Jump to content

Dorothy Loudon: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
incorrect
Tags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit
 
(23 intermediate revisions by 18 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|American actress, singer, performer (1925–2003)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Dorothy Loudon
| name = Dorothy Loudon
| image = Dorothy Loudon.jpg
| image = Dorothy Loudon.jpg
| caption = Loudon in 1959
| birth_name =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|9|17}}<ref>[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VT9D-YNF Dorothy Loudon 1940 census, showing parents Joseph and Dorothy (née Shaw) Loudon and maternal grandparents with surname Shaw, giving her age as 14 in April 1940]</ref><ref name="ibdb">[http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=50172 Internet Broadway Database profile], ibdb.com; accessed November 27, 2014.</ref>
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|9|17}}<ref>[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VT9D-YNF Dorothy Loudon 1940 census, showing parents Joseph and Dorothy (née Shaw) Loudon and maternal grandparents with surname Shaw, giving her age as 14 in April 1940]</ref><ref name="ibdb">[http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=50172 Internet Broadway Database profile], ibdb.com; accessed November 27, 2014.</ref>
| birth_place = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
| birth_place = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|11|15|1925|9|17}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|11|15|1925|9|17}}
| death_place = [[New York City]], [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_place = [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], U.S.
| occupation = Actress, singer
| occupation = Actress, singer
| spouse = Norman Paris (1971&ndash;1977; his death)
| spouse = Norman Paris (1971&ndash;1977; his death)
Line 12: Line 16:
| awards = 1977 '''[[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical]]'''<br>''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]''}}
| awards = 1977 '''[[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical]]'''<br>''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]''}}


'''Dorothy Loudon''' (September 17, 1925 – November 15, 2003)<ref>[http://dorothyloudonfoundation.org/dorothy.html Dorothy Loudon Foundation]</ref> was an [[United States|American]] actress and singer. She won the [[Tony Award]] for [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical|Best Lead Actress in a Musical]] in 1977 for her performance as Miss Hannigan in ''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]''. Loudon was also nominated for [[Tony Awards]] for her lead performances in the musicals ''[[The Fig Leaves Are Falling]]'' and ''[[Ballroom (musical)|Ballroom]]'', as well as a [[Golden Globe]] award for her appearances on ''[[The Garry Moore Show]]''.
'''Dorothy Loudon''' (September 17, 1925 – November 15, 2003)<ref>[http://dorothyloudonfoundation.org/dorothy.html Dorothy Loudon Foundation]</ref> was an American actress and singer. She won the [[Tony Award]] for [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical|Best Lead Actress in a Musical]] in 1977 for her performance as Miss Hannigan in ''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]''. Loudon was also nominated for [[Tony Awards]] for her lead performances in the musicals ''[[The Fig Leaves Are Falling]]'' and ''[[Ballroom (musical)|Ballroom]]'', as well as a [[Golden Globe]] award for her appearances on ''[[The Garry Moore Show]]''.


==Early life and career==
==Early life and career==
Loudon was born in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]] in 1925 (she later shaved eight years off her age) and raised in [[Claremont, New Hampshire]], and [[Indianapolis, Indiana]]. She attended [[Syracuse University]] on a drama scholarship but did not graduate, and moved to [[New York City]] to study at the [[American Academy of Dramatic Arts]]. She began singing in night clubs, mingling song with ad-libbed comedy patter, and was featured on [[television]] on ''[[The Perry Como Show]]'' and ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''.<ref>Oliver, Myrna.[http://articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/17/local/me-loudon17 Dorothy Loudon, 70; Stage Actress Was ‘Miss Hannigan’"], ''Los Angeles Times'', November 17, 2003.</ref>
Loudon was born in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]] in 1925 (she later shaved eight years off her age), to James Edwin Loudon and Dorothy Helen Loudon (née Shaw). She was raised in [[Claremont, New Hampshire]], and [[Indianapolis, Indiana]]. She attended [[Syracuse University]] on a drama scholarship but did not graduate, and moved to New York City to study at the [[American Academy of Dramatic Arts]]. She began singing in night clubs, one such being New York's [[The Blue Angel (New York nightclub)|Blue Angel]], mingling song with ad-libbed comedy patter, and was featured on [[television]] on ''[[The Perry Como Show]]'' and ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''.<ref>Oliver, Myrna.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-17-me-loudon17-story.html Dorothy Loudon, 70; Stage Actress Was 'Miss Hannigan'"], ''Los Angeles Times'', November 17, 2003.</ref>


