Vale: Elaine Stritch

Veteran Broadway actress Elaine Stritch, who also had a recurring role in 30 Rock, has died aged 89.

She died at home in Michigan of natural causes.

Known for her foghorn voice and acid humour, Stritch began her career in the 1940s and was still known for playing brash, witty broads well into her final decade.

Her collaborators included Noel Coward, who wrote his 1961 musical Sail Away for her: she played the charismatic hostess of a cruise ship. She was also the star of the 1970 Steven Sondheim musical Company, after which her public persona became intertwined with her role as a boozy socialite.

A five-time Tony nominee, she starred in No No Nanette, The King and I and I Married an Angel. She was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for The Best Halloween Ever. The actress was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995.

From 2008-2013, she was nominated for an Emmy for her role as Colleen Donaghy, the mother of Alec Baldwin’s character Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. In 1993, she won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Law & Order.

Other TV credits include 3rd Rock from the Sun, Bless This House, An Inconvenient Woman, The Cosby Show, Head of the Class, The Ellen Burstyn Show, Trapper John MD, Tales of the Unexpected, Dial M for Murder, Pollyanna, My Sister Eileen, Wagon Train and a recurring role in Two’s Company.

Film credits include two Woody Allen movies, September and Small Time Crooks plus Monster In Law, Autumn In New York, Screwed and Out to Sea.

Her 2002 one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty also earned her a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event, and another Emmy for its television broadcast.

Earlier this year, she was the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary film, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me.

Source: IMDb, ETonline, Independent