Phyllis Newman (March 19, 1933 – September 15, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She won the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Martha Vail in the musical '' Subways Are for Sleeping'' on Broadway, received the Isabelle Stevenson Award in 2009 and was nominated another Tony for '' Broadway Bound'' (1987), as well as two nominations for

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

Early life and education

Newman was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, one of three daughters of a Jewish immigrant couple. Her mother, Rachel Gottlieb, from Lithuania, was professionally known as Marvelle the Fortune Teller. Her father, Sigmund Newman, from Warsaw, billed himself as Gabel the Graphologist, working with his wife in boardwalk amusements. Newman had two sisters, Shirley (Mrs. Elliott) Porte, and Elaine (Mrs. Harry) Sandaufer. She attended Lincoln High School, where she was voted "Future Hollywood Star."

Career

Broadway

Newman made her Broadway debut in '' Wish You Were Here'' in 1952. Additional theater credits include '' Bells Are Ringing'', '' Pleasures and Palaces'', '' The Apple Tree'', '' On the Town'', '' The Prisoner of Second Avenue'', '' Awake and Sing!'', '' Broadway Bound,'' and '' Subways Are for Sleeping'', for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, beating out

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

in '' I Can Get It for You Wholesale''. Newman played Stella Deems in the 1985 staged concert version of ''Follies'' at Avery Fischer Hall in New York. The concert produced both a cast recording as well as a filmed documentary, preserving her performance singing "Who's That Woman?". In June 1979, Newman and

Arthur Laurents Arthur Laurents (July 14, 1917 – May 5, 2011) was an American playwright, theatre director, film producer and screenwriter. With a career spanning seven decades he received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, ...

collaborated on the one-woman show ''

The Madwoman of Central Park West ''The Madwoman of Central Park West'' is a semi-autobiography, autobiographical one-woman musical theatre, musical with a book by Arthur Laurents and Phyllis Newman and songs by various composers and lyricists. It focuses on the difficulties faced ...

.'' Produced by Fritz Holt, it featured songs by

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

, Jerry Bock,

John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Cab ...

, Martin Charnin, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Edward Kleban,

Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita ...

, Sheldon Harnick, Peter Allen,

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...

Carole Bayer Sager Carole Bayer Sager (born Carol Bayer on March 8, 1944) is an American lyricist, singer, songwriter, and painter. Early life and career Carole Bayer was born in New York City, to Anita Nathan Bayer and Eli Bayer. Her family was Jewish. She gradu ...

, and

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...

. The show ran for 86 performances at the 22 Steps Theatre in New York City.

Television

An early television role for Newman was in a 1957 episode of Beverly Garland's crime drama '' Decoy''. In 1960, she was cast as Doris Hudson on the CBS summer replacement series '' Diagnosis: Unknown'', with Patrick O'Neal as Dr. Daniel Coffee. Newman became a major television celebrity of the 1960s and 1970s, a frequent panelist on the top-rated network game shows ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a Panel show, panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent American revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists ...

'', ''

Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity paneli ...

'' and ''

To Tell the Truth ''To Tell the Truth'' is an American television panel show. Four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants (the "team of challengers", each an individual or pair) and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual ...

'' and a perennial guest of Johnny Carson on NBC's ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

''. She also guest-starred as Elaine, the mother of Melissa (played by Melanie Mayron), on the 1980s television series '' Thirtysomething''. Newman created the role of former madame Renée Devine Buchanan on the soap opera ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...

'' and was a regular on the primetime series '' 100 Centre Street'' and the satirical series '' That Was The Week That Was''. Other television credits include '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''; '' Burke's Law''; '' ABC Stage 67''; ''

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 f ...

''; and ''

The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...

''. Newman departed the cast of ''One Life to Live'' to appear on ''

Coming of Age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

'', a short-lived comedy about a couple living in an Arizona retirement community, with veteran actors Paul Dooley, Glynis Johns and Alan Young.

Film

On screen, Newman appeared in ''

Picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event su ...

'' (1955), '' Let's Rock'' (1958), '' Bye Bye Braverman'' (1968), '' To Find a Man'' (1972), ''

Mannequin A mannequin (sometimes spelled as manikin and also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off dif ...

'' (1987), '' Only You'' (1994), '' The Beautician and the Beast'' (1997), '' A Price Above Rubies'' (1998), '' A Fish in the Bathtub'' (1999), and '' The Human Stain'' (2003).

Music

In addition to her appearances on original cast recordings, Newman recorded ''Those Were the Days'', an album of contemporary songs, for

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...

in 1968. In England, the album was released as ''Phyllis Newman's World of Music'' on

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

The Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative

In 1995, Newman founded The Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of the

Actors Fund of America The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that supports performers and behind-the-scenes workers in performing arts and entertainment, helping more than 17,000 people directly each year. Se ...

. Since then, she hosted the annual gala Nothing Like a Dame, which has raised more than US $3.5 million and served 2,500 women in the entertainment industry.Finn, Robin (February 27, 2004
"Still a Broadway Baby After All These Years"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. In 2009, Newman received the first Isabelle Stevenson Award, a special Tony Award, for her work with the Health Initiative. This award recognizes "an individual from the theatre community for is or herhumanitarian work."

Memoir

Her memoir ''Just in Time — Notes from My Life'' relates her career; life with her husband, lyricist and playwright Adolph Green; and her experience with cancer.

Personal life and death

Newman was married to lyricist and playwright Adolph Green from 1960 until his death in 2002. She was the mother of journalist Adam Green and singer-songwriter

Amanda Green Amanda Green (born December 29, 1963) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. In 2021, she was elected president of the Dramatists Guild of America, the first woman to hold the role in the Guild's 100-year history. Early life and edu ...

. Newman died on September 15, 2019, at the age of 86 from complications of a lung disorder.September 15, 2019
"Phyllis Newman Has Passed Away at 86"
'' Broadway World''.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * *
TonyAwards.com Interview with Phyllis Newman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Phyllis 1933 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American biographers American women biographers 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American biographers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women writers Actresses from New York City Actresses from Jersey City, New Jersey American film actresses American women founders American memoirists American musical theatre actresses American soap opera actresses Lincoln High School (New Jersey) alumni Musicians from Jersey City, New Jersey Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey Singers from New Jersey Singers from New York City Tony Award winners American women memoirists Sire Records artists London Records artists 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers Jewish American actresses Jewish American musicians 21st-century American Jews