Loudon made her stage debut in 1962 in ''The World of [[Jules Feiffer]]'', a play with incidental music by [[Stephen Sondheim]], under the direction of [[Mike Nichols]]. That same year she made her [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut in ''Nowhere to Go but Up'', which ran only two weeks but earned her good reviews and the [[Theatre World Award]].<ref name=playbill>[[Simonson, Robert]]. [http://www.playbill.com/article/memorial-service-for-dorothy-loudon-to-be-held-nov-20-com-116438# "Memorial Service for Dorothy Loudon to Be Held Nov. 20"] playbill, 19, November 2003</ref> In 1969, ''[[The Fig Leaves Are Falling]]'' ran for only four performances, although it won her the [[Drama Desk Award]] for Outstanding Performance and a nomination for the [[Tony Award]] for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She followed this with a revival of ''[[Three Men on a Horse]]'' directed by [[George Abbott]]; ''[[Lolita, My Love]]'', which closed out-of-town during its pre-Broadway tryout; and a revival of the [[Clare Boothe Luce]] comedy ''[[The Women (play)|The Women]]''.<ref name="playbill"/>
Loudon made her stage debut in 1962 in ''The World of [[Jules Feiffer]]'', a play with incidental music by [[Stephen Sondheim]], under the direction of [[Mike Nichols]]. That same year she made her [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut in ''Nowhere to Go but Up'', which ran only two weeks but earned her good reviews and the [[Theatre World Award]].<ref name=playbill>[[Simonson, Robert]]. [http://www.playbill.com/article/memorial-service-for-dorothy-loudon-to-be-held-nov-20-com-116438# "Memorial Service for Dorothy Loudon to Be Held Nov. 20"] playbill, 19, November 2003</ref> In 1969, ''[[The Fig Leaves Are Falling]]'' ran for only four performances, although it won her the [[Drama Desk Award]] for Outstanding Performance and a nomination for the [[Tony Award]] for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She followed this with a revival of ''[[Three Men on a Horse]]'' directed by [[George Abbott]]; ''[[Lolita, My Love]]'', which closed out-of-town during its pre-Broadway tryout; and a revival of the [[Clare Boothe Luce]] comedy ''[[The Women (play)|The Women]]''.<ref name="playbill"/>
Line 22: Line 26:
Loudon's performance as the evil orphanage administrator Miss Hannigan in ''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]'' won her the [[Tony Award]] and the [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical]] in 1977. In the show she introduced the seminal showtunes "Little Girls" and "Easy Street." Of her portrayal, [[Clive Barnes (critic)|Clive Barnes]] wrote, "As the wicked Miss Hannigan, Dorothy Loudon, eyes bulging with envy, face sagging with hatred, is deliciously and deliriously horrid. She never puts a sneer, a leer, or even a scream in the wrong place, and her singing has just the right brassy bounce to it."<ref>Wilmeth, Don B. and Jacobs, Leonard. ''The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre'' (2007), Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-83538-0}}, p. 404</ref> Loudon later revisited the character of Miss Hannigan in the ill-fated 1990 sequel, ''Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge'', which closed quickly after a dismal pre-Broadway engagement in Washington D.C.
Loudon's performance as the evil orphanage administrator Miss Hannigan in ''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]'' won her the [[Tony Award]] and the [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical]] in 1977. In the show she introduced the seminal showtunes "Little Girls" and "Easy Street." Of her portrayal, [[Clive Barnes (critic)|Clive Barnes]] wrote, "As the wicked Miss Hannigan, Dorothy Loudon, eyes bulging with envy, face sagging with hatred, is deliciously and deliriously horrid. She never puts a sneer, a leer, or even a scream in the wrong place, and her singing has just the right brassy bounce to it."<ref>Wilmeth, Don B. and Jacobs, Leonard. ''The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre'' (2007), Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-83538-0}}, p. 404</ref> Loudon later revisited the character of Miss Hannigan in the ill-fated 1990 sequel, ''Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge'', which closed quickly after a dismal pre-Broadway engagement in Washington D.C.


