Marcia Lewis
Encyclopedia
Marcia Lewis was an American character actress
and singer. She has been nominated twice for the Tony Award
as Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Chicago and Grease) and twice for the Drama Desk Award
for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Chicago and Rags).
and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio
. She was a registered nurse at the The University of Cincinnati Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
and received her RN from the Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in Cincinnati in 1959.
debut in the original production of Hello, Dolly!
, taking over the role of Ernestina. Additional theater credits include The Time of Your Life
(1969), Annie
, taking over the role of Miss Hannigan in April 1981, Rags
(1986) (nominee, Drama Desk Award
, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical), Roza (1987), Orpheus Descending
with Vanessa Redgrave
(1989), and the 1990 revival of Fiddler on the Roof
as Golde. Lewis appeared in the 1994 revival of Grease
as Miss Lynch, and was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She appeared as the Matron in the 1996 revival of Chicago
. For her work, she received nominations for the Tony Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Drama Desk Award
, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.
She appeared at the Off-Broadway
Theatre of the Zanies in An Impudent Wolf (1965), the Players Theatre in Who's Who Baby? (1968), and Playwrights Horizons
in Romance Language in 1984 and When She Danced in 1990.
Lewis toured in Cabaret
as Fraulein Schneider and appeared in Chicago at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas
, Nevada, for three months. Her television credits include guest appearances on The Bob Newhart Show
(1975), Baretta
(1975), The Bionic Woman
(1976), Happy Days
(1977, 1979), the TV movie When She Was Bad (1979) and Kate and Allie (1988).
s in Manhattan
, including Rainbow & Stars, Upstairs at the Duplex, Upstairs at the Downstairs, Grande Finale, Reno Sweeney's, Freddy's Eighty-Eights, Town Hall, The Village Gate
, and the Russian Tea Room
. Lewis also appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall
.
Lewis' solo album Nowadays (1998), a collection of showtunes and standards recorded with the Mark Hummel Quartet, is available on the Original Cast Records label.
, of cancer, aged 72.
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
and singer. She has been nominated twice for the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
as Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Chicago and Grease) and twice for the Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Chicago and Rags).
Biography
Lewis was born in Melrose, MassachusettsMelrose, Massachusetts
-Government:Robert J. Dolan is the mayor. Melrose is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by Paul Brodeur . Katherine Clark is the state senator for wards 1 through 5 and Thomas McGee is the state senator for wards 6 and 7. Melrose is part of the seventh Congressional...
and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. She was a registered nurse at the The University of Cincinnati Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is one of the oldest and largest teaching hospitals in the United States. In 2011-2012, Mount Sinai Hospital was ranked as one of America's best hospitals by U.S...
and received her RN from the Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in Cincinnati in 1959.
Stage and television
Lewis made her BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut in the original production of Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! (musical)
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
, taking over the role of Ernestina. Additional theater credits include The Time of Your Life
The Time of Your Life
The Time of Your Life is a 1939 five-act play by American playwright William Saroyan. The play is the first drama to win both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The play opened 25 October 1939 at the Booth Theatre in New York City...
(1969), Annie
Annie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
, taking over the role of Miss Hannigan in April 1981, Rags
Rags (musical)
Rags is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and music by Charles Strouse.-Production history:The Broadway production opened on August 21, 1986 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre with little advance sale and to mostly indifferent reviews, and it closed after only four...
(1986) (nominee, Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical), Roza (1987), Orpheus Descending
Orpheus Descending
Orpheus Descending is a play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway in 1957 where it enjoyed a brief run with only modest success. The play is basically a rewrite of an earlier play by Williams called Battle of Angels, which was written in 1940, but had been closed on its opening...
with Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
(1989), and the 1990 revival of Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
as Golde. Lewis appeared in the 1994 revival of Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
as Miss Lynch, and was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She appeared as the Matron in the 1996 revival of Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
. For her work, she received nominations for the Tony Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.
She appeared at the Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
Theatre of the Zanies in An Impudent Wolf (1965), the Players Theatre in Who's Who Baby? (1968), and Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
in Romance Language in 1984 and When She Danced in 1990.
Lewis toured in Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
as Fraulein Schneider and appeared in Chicago at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
, Nevada, for three months. Her television credits include guest appearances on The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, , to April 1, . Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers...
(1975), Baretta
Baretta
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma...
(1975), The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman is an American television series starring Lindsay Wagner that aired for three seasons between 1976 and 1978 as a spin off from The Six Million Dollar Man. Wagner stars as tennis pro Jaime Sommers who is nearly killed in a skydiving accident. Sommers' life is saved by Oscar Goldman ...
(1976), Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
(1977, 1979), the TV movie When She Was Bad (1979) and Kate and Allie (1988).
Cabaret and recording
As a singer, Lewis performed in most of the leading cabarets and supper clubSupper club
A supper club, in general, refers to a dining establishment that also functions as a social club. The term may describe different establishments depending on the region, but in general, supper clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to...
s in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, including Rainbow & Stars, Upstairs at the Duplex, Upstairs at the Downstairs, Grande Finale, Reno Sweeney's, Freddy's Eighty-Eights, Town Hall, The Village Gate
The Village Gate
The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York.Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 158 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structure by architect Ernest Flagg was known at the time as...
, and the Russian Tea Room
Russian Tea Room
The Russian Tea Room is a restaurant in New York City, located at 150 West 57th Street between Carnegie Hall Tower and Metropolitan Tower.-History:...
. Lewis also appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
.
Lewis' solo album Nowadays (1998), a collection of showtunes and standards recorded with the Mark Hummel Quartet, is available on the Original Cast Records label.
Personal life
Lewis and Fred D. Bryan, a Nashville financial adviser, were married on June 24, 2001. Lewis died on December 21, 2010, at her home in Brentwood, TennesseeBrentwood, Tennessee
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 23,445 people, 7,693 households, and 6,808 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 7,889 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.63% European American, 1.89% African American,...
, of cancer, aged 72.