Beloved Tony & Emmy Award Winner Nanette Fabray Dies at 97

Nanette Fabray, the multi-talented comic star who earned acclaim in a dozen Broadway shows, died on February 22 in Palos Verdes, California, according to The New York Times. She was 97.

Fabray made her Broadway debut in the revue Meet the People (1941), which she followed up with a slew of stage roles during the 1940s. Her appearances included Let's Face It! (1941), By Jupiter (1942), My Dear Public (1943), Jackpot (1944), Bloomer Girl (1944 and 1947) and the Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn tuner High Button Shoes (1947). Fabray saw her biggest Broadway success in the role of Susan Cooper in Alan Jay Lerner and Kurt Weill's musical Love Life (1948). The performance earned Fabray the 1949 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Fabray continued her array of Broadway credits with turns in Arms and the Girl (1950) and Make a Wish (1951), after which she took on the film role of Lily Marton in Betty Comden and Adolph Green's The Band Wagon (1953), appearing alongside Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse and Jack Buchanan. Fabray earned acclaim on the small screen, winning 1956 and 1957 Emmy Awards for playing a variety of roles in Caesar's Hour, one of many TV successes she saw throughout her career. Fabray was later honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Fabray returned to the stage as First Lady Nell Henderson in Irving Berlin's final Broadway musical, Mr. President (1962), earning a Tony nomination for her performance. Just over a decade later, Fabray made a Broadway return in the comedy No Hard Feelings (1973), which closed on opening night. Fabray's final New York stage turn was in Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor's comedy Bermuda Avenue Triangle (1997), which appeared off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre. 

Fabray married theater publicist and network executive David Tebet in 1947; the couple divorced in 1951. In 1957, Fabray was wed to screenwriter Ranald MacDougall, who passed away in 1973. Fabray is survived by their son, Jamie MacDougall.