In 1979, [[Michael Bennett (theater)|Michael Bennett]] cast Loudon as Bea Asher, a widow who becomes romantically involved with a mail carrier she meets at the local dance hall, in ''[[Ballroom (musical)|Ballroom]]''. She was nominated for the [[Tony Award]] for Best Leading Actress in a Musical and the [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical]]. She performed the number "Fifty Percent" from the musical during that year's Tony Awards ceremony. During her rendition of [[George Gershwin]]'s "Vodka" at the 1983 Tony Awards ceremony while resplendent in a blue sequined gown, she ad-libbed "I'm too good for this room. I'm too good for this song...but I'm not too good for this dress!"<ref>{{YouTube|mC4ftyelfVQ}}</ref><ref>O'Connor, John. "TV:The Tony Awards, With Gershwin Tribute", ''New York Times'', June 7, 1983, p.C8</ref> At the 38th Annual Tony Awards ceremony in 1984, Loudon performed "Broadway Baby" from ''[[Follies]]''. In ''[[The New York Times]]'', John O'Connor said of her performance, "Miss Loudon has developed the art of mugging into something of a hyperactive disease."<ref>O'Connor, John. "The 38th Tony Awards", ''New York Times'', June 5, 1984, p. C17</ref>
In 1979, [[Michael Bennett (theater)|Michael Bennett]] cast Loudon as Bea Asher, a widow who becomes romantically involved with a mail carrier she meets at the local dance hall, in ''[[Ballroom (musical)|Ballroom]]''. She was nominated for the [[Tony Award]] for Best Leading Actress in a Musical and the [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical]]. She performed the number "Fifty Percent" from the musical during that year's Tony Awards ceremony. During her rendition of [[George Gershwin]]'s "Vodka" at the 1983 Tony Awards ceremony while resplendent in a blue sequined gown, she ad-libbed "I'm too good for this room. I'm too good for this song...but I'm not too good for this dress!"<ref>{{YouTube|mC4ftyelfVQ}}</ref><ref>O'Connor, John. "TV:The Tony Awards, With Gershwin Tribute", ''The New York Times'', June 7, 1983, p.C8</ref> At the 38th Annual Tony Awards ceremony in 1984, Loudon performed "Broadway Baby" from ''[[Follies]]''. In ''[[The New York Times]]'', John O'Connor said of her performance, "Miss Loudon has developed the art of mugging into something of a hyperactive disease."<ref>O'Connor, John. "The 38th Tony Awards", ''The New York Times'', June 5, 1984, p. C17</ref>


