Vivienne Segal
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Vivienne Sonia Segal (April 19, 1897 – December 29, 1992) was an American actress and singer.[1]
Biography
Segal was born on April 19, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1]
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.[2] She also starred as Morgan LeFay in the Rodgers and Hart revival of A Connecticut Yankee in 1942.[3] 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: Lang singing “I Could Write a Book” (from the CBS TV show Shower of Stars) and Segal—interviewed by Mike Wallace on the CBS 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 CBS Radio program Accordiana in 1934.[4] 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 then married television executive Hubbell Robinson.
She died in Beverly Hills, California of heart failure on December 29, 1992, aged 95.[1] She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Musical theater
- 1915 The Blue Paradise
- 1917 My Lady's Glove
- 1917 Miss 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
- 1938 I Married an Angel
- 1940 Pal Joey
- 1943 A Connecticut Yankee Broadway revival
- 1947 Music in My Heart
- 1950 Great to Be Alive!
- 1952 Pal Joey Broadway revival
Films
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1929 | Will You Remember? | Short. | |
1930 | Song of the West | Virginia | Filmed in two-color Technicolor. Lost film. |
1930 | Bride of the Regiment | Countess Anna-Marie | Filmed in two-color Technicolor. Lost film. |
1930 | Golden Dawn | Dawn | Filmed in two-color Technicolor. Survives in black and white. |
1930 | Viennese Nights | Elsa Hofner | Filmed in two-color Technicolor. Survives in color. |
1933 | Fifi | Fifi | Short. |
1934 | Soup for Nuts | Prima Donna | Short. |
1934 | The Cat and the Fiddle | Odette | Filmed in black and white with Technicolor finale. |
References
- 1 2 3 William Grimes (December 30, 1992). "Vivienne Segal, 95, a Stage Star In Roles Sweet to Cynical, Is Dead". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
Vivienne Segal, a musical-comedy star who appeared on Broadway in 'The Desert Song,' 'No, No, Nanette,' and 'Pal Joey,' died yesterday in Los Angeles. She was 95 years old and lived in Beverly Hills. She died of heart failure, said Robert Sidney, a friend. ...
- ↑ Playbill
- ↑ Suskin, Steven (1990). Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre. New York: Schrimmer Books, pp. 154–157. ISBN 0-02-872625-1.
- ↑ Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. P. 11.
Sources
- Sies, Luther F. Encyclopedia of American Radio: 1920-1960. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0452-3
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vivienne Segal. |
- Vivienne Segal at the Internet Movie Database
- Vivienne Segal at the Internet Broadway Database
- Vivienne Segal at Find a Grave
- Vivienne Segal photographs, 1870s-1972 (bulk 1915-1938), held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts