Nancy Andrews was an American stage and film actress and singer.

Biography

Nancy Andrews was born in Minneapolis on December 16, 1920. Her parents were James Currier Andrews and Grace Ella Andrews (née Gerrish). She attended Beverley Hills High School and the Los Angeles City College

Los Angeles City College

Los Angeles City College, known as LACC, is a public community college in the East Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard...

. She also studied at the Pasadena Playhouse

Pasadena Playhouse

The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...

 and the American Shakespeare Academy. One July 29, 1989, Andrews died of a heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 at the age of 68 at the St. John's Hospital in Queens

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

.

Stage work

Nancy Andrews started her career as a cabaret singer and pianist. Her first stage appearance was in 1938 in a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...

at the Beverly Hills Shakespeare Theatre. From 1943 through 1945, she performed with the United Service Organizations

United Service Organizations

The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...

. Andrews made her Broadway theatre

Broadway 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 1949 in the revue Touch and Go at the Broadhurst Theatre

Broadhurst Theatre

The Broadhurst Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known theatre designer who had been working directly with the Shubert brothers; the Broadhurst opened 27 September 1917...

, a performance for which she won a Theatre World Award

Theatre World Award

The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...

. In 1954, Andrews toured Europe in the one-woman show Songs and Laughter. The following year, she appeared in the original production of Pipe Dream

Pipe Dream (musical)

Pipe Dream is the seventh stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II; it premiered on Broadway on November 30, 1955. The work is based on John Steinbeck's short novel Sweet Thursday—Steinbeck wrote the novel, a sequel to Cannery Row, in the hope of having it adapted into...

. In 1962 Andrews co-starred with Sid Caesar

Sid Caesar

Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...

 and Virginia Martin in the Broadway musical Little Me

Little Me

Little Me was the parody "confessional" self-indulgent autobiography of "Belle Poitrine" , subtitled The Intimate Memoirs of the Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, by Patrick Dennis, who had achieved a great success with Auntie Mame...

, playing Old Belle. Andrews appeared at the 1969 Dublin Theatre Festival

Dublin Theatre Festival

The Dublin Theatre Festival is Europe's oldest specialized theatre festival. It was founded by theatre impresario Brendan Smith in 1957 and has, with the exception of two years, produced a season of international and Irish theatre each autumn. It is one of a number of key post-World War II events...

 in a production of In the Summer House.

Film work

Nancy Andrews appeared in several films including The Werewolf of Washington

The Werewolf of Washington

The Werewolf of Washington is a 1973 horror comedy film written and directed by Milton Moses Ginsberg, produced by Nina Schulman and starring Dean Stockwell. It satirises several individuals in the Richard Nixon Presidency.-Plot summary:...

and Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams is a 1973 film which tells the story of a New York City homemaker who rethinks her relationships with her husband, her children and her mother...

in 1973, W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings

W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings

W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings is a 1975 film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by Thomas Rickman. The 20th Century Fox film took place in 1957 and featured the first acting appearances of Jerry Reed and Brad Dourif....

in 1975, and The Night of the Juggler in 1978. She also appeared on various talk shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....

(then referred to as Toast of the Town), The Perry Como Show, and The Merv Griffin Show

The Merv Griffin Show

The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...

. Andrews was a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....

.