In 1980, Loudon succeeded [[Angela Lansbury]] as Mrs. Lovett in [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[Sweeney Todd (musical)|Sweeney Todd]]''. In reviewing her performance for the ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'', David Sterritt said, "Her body sways like a reed in the emotional storms of her own scatter-brained creation, and her off-hand manner becomes still more off-handed when the most explosive matters are at stake ... Loudon gives a comic characterization in the most classical tradition."<ref>Sterritt, David. ''Christian Science Monitor'' (Boston, MA), Theater Reviews, March 26, 1980, p. 23</ref> The following year she co-starred with [[Katharine Hepburn]] and [[Julia Barr]] in the play ''[[The West Side Waltz]]''. In 1982 she won the [[Sarah Siddons Award]] for her work in [[Chicago theatre]]. She appeared in the 1983 [[Jerry Herman]] [[revue]] ''[[Jerry's Girls]]'' and later the same year she played the role of the miserable middle-aged actress Dotty Otley on Broadway in [[Michael Frayn]]'s farce ''[[Noises Off]]''.<ref name="ibdb"/>
In 1980, Loudon succeeded [[Angela Lansbury]] as Mrs. Lovett in [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[Sweeney Todd (musical)|Sweeney Todd]]''. In reviewing her performance for ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', David Sterritt said, "Her body sways like a reed in the emotional storms of her own scatter-brained creation, and her off-hand manner becomes still more off-handed when the most explosive matters are at stake ... Loudon gives a comic characterization in the most classical tradition."<ref>Sterritt, David. ''Christian Science Monitor'' (Boston, MA), Theater Reviews, March 26, 1980, p. 23</ref> The following year she co-starred with [[Katharine Hepburn]] and [[Julia Barr]] in the play ''[[The West Side Waltz]]''. In 1982 she won the [[Sarah Siddons Award]] for her work in [[Chicago theatre]]. She appeared in the 1983 [[Jerry Herman]] [[revue]] ''[[Jerry's Girls]]'' and later the same year she played the role of the miserable middle-aged actress Dotty Otley on Broadway in [[Michael Frayn]]'s farce ''[[Noises Off]]''.<ref name="ibdb"/>


She was cast as Carlotta Vance in the Lincoln Center Theater production of ''[[Dinner at Eight (play)|Dinner at Eight]]'' but was replaced by Marian Seldes in November 2002 when Loudon left the play because of illness.<ref>Jones, Kenneth; Simonson, Robert. [http://www.playbill.com/article/seldes-replaces-dorothy-loudon-in-lincoln-center-theaters-dinner-at-eight-com-109817# "Seldes Replaces Dorothy Loudon in Lincoln Center Theater's 'Dinner at Eight'"] playbill, November 27, 2002</ref>
She was cast as Carlotta Vance in the Lincoln Center Theater production of ''[[Dinner at Eight (play)|Dinner at Eight]]'' but was replaced by Marian Seldes in November 2002 when Loudon left the play because of illness.<ref>Jones, Kenneth; Simonson, Robert. [http://www.playbill.com/article/seldes-replaces-dorothy-loudon-in-lincoln-center-theaters-dinner-at-eight-com-109817# "Seldes Replaces Dorothy Loudon in Lincoln Center Theater's 'Dinner at Eight'"] playbill, November 27, 2002</ref>


==Television and film==
==Television and film==
Loudon was chosen as the replacement for [[Carol Burnett]] when Burnett left ''[[The Garry Moore Show]]'' in 1962. Although that collaboration was not altogether successful, the excellent reviews she received the same year for her Broadway debut in ''Nowhere to Go but Up'' proved prophetic. Coincidentally, the two roles Loudon later played so successfully on Broadway stage —Miss Hannigan and Dotty Otley — were both played by Burnett onscreen. She also was a frequent guest star on many New York based comedy and game shows.<ref name="imdb"/> In 1979, Loudon starred in the television series ''[[Dorothy (TV series)|Dorothy]]'', in which she portrayed a former showgirl teaching music and drama at a boarding school for girls. It lasted only one season. She appeared in only two films, playing an agent in the film ''[[Garbo Talks]]'' (1984) and as Southern eccentric Serena Dawes in ''[[Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (film)|Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil]]'' (1997).<ref name="imdb">{{IMDb name|521702}}</ref> She also appeared in the [[Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil|book version of the latter]].
Loudon was chosen as the replacement for [[Carol Burnett]] when Burnett left ''[[The Garry Moore Show]]'' in 1962. Although that collaboration was not altogether successful, the excellent reviews she received the same year for her Broadway debut in ''Nowhere to Go but Up'' proved prophetic. Coincidentally, the two roles Loudon later played so successfully on Broadway stage —Miss Hannigan and Dotty Otley — were both played by Burnett onscreen. She also was a frequent guest star on many New York based comedy and game shows. In 1979, Loudon starred in the television series ''[[Dorothy (TV series)|Dorothy]]'', in which she portrayed a former showgirl teaching music and drama at a boarding school for girls. It lasted only one season. She appeared in only two films, playing a photography agent in ''[[Garbo Talks]]'' (1984) and as Southern eccentric [[Serena Dawes]] in ''[[Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (film)|Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil]]'' (1997).


