Rose Marie (born Rose Marie Mazzetta; August 15, 1923 – December 28, 2017) was an American actress, singer, comedian, and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

performer with a career ultimately spanning nine decades, which included film, radio, records, theater, night clubs and television. As a child performer during the years just after the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

era, she had a successful singing career under the stage name Baby Rose Marie. Rose Marie was widely known for her role on the CBS situation comedy ''

The Dick Van Dyke Show ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' is an American television sitcom created by Carl Reiner that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Prod ...

'' (1961–1966), as television comedy writer

Sally Rogers Sally Rogers (born 1964) is an English actress, best known for her role as Detective Constable/Sgt. Jo Masters in ITV's ''The Bill''. Rogers trained as a children's nanny, before taking up acting at the age of 20. She studied at Webber Dou ...

, "who went toe-to-toe in a man’s world". Later, she portrayed Myrna Gibbons on ''

The Doris Day Show ''The Doris Day Show'' is an American sitcom which was originally broadcast on CBS from September 1968 until March 1973, remaining on the air for five seasons and 128 episodes. The series is remembered for its multiple format and cast chang ...

'' and was a featured celebrity on ''The

Hollywood Squares ''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show Television pilot, piloted on NBC in 1965 and the regular series debut ...

'' for 14 years. She is the subject of a 2017 documentary film, ''

Wait for Your Laugh ''Wait for Your Laugh'' is a 2017 documentary film on the career of Rose Marie. The film was directed by Jason Wise and featured notable celebrities including Dick Van Dyke, Peter Marshall, and Carl Reiner. The film premiered at the 2017 Mill V ...

'', which includes interviews with her and her co-stars including

Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

Peter Marshall Peter Marshall may refer to: Entertainment * Peter Marshall (entertainer) (born 1926), American game show host of ''The Hollywood Squares'', 1966–1981 * Peter Marshall (author, born 1939) (1939–1972), British novelist whose works include ''T ...

, and

Tim Conway Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway (December 15, 1933 – May 14, 2019) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. From 1966 to 2012 he appeared in more than 100 TV shows, TV series and films. Among his more notable roles, he portrayed the ...

Early life

Rose Marie was born Rose Marie Mazzetta in Manhattan, New York, on August 15, 1923, to Polish-American Stella Gluszcak and Italian-American vaudeville actor Frank Mazzetta, who went by the name of Frank Curley. Her mother took her to see local vaudeville shows regularly and afterwards, Rose Marie would sing what she had heard for neighbors, who eventually entered her in a talent contest. At the age of three, Marie started performing under the name "Baby Rose Marie". At five, she was offered a seven-year contract and became a radio star on the NBC Radio Network and made a series of films. Rose Marie later recalled:

“I had a deep voice, not like Shirley Temple but more like Sophie Tucker. I never sounded like a child so there were some people who thought I was really a 30-year-old midget.”

To counteract these rumors, NBC arranged for her to undertake a national stage tour, and she appeared in a few short films including "Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder" (1929). At the height of her fame as a child singer, from late 1929 to 1934, Rose Marie had her own radio show, made numerous records, and was featured in a number of Paramount films and shorts. She continued to appear in films through the mid-1930s, making shorts and one feature picture, '' International House'' (1933), with

W. C. Fields William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields's comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathet ...

for Paramount. As she entered adulthood, Rose Marie turned to nightclub and lounge performances. According to her autobiography ''Hold the Roses,'' she was assisted in her career by many members of organized crime, including

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

and

Bugsy Siegel Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was not only influential within the Jewish Mob, but along with his childhood fri ...

. Rose Marie secured work at the

Flamingo Hotel Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The property includes a casino along with 3,4 ...

in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was built by Siegel. Because of the Flamingo's organized crime ties, she had to seek permission to perform in other casinos and remained loyal to "the boys" at the Flamingo for the rest of her life. Concurrently with her nightclub work, the young adult Rose Marie continued to work in radio, earning the nickname "Darling of the Airwaves".

Recordings

In 1929, five-year-old Rose Marie made a

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

sound short titled ''Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder''. Between 1930 and 1938, she made 17 recordings, three of which were not issued. Her first issued record, recorded on March 10, 1932, featured accompaniment by

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black music ...

's orchestra, one of the leading African American jazz orchestras of the day. Henderson and the band were said to be in the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

studios recording the four songs they were intending to produce that day and were asked to accompany Baby Rose Marie, reading from a stock arrangement. Rose Marie's recording of "Say That You Were Teasing Me" (backed with "Take a Picture of the Moon", Victor 22960) also featured Henderson's orchestra and was a national hit in 1932. According to

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in W ...

