{"id":142843,"date":"2017-12-29T04:01:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-29T09:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=142843"},"modified":"2017-12-29T04:01:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-29T09:01:00","slug":"actress-rose-marie-of-dick-van-dyke-show-fame-dies-at-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/12\/29\/actress-rose-marie-of-dick-van-dyke-show-fame-dies-at-94\/","title":{"rendered":"Actress Rose Marie of ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’ fame dies at 94"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo of Rose Marie who was a cast member of the television program The Doris Day Show from 1969 to 1971. (Photo By CBS Television – eBay <\/a>itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES\u2014 Rose Marie, the wisecracking Sally Rogers of \u201cThe Dick Van Dyke Show\u201d and a show business lifer who began as a bobbed-hair child star in vaudeville and worked for nearly a century in theatre, radio, TV and movies, died Thursday. She was 94.<\/p>\n

Marie had been resting in bed at her Los Angeles-area home when a caretaker found she had stopped breathing, said family spokesman Harlan Boll.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeaven just got a whole lot funnier\u201d was the tribute posted atop a photo of Marie on her website.<\/p>\n

She was a child star of the 1920s and 1930s who endeared herself to TV fans on the classic ’60s sitcom that featured Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore.<\/p>\n

The subject of the 2017 documentary \u201cWait for Your Laugh,\u201d Marie often claimed she had the longest career in\u00a0entertainment<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0history. It spanned some 90 years, with co-stars ranging from W.C. Fields to Garfield the cat, and the highlight for many was \u201cThe Dick Van Dyke Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sitcom was widely loved for its sophisticated writing, inspired casting and insightful view of the inner workings of the then-new medium of television. Van Dyke starred as Rob Petrie, head writer for a hit comedy-variety show and Mary Tyler Moore, in her first major role, played his wife Laura.<\/p>\n

The blonde, raspy-voiced Marie teamed with her pal Morey Amsterdam as assistant writers.<\/p>\n

Drawing on his experiences on Sid Caesar’s shows, Carl Reiner created the series, wrote and directed many episodes and made occasional appearances as the surly star, Alan Brady. After an uncertain beginning in 1961, \u201cThe Dick Van Dyke Show\u201d caught on with TV viewers, was still popular when it ended in 1966 and remained a favourite for decades in reruns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s never been a more engaging & multi-talented performer …. & always had audiences clamouring for \u201cmore!!\u201d Reiner posted Thursday on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dick Van Dyke Show\u201d not only was an ideal vehicle for Marie’s comic gifts, but was a showcase for her singing, with Sally belting out \u201cCome Rain or Come Shine\u201d and other old favourites during nightclub and party scenes.<\/p>\n

Marie was especially proud of playing a woman defined by her work, a rare sitcom character at the time who wasn’t \u201ca wife, mother, or housekeeper,\u201d she tweeted in 2017.<\/p>\n

The actress did have conflicts with Reiner, resenting that Moore was given more prominence than her on the show. Reiner, speaking in \u201cWait for Your Laugh,\u201d bluntly pushed back. \u201cI used real strong language,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI said, ‘You both have beautiful legs. They wanna look at her legs.\u201d’<\/p>\n

Nominated three times for Emmys, Rose Marie had yet to turn 40 when she joined the Van Dyke cast, but had been an entertainer for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

She was born Rose Marie Mazetta of Italian-Polish parentage in New York City on Aug. 15, 1923. When she was 3, her mother entered her in an amateur talent contest in Atlantic City as Baby Rose Marie.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother was terrified,\u201d she recalled in a 1992 interview with The Associated Press. \u201cBut I went out and sang ‘What Can I Say, Dear, After I Say I’m Sorry?’ and won the contest.\u201d<\/p>\n

She began singing on radio and was a hit on \u201cThe Rudy Vallee Hour.\u201d NBC gave her a seven-year contract and her own show, 15 minutes on Sunday. Her powerful voice gave rise to rumours.<\/p>\n

\u201cStories went around that I was really a 45-year-old midget,\u201d she remarked in 1992. \u201cSo they sent me on a year-round personal appearance tour of theatres across the country to prove that I was a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marie sang in a series of movie shorts including \u201cBaby Rose Marie, the Child Wonder\u201d in 1929 and appeared on most of the vaudeville circuits until vaudeville’s demise. Among her friends was one of the country’s most notorious gangsters.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father worked as an arsonist for Al Capone,\u201d Marie told People magazine in 2016. \u201cHe used to burn down your warehouse if things weren’t going the right way, but I didn’t know that at the time. I was a child star and to me Al was my ‘Uncle Al,’ my mother used to cook for all these guys. Years later when I was working Vegas with (casino owner and known mobster) Bugsy Siegel, I cooked for that generation, I guess I knew then.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1946 she married Bobby Guy, a trumpeter in Kay Kyser’s band and later on top NBC radio shows in Hollywood. (They had a daughter, Georgiana). Bobby Guy was just 48 when he died suddenly of a blood infection, in 1964, a loss so devastating Marie wore black for a year and hesitated to take on work beyond \u201cThe Dick Van Dyke Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of her first outside performances was on \u201cThe Dean Martin Show,\u201d when she performed the melancholy ballad \u201cLittle Girl Blue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Dean sang ‘(Smile),’ to me and I couldn’t help it, the tears began pouring down,\u201d she recalled in her memoir \u201cHold the Roses,\u201d published in 2003. \u201cThen Dean kissed me and held me in his arms. It was quite a memorable moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marie joined with Rosemary Clooney, Helen O’Connell and Margaret Whiting in the late 1970s to tour in a successful nightclub act titled \u201c4 Girls 4,\u201d<\/p>\n

As Rose Marie (she never used a last name professionally), she enjoyed new fame on television. Her quick, surefire timing made her ideal casting as a supporting player. She appeared on \u201cThe Doris Day Show,\u201d as the irreverent secretary to the star, and as Frank Fontana’s mother on \u201cMurphy Brown.\u201d For years she was a regular on the \u201cHollywood Squares\u201d quiz show.<\/p>\n

She also appeared in films including \u201cInternational House\u201d (as Baby Rose Marie in 1933, co-starring with W.C. Fields) and \u201cBig Beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

She starred in the Broadway musical \u201cTop Banana\u201d with Phil Silvers, but her experience on the film version resonated decades later in the aftermath of the multiple allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein.<\/p>\n

A producer suggested that she would get more screen time if she had sex with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in front of everybody, I go, ‘You couldn’t get it up if a flag went by,\u201d’ Marie, interviewed for \u201cWait for Your Laugh,\u201d recalled saying. \u201cWhich didn’t sit too well with him. All my numbers were cut in the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2001. In 2017, she extended her reach to social media, her Twitter feed quickly attracting more than 100,000 followers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was asked what I wanted my legacy to be,\u201d she wrote in one tweet. \u201cMy answer, ‘That I was good at my job & loved every minute of it.’ I wish that for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marie is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Steven Rodrigues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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