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
[[File:Dorothy Loudon Headstone 2011.JPG|thumb|The headstone of Dorothy Loudon]]
[[File:Dorothy Loudon Headstone 2011.JPG|thumb|The headstone of Dorothy Loudon]]
Loudon was married to composer Norman Paris (born Norman Thaddeus Paris; 1925–1977) from 1971 to his death. Together they had no children and Loudon never remarried. She died in [[New York City]], aged 78, from cancer on November 15, 2003. Loudon was interred in [[Kensico Cemetery]] in [[Westchester County, New York]]. She left no immediate survivors except for two step-children from her marriage to Paris.<ref name=playbill/><ref name="imdb"/>
Loudon was married to composer Norman Paris (born Norman Thaddeus Paris; 1925–1977) from 1971 to his death. Together they had no children and Loudon never remarried. She died in [[Manhattan]], age 78, from cancer on November 15, 2003. Loudon was interred in [[Kensico Cemetery]] in [[Westchester County, New York]]. She left no immediate survivors except for two step-children from her marriage to Paris.<ref name=playbill/>

==Discography==
*''Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Dorothy-Loudon-Angel-Other-Rarities/dp/B0188EOHRG|title=Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel & Other Rarities|website=Amazon}}</ref>
*''Saloon''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Saloon-Dorothy-Loudon/dp/B000000PJL|title = Saloon|website = Amazon}}</ref>
*''Broadway Baby''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Broadway-Baby-DOROTHY-LOUDON/dp/B000000PFA/ref=pd_sbs_15_1/143-0672980-0450855?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000000PFA&pd_rd_r=e4f56050-bf3d-4904-816f-67f20b1a96af&pd_rd_w=Yd4Kp&pd_rd_wg=s39HX&pf_rd_p=703f3758-d945-4136-8df6-a43d19d750d1&pf_rd_r=TMZH38Y3H68FQMT5EKZ8&psc=1&refRID=TMZH38Y3H68FQMT5EKZ8|title = Broadway Baby|website = Amazon}}</ref>


==Theatre credits==
==Theatre credits==
Line 43: Line 52:
*''[[The Apple Tree]]'' (1967)
*''[[The Apple Tree]]'' (1967)
*''Noël Coward's Sweet Potato'' (1968)
*''Noël Coward's Sweet Potato'' (1968)
*''The Fig Leaves Are Falling'' (1969)
*''[[The Fig Leaves Are Falling]]'' (1969)
*''[[Three Men on a Horse]]'' (1969)
*''[[Three Men on a Horse]]'' (1969)
*''[[Lolita, My Love]]'' (1971) (closed on the road)
*''[[Lolita, My Love]]'' (1971) (closed on the road)
Line 85: Line 94:
*[http://www.filmreference.com/film/12/Dorothy-Loudon.html Filmreference.com]
*[http://www.filmreference.com/film/12/Dorothy-Loudon.html Filmreference.com]
*[http://archives.nypl.org/the/18180 Dorothy Loudon papers, 1885-2003], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[http://archives.nypl.org/the/18180 Dorothy Loudon papers, 1885-2003], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[http://exhibitions.nypl.org/dorothyloudon Dorothy Loudon papers: online exhibition,] [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[http://exhibitions.nypl.org/dorothyloudon Dorothy Loudon papers: online exhibition], [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]


