Today would have been the 87th birthday of the "Broadway Bombshell" Nancy Walker.
Although most people remember her for her 70s TV roles as the domineering mother in the Mary Tyler-Moore spin-off series Rhoda and as the housekeeper in MacMillan and Wife, she was in fact a ground-breaking artiste in the history of American musical theatre, working with luminaries such as Lucille Ball, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Phil Silvers, Jule Styne, Bert Lahr, Jackie Gleason, Jerome Robbins and Dick Van Dyke. Leonard Bernstein was an early fan. He created the role of Hildy in On The Town with Nancy in mind, and it is her version of I Can Cook Too! that all subsequent actresses in that role aspire to emulate.
Her chutzpah and comic timing led her to appear in numerous TV variety shows, with among others Carol Burnett and Tab Hunter, and eventually to her own (unsuccessful) show.
One of her last screen appearances was as the hilarious deaf mute maid in one of my favourite movies Murder By Death, with its all-star cast including Truman Capote, Alec Guinness, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Peter Sellers, Eileen Brennan and Elsa Lanchester. And a little-known fact is that Miss Walker directed the kitsch cult classic Village People film Can't Stop The Music...
A whirlwind, a firebrand and a truly talented all-rounder, I loved her.
Nancy Walker (10th May 1922 – 25th March 1992)
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