RIP Kaye Ballard

RIP funny lady.

Love her as Rosalie in Carnival! Her belting was fenomenal!

A very close friend of Carol Channing...life, eh?

With Carol and Kaye now gone, I fear for Liza!

Seriously, though, this is a great loss of a wonderful performer. Thanks for all the great shows!

Here’s hoping TVLAND chooses to air this new documentary soon like they did with the fabulous documentary on Rosemarie.

https://youtu.be/_ksDgBjTCk8

Yup. She had a beef towards Doris Roberts for getting the role of Marie in the long-running CBS TV sitcom EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, though she refused to go to L.A. to audition and expected her past work to speak for itself. From what many have said, she always thought others got better breaks than she did.

It is true that underneath the happy exterior there seemed to be a certain bitterness. Maybe because she was one of those actors who always seemed to be on the verge of being a big star and never quite made it; relegated to supporting roles. She also had a strange obsession with not being thought of as a lesbian, something she vehemently denied, even in old age. I would not be surprised, though, if those rumors may have contributed to her career stalls, especially in the past.

Gonna play some Carnival for her tonight!

I worked with Kaye twice at THE FABULOUS PALM SPRINGS FOLLIES where she was a huge draw. Because of some bad experiences in the past, it was theater policy that a member of staff was sent to accompany any cast member doing media. The Media Manager had a conflict one day, so I was sent to meet Kaye when she appeared on a local cable-TV talk show. I hadn't met her before and she wasn't expecting me.

So everything stopped dead when I walked into the taping room, as Kaye, the cast and crew all turned to face me, the intruder. It was a first for me, too, and I waited for somebody to ask why I was there; meanwhile, I swear I heard crickets chirping.

Compelled to break the tension, I finally announced in a loud voice, "I am Kaye Ballard's posse!" ("Posse" was commonly used in hip-hop culture at the time.) STILL nobody even blinked, except for Kaye, who threw her head back, howled with laughter, and cried, "Oh, thank God! I've always wanted a posse!"

Somehow when SHE said it, everybody got the joke (it was not a hip-hop crowd) and we all had a good laugh. I was told by mutual friends that sometimes the underlying bitterness got the best of her, but I never found her anything but delightful, on stage and off.

I too had spent two of my childhood years glued to THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW, so I was surprised to learn that Kaye was one of the great jazz singers of the 20th century. Check out her revival of ROBERTA (I'll Be Hard to Handle), also starring Jack Cassidy and others, from the 1950s. Also the OBCR of GOLDEN APPLE (Lazy Afternoon) and, of course, CARNIVAL!

Kaye lived on the street named for her a few miles from me here in Palm Springs. Carol Channing lived even nearer. It's a dark winter for this town, having lost two of its most beloved citizens.

Updated On: 1/22/19 at 10:16 PM

I remember Ms Ballard not from anything but just a performer I was aware of.

From reading here about situations throughout her life I sincerely hope she had moments of happiness. To consider herself the '2nd banana' throughout her amazing career, dwelling on missed opportunities and being a closeted whatever all her life sure makes for one unhappy gal.

Be reborn today and [once trump is gone] a whole new understanding world awaits.

Recharge In Peace.