{{Navboxes
{{Navboxes

Latest revision as of 18:40, 28 August 2024

Dorothy Loudon
Loudon in 1959
Born(1925-09-17)September 17, 1925[1][2]
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedNovember 15, 2003(2003-11-15) (aged 78)
Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, singer
SpouseNorman Paris (1971–1977; his death)
Awards1977 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Annie

Dorothy Loudon (September 17, 1925 – November 15, 2003)[3] was an American actress and singer. She won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical in 1977 for her performance as Miss Hannigan in Annie. Loudon was also nominated for Tony Awards for her lead performances in the musicals The Fig Leaves Are Falling and Ballroom, as well as a Golden Globe award for her appearances on The Garry Moore Show.

Early life and career

[edit]

Loudon was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1925 (she later shaved eight years off her age), to James Edwin Loudon and Dorothy Helen Loudon (née Shaw). She was raised in Claremont, New Hampshire, and Indianapolis, Indiana. She attended Syracuse University on a drama scholarship but did not graduate, and moved to New York City to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She began singing in night clubs, one such being New York's Blue Angel, mingling song with ad-libbed comedy patter, and was featured on television on The Perry Como Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.[4]

Loudon made her stage debut in 1962 in The World of Jules Feiffer, a play with incidental music by Stephen Sondheim, under the direction of Mike Nichols. That same year she made her Broadway debut in Nowhere to Go but Up, which ran only two weeks but earned her good reviews and the Theatre World Award.[5] In 1969, The Fig Leaves Are Falling ran for only four performances, although it won her the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance and a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She followed this with a revival of Three Men on a Horse directed by George Abbott; Lolita, My Love, which closed out-of-town during its pre-Broadway tryout; and a revival of the Clare Boothe Luce comedy The Women.[5]

Broadway

[edit]

Loudon's performance as the evil orphanage administrator Miss Hannigan in Annie won her the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical in 1977. In the show she introduced the seminal showtunes "Little Girls" and "Easy Street." Of her portrayal, Clive Barnes wrote, "As the wicked Miss Hannigan, Dorothy Loudon, eyes bulging with envy, face sagging with hatred, is deliciously and deliriously horrid. She never puts a sneer, a leer, or even a scream in the wrong place, and her singing has just the right brassy bounce to it."[6] Loudon later revisited the character of Miss Hannigan in the ill-fated 1990 sequel, Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge, which closed quickly after a dismal pre-Broadway engagement in Washington D.C.

In 1979, Michael Bennett cast Loudon as Bea Asher, a widow who becomes romantically involved with a mail carrier she meets at the local dance hall, in Ballroom. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. She performed the number "Fifty Percent" from the musical during that year's Tony Awards ceremony. During her rendition of George Gershwin's "Vodka" at the 1983 Tony Awards ceremony while resplendent in a blue sequined gown, she ad-libbed "I'm too good for this room. I'm too good for this song...but I'm not too good for this dress!"[7][8] At the 38th Annual Tony Awards ceremony in 1984, Loudon performed "Broadway Baby" from Follies. In The New York Times, John O'Connor said of her performance, "Miss Loudon has developed the art of mugging into something of a hyperactive disease."[9]

In 1980, Loudon succeeded Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. In reviewing her performance for The Christian Science Monitor, David Sterritt said, "Her body sways like a reed in the emotional storms of her own scatter-brained creation, and her off-hand manner becomes still more off-handed when the most explosive matters are at stake ... Loudon gives a comic characterization in the most classical tradition."[10] The following year she co-starred with Katharine Hepburn and Julia Barr in the play The West Side Waltz. In 1982 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. She appeared in the 1983 Jerry Herman revue Jerry's Girls and later the same year she played the role of the miserable middle-aged actress Dotty Otley on Broadway in Michael Frayn's farce Noises Off.[2]