, Rose Marie was the last surviving entertainer to have charted a hit before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Television

In the 1960–1961 season, Marie co-starred with Shirley Bonne,

Elaine Stritch Elaine Stritch (February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014) was an American actress, best known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films a ...

, Jack Weston,

Raymond Bailey Raymond Thomas Bailey (May 6, 1904 – April 15, 1980) was an American actor, and comedian on the Broadway stage, films, and television. He is best known for his role as greedy banker Milburn Drysdale in the television series ''The Beverly Hill ...

, and

Stubby Kaye Bernard Solomon Kotzin (November 11, 1918 – December 14, 1997), known as Stubby Kaye, was an American actor, comedian, vaudevillian, and singer, known for his appearances on Broadway and in film musicals. Kaye originated the roles of Nicely-Ni ...

in ''

My Sister Eileen ''My Sister Eileen'' is a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney, originally published in ''The New Yorker'', which eventually inspired many other works: her 1938 book ''My Sister Eileen'', a play, a musical, a radio play (an ...

''. After five seasons (1961–1966) as Sally Rogers on ''

'', Rose Marie co-starred in two seasons (1969–1971) of ''

'' as Doris Martin's friend and co-worker Myrna Gibbons. She also appeared in two episodes of ''

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...

'' in the mid-1960s. She later had a semi-regular seat in the upper center square on the original version of ''

The Hollywood Squares ''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show piloted on NBC in 1965 and the regular series debuted in 1966 on t ...

.'' Because contestants tended to pick corner squares first, the phrase "Rose Marie to block" was uttered so often she frequently joked that she should legally change her name to that. Rose Marie performed on three 1966 and 1967 episodes of ''

The Dean Martin Show ''The Dean Martin Show'', not to be confused with the ''Dean Martin Variety Show'' (1959–1960), is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by Dean Martin. The theme song to the ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

and also twice (1964 and 1968) on '' The Hollywood Palace'' on ABC. In the mid-1970s, Rose Marie appeared in the recurring role of Hilda on the police drama '' S.W.A.T.''. Hilda brought fresh doughnuts, made coffee for the team, and provided some comic relief. In the early 1990s, Rose Marie had a recurring role as Frank Fontana's mother on ''

Murphy Brown ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for ''FYI'', a ...

''. She appeared as Roy Biggins' domineering mother Eleanor "Bluto" Biggins in an episode of ''

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

''. Rose Marie and

Morey Amsterdam Moritz "Morey" Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 – October 28, 1996) was an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. He played Buddy Sorrell on CBS's ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' from 1961 to 1966. Early life Amsterdam was born in Chicago ...

appeared together in an October 1993 episode of ''

Herman's Head ''Herman's Head'' is an American sitcom that aired on the Fox network from September 8, 1991, until April 21, 1994. The series was created by Andy Guerdat and Steve Kreinberg, and produced by Witt/Thomas Productions in association with Touch ...

'' and guest-starred in a February 1996 episode of '' Caroline in the City'', shortly before Amsterdam's death in October of that same year.

Theater

Rose Marie appeared opposite

Phil Silvers Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly sixty years. Silvers achieved major popu ...

in the hit Broadway Musical '' Top Banana'' in 1951, also appearing in the well-received 1954 film adaptation. She later claimed that her musical numbers were cut from the film in retaliation for her publicly refusing the producer's sexual advances. Near the end of her life, she testified that it was the only time she had ever experienced sexual harassment in the entertainment industry in her 90-year career. In 1965, Rose Marie appeared in the Dallas production of ''

Bye Bye Birdie ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart. Originally titled ''Let's Go Steady'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is set in 1958. The short story "Dream Man", authored ...

'' as Mae Peterson, the mother of the character played by Dick Van Dyke on Broadway and in the film. From 1977 to 1985, Rose Marie co-starred with

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song " Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano" ...

Helen O'Connell Helen O'Connell (May 23, 1920 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer, actress, and hostess, described as "the quintessential big band singer of the 1940s". Early life Born in Lima, Ohio, O'Connell grew up in Toledo, Ohio. By the time ...

