Elaine Stritch

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Birthday:

2 February 1925, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Height:

171 cm

A brash, incorrigible scene-stealer now entering her sixth decade in a career that has had many highs and lows, veteran Elaine Stritch certainly lives up to the Stephen Sondheim song "I'm Still Here". Having stolen so many moments on stage that she could be convicted of grand larceny, this tough old broad broaching 80 with the still-shapely legs, puffy blonde hairdo and deep, whiskey voice isn't quitting anytime soon - or so it seems. Born in Detroit in 1925 and educated at a finishing school, she prepared for the stage at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School and made her debut in 1944. She made it to Broadway two years later and has since become the toast of both Broadway and London's West End, collecting a number of trophies on both continents over the years for such award-winning turns as "Bus Stop", "Sail Away", "A Delicate Balance", "Show Boat" and "Company". Through sheer personality alone, her cacophonous singing voice has miraculously taken classic songs from Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart to Noël Coward and Stephen Sondheim and put her indelible stamp on them. She was a supporting player in several films, including A Farewell to Arms (1957) with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones, and dabbled on comedy TV, with the series My Sister Eileen (1960), but never made a strong name for herself in either of those mediums. In the early 1970's she married English actor John Bay and moved to London. She scored first on stage, then on TV with Donald Sinden in Two's Company (1975). Returning to America alone, she offered sly, abrasive cameos in both sitcoms and dramatic features. At age 76 Elaine is still throwing out zingers on stage and recently copped the Tony, Drama Desk, Obie, Outer Circle Critics and New York Drama Critics awards for her candid one-woman musical memoir Elaine Stritch at Liberty (2002). The show chronicles her notorious private life, which included a long bout with the bottle (to curb her stage fright) and a destructive relationship with fellow alcoholic Gig Young. Add to that a fair share of Hollywood gossip all cleverly packaged up with a still razor-sharp wit and show-stopping patter songs and you have what Elaine Stritch is all about. Truly one of a kind. Show less «

[on friend and actress Vivien Leigh] Everything about that girl was sad. Except her talent. Nothing sad about that.

[on Judy Garland] I honestly believe that she was the most talented female performer of the twentieth century.

I was twelve, and my dad and sisters were downstairs in the living room having cocktails. My dad made what must have been a strong whiskey s...Show more »

I was twelve, and my dad and sisters were downstairs in the living room having cocktails. My dad made what must have been a strong whiskey sour, and he gave me half. And a star was born! Show less «

Honestly, this is a big thing to say, but I don't think I've ever been bored. If I even get an inkling of it, I split. I love that lyric in ...Show more »

Honestly, this is a big thing to say, but I don't think I've ever been bored. If I even get an inkling of it, I split. I love that lyric in "Thanks for the Memory": You might've been a headache/But you never were a bore. I think being boring is just the worst sin of all time. Show less «

On Haila Stoddard: She was a rare piece of work in show business, I'll tell you that. She was as fair as fair can be, and she had the taste ...Show more »

On Haila Stoddard: She was a rare piece of work in show business, I'll tell you that. She was as fair as fair can be, and she had the taste and class to hire Noël Coward, and I hasten to add, me. Show less «