She was cast as Carlotta Vance in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Dinner at Eight but was replaced by Marian Seldes in November 2002 when Loudon left the play because of illness.[11]

Television and film

[edit]

Loudon was chosen as the replacement for Carol Burnett when Burnett left The Garry Moore Show in 1962. Although that collaboration was not altogether successful, the excellent reviews she received the same year for her Broadway debut in Nowhere to Go but Up proved prophetic. Coincidentally, the two roles Loudon later played so successfully on Broadway stage —Miss Hannigan and Dotty Otley — were both played by Burnett onscreen. She also was a frequent guest star on many New York based comedy and game shows. In 1979, Loudon starred in the television series Dorothy, in which she portrayed a former showgirl teaching music and drama at a boarding school for girls. It lasted only one season. She appeared in only two films, playing a photography agent in Garbo Talks (1984) and as Southern eccentric Serena Dawes in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997).

Personal life

[edit]
The headstone of Dorothy Loudon

Loudon was married to composer Norman Paris (born Norman Thaddeus Paris; 1925–1977) from 1971 to his death. Together they had no children and Loudon never remarried. She died in Manhattan, age 78, from cancer on November 15, 2003. Loudon was interred in Kensico Cemetery in Westchester County, New York. She left no immediate survivors except for two step-children from her marriage to Paris.[5]

Discography

[edit]
  • Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel[12]
  • Saloon[13]
  • Broadway Baby[14]

Theatre credits

[edit]

Filmography credits

[edit]

Film

[edit]

Television

[edit]
  • It's a Business (1952) - Secretary
  • The Garry Moore Show (1962–1964) - Herself
  • All My Children (1970) - Veronica Mullens (1993)
  • Dorothy (1979) - Dorothy Banks
  • Magnum, P.I. (1986)
  • Murder, She Wrote (1986)
  • Performance at the White House: Showstoppers (1988) - Herself
  • A Salute to Broadway: Showstoppers (1988, TV Movie) - Herself
  • Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (1993) - Herself
  • My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies (1999) - Herself

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Dorothy Loudon 1940 census, showing parents Joseph and Dorothy (née Shaw) Loudon and maternal grandparents with surname Shaw, giving her age as 14 in April 1940
  2. ^ a b Internet Broadway Database profile, ibdb.com; accessed November 27, 2014.
  3. ^ Dorothy Loudon Foundation
  4. ^ Oliver, Myrna.Dorothy Loudon, 70; Stage Actress Was 'Miss Hannigan'", Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2003.
  5. ^ a b c Simonson, Robert. "Memorial Service for Dorothy Loudon to Be Held Nov. 20" playbill, 19, November 2003
  6. ^ Wilmeth, Don B. and Jacobs, Leonard. The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre (2007), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-83538-0, p. 404
  7. ^ Video on YouTube
  8. ^ O'Connor, John. "TV:The Tony Awards, With Gershwin Tribute", The New York Times, June 7, 1983, p.C8
  9. ^ O'Connor, John. "The 38th Tony Awards", The New York Times, June 5, 1984, p. C17
  10. ^ Sterritt, David. Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), Theater Reviews, March 26, 1980, p. 23
  11. ^ Jones, Kenneth; Simonson, Robert. "Seldes Replaces Dorothy Loudon in Lincoln Center Theater's 'Dinner at Eight'" playbill, November 27, 2002
  12. ^ "Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel & Other Rarities". Amazon.
  13. ^ "Saloon". Amazon.
  14. ^ "Broadway Baby". Amazon.
  15. ^ Jones, Kenneth. "New Kander & Ebb Musical, 'Over & Over', Debuts Jan. 6 in Arlington, VA" playbill, January 5, 1999
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dorothy_Loudon&oldid=1242783748"