Nancy Walker

Name	Nancy Walker
Caption	from the trailer for Best Foot Forward (1943)
Birth name	Anna Myrtle Smoyer
Birth date	May 10, 1922
Birth place	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death date	March 25, 1992
Death place	Studio City, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, director
Years active	1941–1991

Nancy Walker (May 10, 1922 – March 25, 1992) was an American actress and comedienne of stage, screen, and television. She was also a film and television director (most notably of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, on which she also made several acting guest appearances). During her five-decade long career, she may be best remembered for her long-running role of Ida Morgenstern, who first appeared on several episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and later became a prominent recurring character on the spinoff series Rhoda.

Early life

Walker was born as Anna Myrtle Smoyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1922, the elder of two daughters of vaudevillian Dewey Barto (né Smoyer). Both she and her father stood 4'11" (1.50 m). Her mother died when her younger sister Betty Lou was an infant. She and Betty Lou, who would also have a musical career, were raised "in-a-trunk" by their father (Dewey Barto; 1896–1973). Barto was a vaudeville entertainer in the comedic and acrobatic dance act, Barto and Mann.

Acting career

Walker made her Broadway debut in 1941 in Best Foot Forward. The role provided Walker with her film debut when a movie version, starring Lucille Ball, was filmed in 1943. A subsequent appearance was in the MGM musical, Broadway Rhythm, in which she had a featured musical number, "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet".

Her height reportedly made her difficult to cast. Her dry comic delivery enabled her to continue acting throughout the 1940s and 1950s, originating the roles of Hildy Eszterhazy ("I Can Cook, Too!") in On the Town and Katey O'Shea in Copper and Brass on Broadway. She was nominated for a Tony Award in 1956 for her work in the musical revue Phoenix '56 and again in 1960 for her performance in the hit musical Do Re Mi co-starring with Phil Silvers. Her appearances in musicals led to record releases. One such release, I Hate Men (1959), with Sid Bass and his orchestra, featuring such show tunes as "I'm Going to Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" and "You Irritate Me So", has been identified as having one of the worst album covers of all time.

Dozens of television guest appearances and recurring roles followed, providing her with steady work. Her career spanned five decades, and included comedies, dramas and television variety shows such as The Garry Moore Show and The Carol Burnett Show. In the 1960-61 television season, she appeared in two episodes of NBC's The Tab Hunter Show. In 1970, she secured a recurring role as Emily the housekeeper on the television series Family Affair, which starred Brian Keith. However the show's ratings plummeted opposite NBC's popular The Flip Wilson Show, and was cancelled. The same year Walker made her first appearance playing Ida Morgenstern, the mother of Valerie Harper's character Rhoda Morgenstern on the first season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The episode which introduced her character, "Support Your Local Mother", was so well-received that it won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in a Comedy Series for James L. Brooks and Allan Burns. Walker thereafter became an annual guest star on the show for the next three years. In 1974, when the MTM spinoff series, Rhoda premiered, Walker joined the cast as a regular.

From 1971-76, she was also a regular on the successful Rock Hudson detective series McMillan & Wife, playing the McMillans' housekeeper, Mildred. These two roles brought her seven Emmy Award nominations. In 1976, ABC-TV offered Walker a contract to headline her own series, The Nancy Walker Show, which was produced by Norman Lear's production company. In that show, Walker starred as Nancy Kittredge, a talent agent. Walker's contract specified that if the series was canceled before its first thirteen weeks, she would then star in another sitcom on ABC.

Before she filmed the first episode of the series, Walker made her only appearance on Rhoda for the 1976-77 season. In the season premiere, "The Separation", Rhoda (Valerie Harper) and her husband Joe (David Groh) decide to separate. Rhoda tries to keep the news from her mother Ida (Walker) since Ida is about to embark on a year-long trip across America with Rhoda's father (Harold Gould). Ida learns the truth from Rhoda prior to Ida's departure. For her performance in this episode, Walker was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance By A Supporting Actress In A Comedy Or Drama Series.

The Nancy Walker Show premiered on ABC-TV in late September 1976. It received poor reviews and low ratings and was cancelled in December 1976. Almost immediately, Garry Marshall signed Walker for another series, Blansky's Beauties. The main character of the series was introduced a week before the series premiere in an episode of the hit sitcom, Happy Days. The show premiered on ABC-TV in February 1977. In this program, Walker played Nancy Blansky, den mother to a group of Las Vegas showgirls. It also failed to find an audience and was canceled in May 1977, giving Walker the rare distinction of being in two failed series in the same year. She returned to Rhoda at the beginning of the 1977–1978 season (giving the show a much needed boost in the ratings, which had fallen the previous year), and remained with the series for the rest of its run. During this time, Walker began directing, including episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda and Alice.

One of Walker's last major film roles was in the 1976 all-star comedy spoof Murder by Death. She continued to remain active in show business until her death, playing Rosie, a New Jersey diner waitress in a series of commercials for Bounty paper towels from 1970 to 1990. She helped make the product's slogan, "The Quicker Picker Upper", a common catchphrase. Among her final appearances in a television series was the recurring role of "Aunt Angela", Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty)'s widowed sister, on The Golden Girls, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination.

Directing career

In 1980, Walker made her feature film directorial debut, directing disco group The Village People and Olympian Bruce Jenner in the pseudo-autobiographical musical Can't Stop the Music. The film was a box office failure, although it later became something of a camp/cult favorite. This was the only theatrical film ever directed by Walker.

Death

Nancy Walker died from lung cancer in Studio City, California on March 25, 1992, aged 69. At the time of her death, she was co-starring in the situation comedy True Colors. Her ashes were scattered in the Virgin Islands. She was survived by her husband and daughter.

Personal life

Married twice, Nancy Walker and her second husband, musical theater teacher David Craig, had a daughter, Miranda. David Craig died in 1998, aged 75, also from lung cancer. Miranda Craig was an advertising copywriter; she died in 2000, aged 47.

References

Source

Thomas S. Hischak. The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: theatre, film, and television (June 2008), Oxford University Press, USA (ISBN 0195335333)

External links

Category:1922 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Actors from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American television actors Category:American television directors Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Female film directors Category:Female television directors Category:Deaths from lung cancer