Follies Original Star Yvonne De Carlo Dead at Age 84

Actress Yvonne De Carlo, who originated the role of Carlotta Campion in Stephen Sondheim's Follies and sang the musical's anthem of survival, "I'm Still Here," died on January 8 of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Fund's Retirement Home in Woodland, Hills, California, according to Reuters. She was 84.

Born Peggy Yvonne Middleton in Vancouver, British Columbia, she was best known for her television role on the popular 1960s sitcom The Munsters, playing the ghoulish wife Lily Munster opposite Fred Gwynne as her Frankenstein-like husband Herman. A popular "B" movie actress in the 1950s, De Carlo played Sephora, the wife of Moses, in the epic film The Ten Commandments and appeared onscreen in films such as Kismet , Slave Girl, Song of Scheherezade, Casbah, River Lady, The Desert Hawk, Silver City, Scarlet Angel, Sombrero, Passion, Raw Edge, Flame of the Islands and Magic Fire.

According to a 1971 article on the development of Follies in Time magazine, writer James Goldman and director Harold Prince felt that De Carlo "seemed wrong for the role of Phyllis [eventually played by Alexis Smith] but fit perfectly the rebuilt part of Carlotta, the mantrap."