, and

Margaret Whiting Margaret Eleanor Whiting (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) was an American popular music and country music singer who gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s.Mapes, Jillian.Margaret Whiting, Iconic Standards Singer, Dies at 86. ''Billboard' ...

in the musical revue ''4 Girls 4'', which toured the United States and appeared on television several times. Rose Marie was the celebrity guest host of a comedy play, ''Grandmas Rock!'', written by Gordon Durich. It was originally broadcast on radio in 2010 on

KVTA KVTA (1590 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Ventura, California, and serves Ventura County and southern Santa Barbara County. The station is owned by Gold Coast Broadcasting and airs a Talk radio format. KVTA broadcasts with ...

and KKZZ, and rebroadcast on KVTA and KKZZ again in September 2012 in honor of National Grandparents Day.

Personal life

Rose Marie was married to trumpeter Bobby Guy from 1946 until his death in 1964. The couple had one daughter, television producer Georgiana Guy Rodrigues (who appeared as a contestant on Match Game ’73), who was born in 1947. Though it was presented in the press as romantic, in the 1970s Rose Marie maintained a platonic relationship with Pussycat Theaters co-owner Vince Miranda. In her later years, Rose Marie was active on social media, particularly developing a following on Twitter, where she offered support for women who, like her, had suffered from

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fr ...

Death

Rose Marie died at her home in the

Van Nuys Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

neighborhood of Los Angeles on December 28, 2017, at the age of 94.

Nell Scovell Helen Vivian "Nell" Scovell is an American television and magazine writer, and producer. She is the creator of the television series ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', which aired on ABC and The WB from 1996 until 2003 and co-author of the book ''L ...

memorialized her as "the patron saint of female comedy writers". Rose Marie's long-time friend and agent, Harlan Boll, says that the legendary actress's death had to do with "age problems." Boll was with Marie shortly before she passed away. He explained to reporters that Marie had laid down to rest on Thursday afternoon, and by the time her caregiver checked in on her, to see if she wanted something to eat, and discovered she had stopped breathing."

Partial filmography

Feature films

*'' International House'' (1933) - Rose Marie *'' Top Banana'' (1954) - Betty Dillon *'' The Big Beat'' (1958) - May Gordon *'' Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title'' (1966) - Annie *''

Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round ''Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round'' is a 1966 crime film written and directed by Bernard Girard, and starring James Coburn, Camilla Sparv, Aldo Ray, Nina Wayne, Todd Armstrong, Robert Webber, Rose Marie and Harrison Ford in his film debut. Plot ...

'' (1966) - Margaret Kirby *''Memory of Us'' (1974) - Ida *''The Man From Clover Grove'' (1974) - Sister Mary *''Bruce's Deadly Fingers'' (1976) *'' Cheaper to Keep Her'' (1980) - Ida Bracken *'' Lunch Wagon'' (1981) - Mrs. Schmeckler *''

Witchboard ''Witchboard'' is a 1986 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Kevin Tenney in his directorial debut, and starring Tawny Kitaen, Stephen Nichols, and Todd Allen. The plot centers on a college student who becomes entranced i ...

'' (1986) - Mrs. Moses *''The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters'' (1986) - Herself *''Sandman'' (1993) - Car Saleswoman *'' Psycho'' (1998) - Norma Bates (voice, uncredited) *'' Lost & Found'' (1999) - Clara *''

Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth ''Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th'' is a 2000 American direct-to-video parody slasher film directed by John Blanchard. The film stars Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Tom Arnold, Coolio and Shirley Jones. Several mid- and late 1990s tee ...

'' (2000) - Mrs. Tingle *'' Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes'' (2004) - Herself *''Forever Plaid'' (2008) - Herself

Short subjects

*''Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder'' (1929) - Herself *''Rambling 'Round Radio Row #4'' (1932) *''Sing, Babies, Sing'' (1933) - Herself *''Back in '23'' (1933) - Herself *''Rambling 'Round Radio Row'' (1934) - Herself *''At the Mike'' (1934) - Herself - Baby Rose Marie *'' Sally Swing'' (1938) - Sally Swing (voice, uncredited) *''Surprising Suzie'' (1953) - Herself

Television

*''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...

'' (1957, Episode 94: "Twelfth Night") - Mrs. Monger *'' M Squad'' (1958, Episode 36; " The System") - Margo *''

The Bob Cummings Show ''The Bob Cummings Show'' (also known in reruns as ''Love That Bob'') is an American sitcom starring Bob Cummings, which was broadcast from January 2, 1955, to September 15, 1959. The program began with a half-season run on NBC, then ran for tw ...

