Carol Lawrence (born Carolina Maria Laraia; September 5, 1932) is an American actress, appearing in musical theatre and on television. She is known for creating the role of Maria on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in the musical '' West Side Story'' (1957), receiving a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She appeared at

The Muny The St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (commonly known as The Muny) is an amphitheatre, amphitheater located in St. Louis, Missouri. The theatre seats 11,000 people with about 1,500 free seats in the last nine rows that are available on a first ...

, St. Louis, in several musicals, including '' Funny Girl''. She also appeared in many television dramas, including '' Rawhide'' and ''

Murder She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series ...

''. She was married to fellow performer Robert Goulet.

Biography

Early years

Born Carolina Maria Laraia on September 5, 1932, in

Melrose Park, Illinois Melrose Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 24,796. Melrose Park had long been home to a large Italian-American population. The suburb was the home o ...

, her parents were of Italian ancestry.''Carol Lawrence: The Backstage Story''
McGraw-Hill, 1990, p.10, Her father was born in Trivigno, in the province of Potenza, and her maternal family came from the same town. Laraia graduated from Proviso Township High School, in Maywood, Illinois. She spent one year at Northwestern University and then left to pursue her career.

Career

Lawrence made her Broadway debut in 1952 in Leonard Sillman's ''

New Faces of 1952 ''New Faces of 1952'' is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped launch the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alic ...

''."Carol Lawrence Credits"
'' Playbill'', accessed April 24, 2015 She achieved success in the role of

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

in the original Broadway production of '' West Side Story'' in 1957, for which she received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical nomination, losing to

Barbara Cook Barbara Cook (October 25, 1927 – August 8, 2017) was an American actress and singer who first came to prominence in the 1950s as the lead in the original Broadway musicals '' Plain and Fancy'' (1955), ''Candide'' (1956) and ''The Music Man'' ( ...

('' The Music Man''). She played the role for two years, and after an appearance in the short-lived show '' Saratoga'' in 1959 she returned to ''West Side Story'' for its 1960 season. Other Broadway successes were ''

Subways Are for Sleeping ''Subways Are for Sleeping'' is a musical produced by David Merrick with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The original Broadway production played in 1961–62. The musical was inspired by an article abo ...

'', ''

I Do! I Do! ''I Do! I Do!'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt which is based on the Jan de Hartog play ''The Fourposter''. The two-character story spans 50 years, from 1895 to 1945, as it focuses on the ups and down ...

'' (replacement "She/Agnes", 1967), and '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'' (1992–93, replacement Spider Woman/Aurora). She made a few record albums of standards and showtunes including ''Tonight at 8:30'' (1960), where she sang studio versions of the songs " Tonight", and " Something's Coming", both from ''West Side Story''. She played several roles at

in St. Louis, Missouri, the largest outdoor theater in the U.S., including Fanny Brice in '' Funny Girl'' (1975), Charity in '' Sweet Charity'' (1977), and Lucille Early in '' No, No, Nanette'' (1990). Among her other musical theatre parts are the title role in ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

'' (2000 at the Helen Hayes Center for Performing Arts in Nyack, New York), Guenevere in '' Camelot'' (opposite husband Robert Goulet), ''

Do I Hear a Waltz? ''Do I Hear a Waltz?'' is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Richard Rodgers, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It was adapted from Laurents' 1952 play ''The Time of the Cuckoo'', which was the basis for the 1955 film '' Summertime' ...

'' at the Pasadena Playhouse (2001), and ''

Follies ''Follies'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on the ''Ziegfeld Fol ...

'' at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles in 2002. Her television performances include a guest role in '' Breaking Point'' (as Evelyn Denner in the 1963 episode titled "There Are the Hip, and There Are the Square"). In October 1976, she appeared as the special guest on the popular weekly variety program ''

The Bobby Vinton Show ''The Bobby Vinton Show'' was a Canadian musical variety television series produced for the CTV Television Network between 1975 and 1978, with a total of 52 episodes broadcast. Featuring Bobby Vinton, a best-selling popular music singer since the ...

'', which aired across the United States and Canada. She performed "Friend of the Father". Other appearances include '' Rawhide''; ''

Combat! ''Combat!'' is an American television drama series that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American so ...

''; '' Wagon Train''; '' The Fugitive''; '' The Big Valley''; '' Hawaii 5-0''; ''

Marcus Welby, M.D. Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...

''; '' Medical Center''; ''

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to commo ...

''; '' Mannix''; '' Murder, She Wrote''; ''

Saved by the Bell ''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in primetime, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United States ...

''; and ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

''."Carol Lawrence"
masterworksbroadway.com, accessed April 25, 2015 From 1991 to 1993, she played the role of matriarch Angela Eckart on '' General Hospital''. She hosted five shows of ''Chef du Jour'' for the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

, cooking from ''I Remember Pasta'', her own cookbook, and setting a record for cookbook sales on the Home Shopping Network. In 1999, she appeared in the television movie remake of Jason Miller's ''

That Championship Season ''That Championship Season'' is a 1972 play by Jason Miller. It was the recipient of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1973 Tony Award for Best Play. Plot synopsis The setting is 1972 at the Coach's home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. O ...

'' in a cameo role as Claire's mother (the mother-in-law of

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

's character), a role written into the film specifically for her. In 2013, she appeared Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre Downstairs in Jason Odell Williams's play ''Handle with Care.'' Lawrence has written her autobiography, with Phyllis Hobe, titled ''Carol Lawrence: The Backstage Story'', published in 1990.

Awards

* The Theatre World Award "Most Promising Newcomer" West Side Story 1958 * Lawrence was awarded the Harvard Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Award in 1960. * She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Personal life

Lawrence married three times: * Cosmo Allegretti (January 13, 1956 – January 30, 1959; annulled) * Robert Goulet (1963–1981); together they had two sons, Christopher (b. 1964) and Michael Goulet (b. 1966). * Greg Guydus (March 7, 1982 – December 12, 1984) Lawrence and Goulet married while both were Broadway stars; their romance was treated in the press like a fairy-tale. In her 1990 book ''Carol Lawrence: The Backstage Story,'' she accused Goulet of having alcoholism and being an abusive husband and father. Lawrence, a registered Democrat, accompanied Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman John Bailey, DNC Vice-Chairwoman Margaret B. Price, DNC Secretary

Dorothy Vredenburgh Bush Dorothy McElroy Vredenburgh Bush (December 8, 1916 – December 21, 1991) was an American political activist. She was the secretary of the Democratic National Committee from 1944 to 1988. She also became the vice-president of the Young Democratic ...

, Lena Horne,

Richard Adler Richard Adler (August 3, 1921 – June 21, 2012) was an American lyricist, writer, composer and producer of several Broadway shows. Life and career Adler was born in New York City, the son of Elsa Adrienne (née Richard) and Clarence Adler. His ...

, and Sidney Salomon on a visit with

President John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until assassination of Joh ...

at The White House on November 20, 1963; two days before his assassination. Lawrence is Presbyterian and a member of the Bel Air Presbyterian Church.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Carol Living people 1932 births Actresses from Chicago Singers from Chicago American musical theatre actresses American soap opera actresses American people of Italian descent People from Melrose Park, Illinois American Presbyterians California Democrats Illinois Democrats 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American stage actresses American film actresses American television actresses