer.^[7] She met James Earl Jones performing as Othello in 1964.^[8] They married in 1968 and divorced in 1972 after 4 years of marriage. Julienne has stated her marriage to Jones ended because they were apart too much due to work and Jones wanted children and she did not. "The fantasy of the theater is one thing. The reality is another. You don't have a life, especially if you're a singer. You save your voice all day - it just interferes with living." ^{[citation needed]}

She met advertising executive John Scanlon in the early 1970s and they married, remaining married until his death in 2001 at age 66 from a heart attack. The couple were patrons for the Ireland-based organization Concern Worldwide.^[9][10]

After Scanlon's death, she relocated from Manhattan to a small village in France.^[11] Long retired from show business, she established a career as a psychotherapist later in life. ^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Julienne Marie at the Internet Movie Database
• Julienne Marie at the Internet Broadway Database

References