Background
Segal was born on April 19, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Segal was born on April 19, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
She is best remembered for creating the role of Vera Simpson in Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart"s Pal Joey and introduced the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered". Pal Joey opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre December 25, 1940, with a cast that included Gene Kelly and June Havoc. She also starred as Morgan LeFay in the Rodgers and Hart revival of A Connecticut Yankee in 1942.
One of Lorenz Hart"s last songs, "To Keep My Love Alive", was written specifically for her in this show.
Since the 1940 production went unrecorded, a studio cast was assembled in 1950 to record the musical. In 2003, this recording was reissued by Columbia Broadway Masterworks in a release featuring such Rodgers and Hart tunes as “I Could Write a Book”, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”, “Zip”, and “Take Him,” as well as two bonus tracks: Language singing “I Could Write a Book” (from the Columbia Broadcasting System television show Shower of Stars) and Segal—interviewed by Mike Wallace on the Columbia Broadcasting System Radio show Stage Struck—recalled Hart"s promise to write her a show and then sings “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”.
She was also a performer on the Columbia Broadcasting System Radio program Accordiana in 1934. She retired from acting in 1966 following a guest appearance on Perry Mason as Pauline Thorsen in "The Case of the Tsarina"s Tiara." Segal"s first marriage to actor Robert Ames ended in divorce.
She died in Beverly Hills, California of heart failure on December 29, 1992, aged 95.
She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Los Angeles 1915 The Blue Paradise 1917 My Lady"s Glove 1917 Mission 1917 1918 Oh, Lady! Lady!! 1919 The Little Whopper 1921 A Dangerous Maid (as a replacement) 1922 The Yankee Princess 1923 Adrienne 1924 Ziegfeld Follies 1925 Ziegfeld Follies 1925 Florida Girl 1926 Castles in the Air 1926 The Desert Song 1928 The Three Musketeers 1931 The Chocolate Soldier 1940 Pal Joey 1943 A Connecticut Yankee Broadway revival 1947 Music in My Heart 1950 Great to Be Alive! 1952 Pal Joey Broadway revival.