'' (1958–1959, 9 episodes) - Martha Randolph *''

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' (also known as simply ''Dobie Gillis'' or ''Max Shulman's Dobie Gillis'' in later seasons and in syndication) is an American sitcom starring Dwayne Hickman that aired on CBS from September 29, 1959, to June 5 ...

'' (1960) - Mrs. Tarantino *''

'' (1960–1961) - Bertha *''

'' (1961–1966) - Sally Rogers *''

'' (1966-1967) - Milly / The Big Man, Bessie Kowalski *'' The Virginian'' (1967) - Belle Stephens *''Walter of the Jungle'' (1967) (unsold pilot) *''

My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seasons. ''My Three Sons'' chroni ...

'' (1968, Episode: "First Night Out") - Nurse Genevieve Goodbody *''

'' (cast member 1969–1971) - Myrna Gibbons *''Honeymoon Suite'' (1972, 3 episodes) (with

) *''

Adam-12 ''Adam-12'' is an American television police procedural crime drama television series created by Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb. The series follows Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed as they patrol the st ...

'' (1972-1973) - Woman at Bus Depot in 1972 episode The Tip; Jean Wagner in 1973 episode Clear with a Civilian: Part 2 *'' S.W.A.T.'' (1975) - Hilda *''

Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American action crime drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theodopolis "Theo" Kojak. Taking the time slot of the popular ''Cannon'' series, ...

(1975) episode Two-Four-Six for Two Hundred'' - Mrs. Tildon *''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pa ...

'' (1978-1984) - Beatrice Multon / Bertha Finch / Fourth Bridge Player / Dotty Price *''

Bridge Across Time ''Bridge Across Time'', also known as ''Terror at London Bridge'', is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film. It was an NBC movie of the week, written by William F. Nolan, directed by E.W. Swackhamer and starred David Hasselhoff, Stepfa ...

'' (1985, TV Movie) - Alma Bellock *''

Remington Steele ''Remington Steele'' is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from O ...

'' (1986, Series 4 Episode 17; " Steele in the Spotlight") - Billie Young *''The Jackie Bison Show'' (1990, unsold pilot that aired on NBC) - Doris (voice) *'' Scorch'' (1992, canceled after three episodes) *''

2 Stupid Dogs ''2 Stupid Dogs'' is an American animated television series created and designed by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It originally ran from September 5, 1993, to May 15, 1995, on TBS as a part of their ''Sunday Morning in Fr ...

'' (1993) - Mrs. Crabface (voice) *'' Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero'' (1993) *'' Hardball'' (1994, canceled after seven episodes) - Mitzi Balzer *'' Cagney & Lacey: Together Again'' (1995, TV Movie) - Mitzi Glass *'' Freakazoid!'' (1995) - Honna (voice) *'' Caroline in the City'' ("Caroline and the Watch", with Morey Amsterdam (1996); "Caroline and the Kept Man" (1997)) - Stella Dawson *''

'' (1997) - Eleanor Bluto Biggins *''

Suddenly Susan ''Suddenly Susan'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from September 19, 1996, to December 26, 2000. The series was created by Clyde Phillips and starred Brooke Shields in her first regular series. Shields played Susan Keane, ...

'' (1997) - Joy *''

Hey Arnold! ''Hey Arnold!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Craig Bartlett. It originally aired on Nickelodeon from October 7, 1996, to June 8, 2004. The show centers on fourth grader Arnold Shortman, who lives with his grandpar ...

'' (1998) - Agatha Caulfield (voice) *''

The Hughleys ''The Hughleys'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 22, 1998 to April 28, 2000 and on UPN from September 11, 2000 to May 20, 2002. It starred comedian D. L. Hughley as the main character, Darryl Hughley, and Elise Neal as ...

'' (2001) - Edna *''

Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales ''Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales'' is a 2003 HBO television special starring Tracey Ullman in a spin-off from her sketch comedy series '' Tracey Takes On...'' The special, which was originally conceived as a pilot for a possible series, spot ...

'' (2003) - Sylvia *''The Alan Brady Show'' (2003, TV Movie) - The Secretary (voice) *''

The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (2004, TV Movie) - Sally Rogers Glimscher *'' The Garfield Show'' (2008–2013) - (voice)

Bibliography

References

External links

An interview with Rose Marie, March 2011

* * * * {{authority control 1923 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Actresses from New York City American autobiographers American child actresses American child singers American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American radio actresses American television actresses American writers of Italian descent American people of Polish descent Singers from New York City Vaudeville performers Writers from New York City Women autobiographers 20th-century American women singers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American women singers