RIP: Kaye Ballard (Broadway + TV Star)

[erik]

Another loss for Broadway, and television too: Kaye Ballard, who was a fixture on the Great White Way and on TV well into the 1990s, passed away Monday at her home in Rancho Mirage at the age of 93:

deadline.com/2019/01/kaye-ballard-dead-mothers-in-law-girl-most-likely-star-was-93-1202539451/

[ronstadtfanaz2]

A couple of short-lived Broadway productions followed before Ballard appeared in the most arguably successful — or at least highest-profile — stage production of her career: the New York Shakespeare Festival’s 1981 production of The Pirates of Penzance starring Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt. Ballard was among the replacement cast, taking over the role of Ruth from Estelle Parsons.

Sad to see her go but she appears to have had a great life.  I enjoyed her in the Mothers-In-Law tv series where I first became aware of her.

[rick]

Thanks, Erik, for posting this.
There is a great documentary called “Broadway: The Golden Age.” In this clip, Ballard talks about her experience on “Pirates.” I don’t believe Linda was in the show very long with Kaye Ballard after Parsons left. If memory serves, Karla DeVito replaced Linda.
Kaye Ballard is making a point —

[erik]

Kaye was also a fixture on a number of TV game shows from the late 1960s into the 1970s; in fact, I have seen her on re-runs of Match Game on BUZZR (the digital TV channel that re-runs many of those classic game shows).

Sad to see another one leave the scene, but she certainly made an impact (hopefully on Linda as well with Pirates)