{"id":198913,"date":"2019-01-23T02:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T07:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=198913"},"modified":"2019-01-23T02:00:22","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T07:00:22","slug":"kaye-ballard-boisterous-singer-and-actress-dies-at-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/01\/23\/kaye-ballard-boisterous-singer-and-actress-dies-at-93\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaye Ballard, boisterous singer and actress, dies at 93"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ballard died Monday night at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, after a fight with kidney cancer, her friend Marguerite Gordon said Tuesday. (File Photo By Maurice Seymour (New York) – Scanned version of original photograph, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES – Kaye Ballard, the boisterous comedian and singer who appeared in Broadway musicals and nightclubs from New York to Las Vegas and starred with Eve Arden in the 1960s TV sitcom \u201cThe Mothers-In-Law,\u201d has died. She was 93.<\/p>\n

Ballard died Monday night at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, after a fight with kidney cancer, her friend Marguerite Gordon said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mothers-In-Law,\u201d in which Ballard starred with Arden (of the 1950s sitcom \u201cOur Miss Brooks\u201d), aired from 1967 to 1969. It marked a high point in a career that began when Ballard was 12 and lasted into the 21st century.<\/p>\n

She was on hand last week when a documentary on her life and career premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was so excited to be able to tell her story,\u201d said Dan Wingate, the film’s director. \u201cShe was really anxious for young people, especially, who are going into the arts to understand the full breadth of a life in the arts, the ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audience’s response was gratifying for her, \u201cto hear that applause and feel that love,\u201d Wingate said, and she was thrilled when the documentary was singled out for festival honours.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mothers-In-Law\u201d was set in a Los Angeles suburb and featured its stars as women who become thorns in their married children’s lives, with comedic results influenced by the screwball style of \u201cI Love Lucy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Desi Arnaz, who starred with wife Lucille Ball in that classic sitcom, produced and directed 24 episodes of the Ballard-Arden show. The \u201cI Love Lucy\u201d team of Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Pugh Davis were the show’s creators and lead writers.<\/p>\n

Ballard made a mark in every form of show business except movies. She did appear as a secondary player in a few films, including 1958’s \u201cThe Girl Most Likely\u201d starring Jane Powell and in 1964’s \u201cA House Is Not a Home,\u201d but her high-octane personality may have been too potent for the big screen of that era and its more restrictive portrayals of women.<\/p>\n

Movie stardom was her first dream, as it was for others of her generation, filmmaker Wingate said, and he wanted the documentary to be seen on the big screen to help fulfil that goal.<\/p>\n

But even falling short of a big film career, \u201cshe was able to reach and endear herself to so many people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ballard’s first real break came when she was singing in a Detroit nightclub, The Bowery. Comedy bandleader Spike Jones dropped in one night and quickly drafted the exuberant young singer into his musical contingent. For two years she toured with Jones’ troupe, singing, playing the flute and tuba and engaging in the band’s antics. She also sang with the bands of Vaughn Monroe and Stan Kenton.<\/p>\n

In 1945 she moved to New York and sought work in theatre, appearing on Broadway in a small part in the revue \u201cThree to Make Ready.\u201d She toured in summer stock and finally made a dent in New York as a madcap Helen of Troy in 1954’s \u201cThe Golden Apple,\u201d drawing applause with her song \u201cLazy Afternoon.\u201d One critic called her performance \u201ca wonder of insinuation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also won critical praise for her role as \u201cThe Incomparable Rosalie,\u201d the magician’s assistant and mistress in 1961’s \u201cCarnival!,\u201d a musicalized version of the movie \u201cLili.\u201d She sang \u201cAlways, Always You\u201d while stretched out in a box the jealous magician was piercing with swords.<\/p>\n

Ballard began working on TV in the early 1950s, becoming an in-demand performer on network variety programs including \u201cThe Mel Torme Show\u201d and those of Ed Sullivan and Perry Como. She also became a favourite of talk show hosts, making repeat appearances with Jack Paar, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson.<\/p>\n

She was a regular on \u201cThe Doris Day Show\u201d in the 1970s and the 1990s TV series \u201cDue South.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her nightclub act played in first-class venues including the Blue Angel in New York, Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago, the Flamingo in Las Vegas and the hungry i in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

She was born Catherine Gloria Ballota to Italian immigrant parents in Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 20, 1925, according to her 2006 memoir \u201cHow I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years.\u201d (She noted she had always said she was born in 1926.)<\/p>\n

She changed her name to Kaye Ballard when she entered show business. On the advice of a numerologist she switched to Kay in midcareer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said my luck would change if I dropped the ‘e’,\u201d she told a reporter in 1983. \u201cIt did. It went steadily downward.\u201d<\/p>\n

She eventually returned to being Kaye.<\/p>\n

Determined to become an actress, she would not be discouraged by a high school teacher who rejected her for a drama class, concluding she \u201cwasn’t pretty enough,\u201d nor her parents, who didn’t understand the business.<\/p>\n

She sang at service clubs and appeared at a \u201cStage Door Canteen\u201d in Cleveland. After graduating from high school she worked at a burlesque theatre, not as a stripper but as straight woman in comedy sketches. She went on the road with her act of songs, comedy and impressions of famous stars and in Detroit made the fortuitous connection with Jones.<\/p>\n

In the early 2000s, Ballard toured with other stars in a musical comedy \u201cNunsense\u201d and joined the touring company of the Broadway hit \u201cThe Full Monty\u201d as piano player for six men who stripped to make money with a musical show.<\/p>\n

Ballard was engaged four times but never married.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t want to,\u201d she told The Associated Press in 1999. \u201cI could have, many times. But I just wanted a career too much. I was smart enough to know, if you get married and have children, that’s it. Being Italian and raised as a Catholic, I took children seriously. Maybe I made a mistake. Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n

She purchased her Southern California desert home from Arnaz in the early 1940s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a stone’s throw from Gerald Ford,\u201d she said of her presidential neighbour in a 1981 interview. \u201cWhen he moved in, he upped my property value. It made me think of becoming a Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n

A non-starter was ever leaving show business, even as the years passed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not going to retire. I don’t believe in retiring,\u201d she told the AP in 2001. \u201cI do take more time off now to enjoy life and my three dogs and house. But if something wonderful comes up, I’m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

AP\u00a0Entertainment\u00a0Writer Andrew Dalton and the late AP\u00a0Entertainment\u00a0Writer Bob Thomas contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

(The Associated Press)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES – Kaye Ballard, the boisterous comedian and singer who appeared in Broadway musicals and nightclubs from New York …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":198918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-lynn-elber","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}