Patricia Elliott, who won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1973 for her performance as Charlotte Malcom in the original A Little Night Music, has died of cancer. She was also nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Shadow Box in 1977.
I never had the privilege of seeing Miss Elliott on the stage but I fondly remember her as Renee Buchanan on the now-defunct ABC soap opera, "One Life To Live". May she rest in peace.
I was very lucky to see Ms. Elliott in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC 12 times. There will never be a better Countess Charlotte!
I remember that Tony year-1973, Ms. Elliott, in her Broadway debut, won the Supporting Tony over co-star Hermione Gingold, Irene Ryan in Pippin and Patsy Kelly in Irene!
We lost Victoria Mallory last year. This is very sad.
I hear Miss Elliott's rueful voice singing those words so honestly and wisely. She was everything as the Countess. Now she has put voice to her own eulogy.
I loved her so much in this--I saw Night Music six times on Broadway--and I also loved her in The Elephant Man and The Voice of the Turtle and a production of S.N. Behrman's No Time for Comedy, on which I was thrilled to work with her.
Ms. Elliott was a sublime actress, who should have been acting on stage every season in another play. Yes, she was the original and quintessential Countess Charlotte in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, and gave notable performances in 13 RUE DE L'AMOUR opposite Louis Jourdan and garnered a Drama Desk nomination in the wonderful revival of TARTUFFE with John Wood and Tammy Grimes, as well as a Tony nomination for THE SHADOW BOX. She was also a great replacement for Carole Shelley in the original production of THE ELEPHANT MAN. Sadly, she had not returned to the Broadway stage over the last nearly 30 years, and that in itself was a loss to all theatergoers. A brilliant actress, RIP.
Her performances in "Tartuffe", "Shadow Box" and "Elephant Man" were incredible and ones I will always remember and treasure. She was electric on stage.
She looks so different as "Charlotte" in Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" and I have to admit I had no idea she was the same Patricia Elliott who played "Renee Divine Buchanan" on "One Life To Live" until yesterday when I read her obituary. I have a newfound respect for her. She was loved, respected and admired by many.