Am I Blue?: Living With Diabetes And, Dammit, Having Fun!
(Elaine Stritch shares her lifestyle approach to the probl...)
Elaine Stritch shares her lifestyle approach to the problems of being diabetic and provides food and diet recommendations, as well as advice for coping with everyday living and special occasions.
(A powderkeg... with a lit fuse! Charlton Heston, Anne Bax...)
A powderkeg... with a lit fuse! Charlton Heston, Anne Baxter and Tom Tryon are Three Violent People in this taut, lean-as-leather western with an emphasis on character.
(The plucky group of seniors from the first film return to...)
The plucky group of seniors from the first film return to Earth faced with the dilemma to either live and die in this world, or to live forever in another world completely detached from family and friends back home.
(A professor, given a grant to document a tribe in New Gui...)
A professor, given a grant to document a tribe in New Guinea, finds himself far more immersed in his family's antics, than in research. Desperate to appease his impatient colleagues, he attempts to pass his own offspring off as a wilderness tribe.
(Danny DeVito, Dave Chappelle, Norm MacDonald and Elaine S...)
Danny DeVito, Dave Chappelle, Norm MacDonald and Elaine Stritch star in this comedy caper about a resentful chauffeur, his boss from hell, a crazy mortician and a dognapping scheme gone bad.
(Autumn in New York follows the sexual exploits of Will Ke...)
Autumn in New York follows the sexual exploits of Will Keane (Richard Gere) — New York restaurateur, infamous verging-on-50 playboy, master of the no-commitment seduction — until he runs into an unexpected dead end when he meets Charlotte Fielding (Winona Ryder). Charlotte is half Will's age and twice his match, a 21 year-old free spirit, yearning to get out and taste the excitement of adult life.
(Star, legend, force of nature — whatever you call Elaine ...)
Star, legend, force of nature — whatever you call Elaine Stritch, it probably applies, and it's never more apparent, than in her deeply personal one-woman show, At Liberty.
(From the makers of Coraline comes the magically thrilling...)
From the makers of Coraline comes the magically thrilling story of Norman, a boy, who must use his ability to see and speak with the dead to save his town from a centuries-old curse.
Elaine Stritch voiced Grandma Babcock, the ghost of Courtney and Norman's grandmother.
(A deeply funny portrait of bold and brassy Broadway legen...)
A deeply funny portrait of bold and brassy Broadway legend and Emmy winner Elaine Stritch (30 Rock) with Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, James Gandolfini, John Turturro and others.
(A sitcom, depicting the reluctant, but content relationsh...)
A sitcom, depicting the reluctant, but content relationship between a pushy American woman, Dorothy McNab, and the old-fashioned English handyman-cook-butler, Robert Hillier, who is debonair, confident and the essence of British politeness, whom she has employed. With Robert feeling as negative about Americans as Dorothy does about the English, life becomes a battle over, who will win the upper hand.
Elaine Stritch was an American actress and singer, who was mostly known for her work on Broadway, as well as for her candid, brash personality and for her forays in the stage and cabaret worlds.
Background
Ethnicity:
Her father was of an Irish descent, while her mother had a Welsh ancestry.
Elaine Stritch was born on February 2, 1925, in Detroit, Michigan, United States, to a well-off family. She was a daughter of George Joseph Stritch, an executive of B. F. Goodrich Company (present-day Goodrich Corporation), and Mildred (Jobe) Stritch, a homemaker. Elaine had two older sisters — Georgine and Sally. Samuel Stritch, an American Cardinal prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, was one of her uncles.
Education
In her early years, Stritch attended a convent school in her native Detroit. In 1944, Elaine studied at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York City, where Erwin Piscator, a German theatre director and producer, was her mentor. Also, Elaine studied singing with Burt Knapp.
Career
Elaine Stritch had a long and distinguished career as an actress and performer. In 1944, she made her stage debut at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York City, where she studied at that time. Later, she appeared in Broadway plays and made several stage tours in major cities in the United States. She also graced the stages of London, England. Her Broadway debut was in "Loco" in 1946. One of her later performances was as the matriarch in the 1993-1994 run of "Showboat".
