Sad news: Kitty Carlisle Hart — Page 2

Playbill has an article too now:

Kitty Carlisle Hart, the stage and film actress who served as chairperson of the New York State Council of the Arts for 20 years beginning in 1976, and thereafter functioned as one of the city's most visible advocates and symbols of the performing arts, died on April 17, her longtime musical director David Lewis confirmed. She was 96. The cause was pneumonia.

Ms. Hart, always a lively presence and elegantly turned out, remained vital until the last. In recent years, she commemorated her birthdays in a very public way by performing a cabaret act at Feinstein's at the Regency, a swank night spot just blocks from her opulent Upper East Side apartment. There, she would sing a few songs and reminisce about her experiences working with such entertainment icons as George Gershwin (who once proposed to her), George S. Kaufman (who slapped her during a game of Gin Rummy) and Kaufman's writing partner Moss Hart, whom she married in 1946. The events routinely sold out.

Following Hart's death in 1961, she became the executrix of his estate and worked tirelessly to keep his plays alive and in the public eye. She was often seen in the company of Kaufman's daughter Anne Kaufman Schneider. No Kaufman and Hart revival went on the boards without their say-so.

Ms. Hart was such a steady and supportive presence in New York society and arts that, not long before her death, she was declared a Living Landmark by the state.

Kitty Carlisle Hart was born Catherine Conn in New Orleans, LA, on Sept. 3, 1910. Her father, Dr. Joseph Conn, was a gynecologist who died when she was only ten. Her mother Hortense was ambitious, however, and had her daughter educated in Switzerland, London, Paris and Rome. She was accepted into London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and went on to train at the Theatre de l'Atelier in Paris.

She said she changed her name because "there were too many Catherines." "Carlisle" came from the phone book. Her mother changed her own name in kind.

Her acting career was on the brief side, but noteworthy for the talents she came into contact with. She starred in the Depression era Broadway musicals Champagne Sec, White Horse Inn, Three Waltzes and Walk With Music. She is best remembered as a performer, however, for her turn as the romantic lead in the 1934 Marx Brothers feature "A Night at the Opera," in which she sang "Alone," a tune she said she hated. Other movie credits included "Murder at the Vanities" and "Here Is My Heart," in which she played opposite Bing Crosby.

She found fame again in the 1950s, as a frequent guest on the game show "To Tell the Truth."

Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed her vice chairperson of the New York State Council for the Arts in 1971. She became chairperson in 1976 and it was in this role that she had her greatest impact on the arts. When George Pataki took office, her long service came to an end.

Along the way, she counted among her friends, Jackie Kennedy, Noel Coward, Harpo Marx, Irving Berlin and countless politicians.

She is survived by the two children she had with Hart.
Playbill's article

right about now St. Peter is saying "Hello, Kitty".

Wasn't she Jewish?

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Rest in peace, Kitty.

Very sad news. Rest in peace Kitty.

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Very sad, I just found out she was still performing in NYC in feb and was planning to see her show on my next trip to the city.

She seemed like a very lovely lady.

I am playing my recording of Roberta now and will have to watch "A night at the Opera" tonight.

Such sad news RIP, Kitty.

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Rest in peace. What a well-lived life!

A remarkable lady. So sad.

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Sad news. At least she passed peacefully.

just tragic.

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Just last August 6, I had one of the most thrilling experiences of my theatergoing life when I attended Kitty Carlisle Hart's hour-long concert at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood. Ms. Hart STOOD for the entire performance (the third of a three-days-in-a-row series), as she told fascinating anecdotes of her many legendary friends including George Gershwin and Cole Porter (reading from a three-ring-bindered script atop a music stand), and sang over a dozen songs in the voice of a far younger woman. She was proud of having added a "new song" to her repertoire, Sondheim's Old Friend, which she sang with great feeling. At one point she raised her floorlenghth gown well above the knee to show the legs she was still proud of at nearly 96! I sensed at the time that this might be one of Ms. Hart's final appearances. Sadly it was. But it's a memory I will long cherish.

I do so agree Phil. I had the pleasure of meeting and shaking hands with Ms. Hart at the premiere of The Golden Age of Broadway, and I told her how much I adored her on To Tell The Truth and she chimed back with "You're too young to know To Tell The Truth" but it was a magical evening for me. She will be missed.

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