Angela Lansbury wins her first Tony Award 1966

Dame Angela Lansbury won her first of many Tony Awards at the 20th annual ceremony, June 16, 1966.  She originated the role of Mame Dennis in the musical Mame.   Mame had been nominated for eight Tony Awards.  Sweet Charity was nominated for nine, and Man of La Mancha got seven nominations.

Angela won Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.  Bea Arthur won Best Performance by a Supporting or Featured Actress in a Musical.  Frankie Michaels won Best Performance by a Supporting or Featured Actor in Musical.

Angela would go on to win five more Tony Awards.

 

"Fiddler On The Roof" debuts on Broadway 1964

Fiddler on the Roof, a musical by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, made its Broadway debut September 22, 1964. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem.  

It was the first musical to surpass 3,000 performances and held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for 10 years until Grease surpassed it. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won 9.

Zero Mostel played Tevye and Bea Arthur appeared as the matchmaker Yente.

Rue McClanahan born 1934

Wonderful and hilarious Rue McClanahan, born February 21, 1934 in Healdton, Oklahoma(!), became a favorite of television fans when she appeared as ditzy neighbor Vivian Harmon on the sitcom Maude starring Bea Arthur.  She starred in Mama's Family with Vicki Lawrence as Aunt Fran and a guest appearance on Murder, She Wrote with Angela Lansbury.

Then she landed a role that cemented her fanbase forever, when she was cast as the seductive, unashamedly promiscuous Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls with Betty White and Bea Arthur.

She remained active by appearing in roles throughout the 1990s and 2000s when she starred as Peggy Ingram in the mini-series Sordid Lives, a prequel to the movie of the same name.

Rue left us in June 2010 when she suffered a brain hemorrhage.

We miss you, Blanche!