Tammy Grimes has Passed
Tammy Grimes has Passed
#1Tammy Grimes has Passed
Posted: 10/31/16 at 5:54pm
Some very sad news- Tammy Grimes has passed away. Luckily we still have her performances preserved on cast recordings. I guess it's more appropriate than ever to listen to Home Sweet Heaven tonight.
https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/theater/tammy-grimes-died.amp.html?client=safari
smidge
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/06
#2Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 5:58pm
Very sad indeed. Caught her performance in Orpheus Descending, her last Broadway credit.
sabrelady
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#3Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 6:17pm
Saw her do several "luncheon" readings at the Players Club. Still luminous. My thoughts are with her daughter Amanda Plummer.
#4Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 6:19pm
I don't have any theatre history with her, but I'm a fan of how she brought Molly Grue to life in The Last Unicorn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHvWmJREROY
#6Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 7:00pm
There IS a video of her singing "I Ain't Down Yet" from the Ed Sullivan Show...if only someone who has it on VHS will convert it to an MP4 so it can be uploaded.
Meanwhile, there's this:
#7Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 7:04pm
Sad news, I've loved her for years.
#9Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 7:18pm
And this oddity: Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady," from a 1984 PBS tribute to Ellington:
Ranger Tom
Leading Actor Joined: 7/6/14
#11Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 7:25pm
RIP, you lyric baritone you. My grandparents had a magazine with her on the cover. It was a beautiful studio shot that I can't find on Google. It was one of those things that piqued my interest in theatre at a very early age.
#12Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 8:03pm
I saw her perform her cabaret act at the Metropolitan Room maybe five years ago or so. You could tell her body was somewhat weak, but when she started singing she came to life. She sang all her hits, including I Ain't Down Yet and Home Sweet Heaven.
Afterward she greeted each audience member as we walked out and she signed my High Spirits CD. She couldn't have been more gracious.
#13Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 8:04pm
Listening to Molly Brown cast album now. I know why they went with Debbie Reynolds for the movie...but Tammy would've slayed it in hindsight. I know, Monday morning quarterback... I get that Debbie was the much safer choice.
#14Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 8:26pm
I worked with Tammy Grimes on a production of MUSICAL JUBILEE in South Florida, immediately after the production closed on Broadway (mid-1970s).
She was rather eccentric in person, but in an utterly charming way. I found her a delight!
And though she wasn't "technically" a true singer, her renditions of "I've Told Every Little Star" and "They Wouldn't Believe Me" were so moving they are as clear in my mind today as they were on stage 40 years ago!
There was a thread yesterday about "star quality". Tammy had it, in spades! Nobody cared whether she had the biggest musical range--not even when she was performing with the likes of Larry Kert, Patrice Munsel and John Raitt.
#15Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 8:41pm
My heart just broke into a million pieces...she was one of a kind...she was special...original... she defied comparison....God bless her!
mamaleh
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/04
#16Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 9:30pm
I remember her guest appearance on an episode of "The Virginian" TV series in which she played a saloon performer. If I recall correctly, she sang "Hello, My Baby, Hello, My Honey" and a song whose title may have been "I'm in Love with the Man in the Moon." She may not have had a perfect vocal instrument for singing, but she really knew how to put over a song very pleasingly and with great charm. Is anyone that distinctive anymore? Unfortunately, I don't think so.
#17Tammy Grimes
Posted: 10/31/16 at 9:57pm
I loved her captivating voice on the HIGH SPIRITS album I stumbled onto in the American Embassy library in Tel Aviv back in 1971-- a formative step in hooking me on Broadway musicals for life. And I loved her live in the diva role in 42ND STREET that brought her back to Broadway in 1980. She defined the term Broadway icon.
#18Tammy Grimes
Posted: 11/1/16 at 7:10am
The first time I ever saw a show twice was because I was so taken by Tammy Grimes - High Spirits. To this day I still regularly listen to Home Sweet Heaven and You'd Better Love Me (also has one of my favorite overtures!).
RIP
MCfan2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/06
#19Tammy Grimes
Posted: 11/1/16 at 12:20pm
I just recently discovered her via the "High Spirits" cast album! She was marvelous. No one else had a voice quite like that -- more's the pity. R.I.P.
#20Tammy Grimes
Posted: 11/1/16 at 6:49pm
One of Dick Cavett's best shows featured Noel Coward, the Lunt's and Brian Bedford and Tammy Grimes, then starring on Broadway in a revival of Private Lives.
I find it odd that the media was informed of her death by a nephew, rather than her daughter Amanda Plummer.
Videos