Stritch was a presence in different films, including a major role opposite the late actor Rock Hudson in the 1957 motion picture version of Ernest Hemingway’s "A Farewell to Arms", and another good role in director Woody Allen’s 1987 film, "September".
Television and radio, too, played their part in Stritch’s acting resume. She was the first woman to play Trixie in "The Honeymooners", but according to Helen Eisenbach in New York magazine, "she was fired for being too much like Jackie Gleason in drag."
In addition to appearances on television in American shows, such as "My Sister Eileen", "Song by Song" and the mini-series "An Inconvenient Woman", Stritch starred in the British version of the popular 1970's sitcom "Maude". She also served as a writer for the aforementioned show, and authored an autobiographical work, entitled "Am I Blue?: Living With Diabetes and, Dammit, Having Fun". In "Am I Blue", Stritch tells her readers how she was diagnosed with diabetes at the same time her career peaked. In her case, the disease was severe, and she had to learn how to inject herself with insulin in order to survive. The actress-author went on to relate the practical ways, in which she dealt with diabetes, and asserted her will not to let it interfere with her enjoyment of life.
In the 1990's, Elaine acted in "Oz" (tv-series), "3rd Rock from the Sun" (a sitcom) and "Law & Order" (a police procedural and legal drama television series). Also, she had a role in "30 Rock", a satirical television sitcom, which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007. Some time earlier, she received other Emmy Awards, including the one for the television version of her show "Elaine Stritch at Liberty" in 2004 and another one for her appearance in "Law & Order" tv-series in 1993.
During her career, Stritch acted in both musicals and dramatic plays, and some of her favorite performances as an actress were in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", "Bus Stop" and "Pal Joey". Also notable were her appearances in "Sail Away" and "Company", which she starred in both the United States and England.
In addition, Stritch performed a cabaret act in New York City at the Cafe Carlyle in the Carlyle Hotel, where she was a resident from 2005 until she left New York in 2013.
In addition, Elaine was the basis of the character Laney Fontaine on "The Simpsons".
Quotations:
"The terrifying thing in my life is that I am just an actress. And I have to keep pushing it and getting approval, approval, approval or I don’t think I’m worth two cents. And I am starting to get over it, thank God. And I’m just sad because I don’t have many years left and I wish I had a longer space of time to think, that Elaine Stritch is okay."
"Fear is the base of what everybody does wrong in their lives."
"I find it easier to abstain, than do a little bit of anything. I'm not a "little bit" kind of dame. I want it all, whatever I do."
"Everybody's got a sack of rocks."
"This is a time in my life, where I'm gonna behave like an elegant human being. Or not."
"New York is like a disco, but without the music."
"If somebody doesn't have any talent, get off the stage! You're wasting my time."
"There's something exciting about being afraid."
"And why not do something new every day of your life? Change! Change!"
"I am not influenced by other human beings. But I am inspired."
"Why haven't I made more movies? Nobody asked me."
"For my money, insecurity, depression, etc, can be healed by way of El Morocco, sad songs at 4am and the pop of a champagne cork."
"You cannot tell an audience a lie. They know it before you do; before it's out of your mouth, they know it's a lie."
"There will always be ladies, who lunch. Always. And apparently they live a long time."
"I felt, that I committed myself too much. I promised too much. But that way it's exciting."
"I want to settle down this last time. I say last, because I don't think I'm in any condition to live a long time from now. The bell's gonna ring pretty soon."
"I’d like to discover life. Quite frankly I don’t know how to be happy. I have not a clue. I only serve — and I don’t say that with any grandeur. I just serve others through entertaining. That’s when I am happy. I’m not just delighted with myself when I’m entertaining, but I’m happier than when I’m not."
Membership
Elaine was a member of the Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Guild of Variety Artists and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Personality
Elaine was addicted to the alcohol. She took her first drink at the age of fourteen and was using it as a crutch before performances to cope with her stage fright and insecurities. Elaine began drinking more heavily after the death of her husband — John Bay. She sought help after experiencing problems with the effects of alcoholism, including the onset of diabetes.
Physical Characteristics:
Elaine suffered from diabetes and stomach cancer.
Connections
On February 2, 1973, Elaine married John Bay, an American actor and playwright. The couple was married until John's death in 1982.