Nancy Dussault | |
|---|---|
 Dussault in 2010 | |
| Born | June 30, 1936 |
| Education | Northwestern University |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1961–present |
| Known for | |
| Spouses | James Dunton Travis (m. 1958;div. 1982)Valentine Mayer (m. 1985) |
Nancy Dussault (born June 30, 1936) [1] is an American actress and singer.
She is best known for playing Muriel Rush in the sitcom Too Close for Comfort (1980–1987). In a career spanning over half a century, Dussault received two Tony Award nominations.
In 1962, Dussault stepped into the role of Maria in the Broadway production of The Sound of Music . She received a Tony Award nomination in 1961 for Best Featured Actress (Musical) for Do Re Mi and was nominated for her performance in Bajour (1965). Of her performance in Do Re Mi and later career, Bloom and Vlastnik wrote: "Confidently clowning alongside such pros as Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker...she never faded into the scenery. Equally comfortable as a pure soprano or a rangy high belter, her versatility was well captured on the...cast album...Well cast as a situation comedy wife, she spent much of the 1970s and 80s in California." [2] Other stage shows included Quality Street in 1965 at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania. [3] In 1978 she played the title role in Peter Pan at the Meldoy Top Theatre in Wisconsin and Sacramento Music Circus. She also appeared in the City Center Gilbert & Sullivan NYC Company, directed by Dorothy Raedler, with such opera singers as Nico Castel, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, and Frank Porretta, Sr. Dussault took over as the Witch in Into the Woods on Broadway (1987–1989). She had appeared twelve years earlier in the revue Side by Side by Sondheim on Broadway. More recently she has appeared at The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco as Mrs Peachum in "The Threepenny Opera" (1999) and as Toinette in Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" (2007)[ citation needed ]
In Arthur Hiller's 1979 film The In-Laws , she played Carol Kornpett, wife of Alan Arkin who played Sheldon S. Kornpett, D.D.S.
On television, Dussault made guest appearances (primarily as a vocalist and dancer) on variety shows of the 1960s, including The Ed Sullivan Show , The Carol Burnett Show , and The Garry Moore Show . She was a regular on the 1970s series The New Dick Van Dyke Show and the long-running CBS game show Match Game . In 1973, Carl Reiner created "The Nancy Dussault Show" as a vehicle for Nancy, but the pilot never sold and the show was shelved. Dussault played the pivotal character in the 1975 "The Courtesans" episode of Barney Miller (S1 E5), when creator/producer Danny Arnold threatened to quit his own show if network censors removed a risque line. The resulting publicity over the x-rated episode ensured the series ratings survival, according to Hal Linden. [4]
Dussault guest-starred in an episode of the 1979 NBC anthology series $weepstake$ . She also played Ted Knight's wife in the role of photographer Muriel Rush on the 1980s situation comedy Too Close for Comfort . She was part of the first anchor team of the ABC morning show Good Morning America , paired with David Hartman, when that show launched in 1975. Dussault was the first actress to portray the character of Theresa Stemple, the mother of character Jamie Stemple Buchman, in season one of the NBC TV series Mad About You . In January 1997, she played the mayor of Metropolis in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman ("Lethal Weapon" – Season 4, Episode 12).
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Theatre World Awards | — | Do Re Mi | Won | [5] |
| 1961 | Tony Awards | Best Supporting or Featured Actress in a Musical | Nominated | [6] | |
| 1965 | Best Leading Actress in a Musical | Bajour | Nominated | [7] |
Hello, Dolly! is a 1964 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 1954. The musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder.
Carol Haney was an American dancer and actress. After assisting Gene Kelly in choreographing films, Haney won a Tony Award for her role in Broadway's The Pajama Game, while later work as a stage choreographer earned her three Tony nominations.
Dame Gladys Constance Cooper was an English actress, theatrical manager and producer, whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television.
Hal Linden is an American stage and screen actor, television director and musician.
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American comedian, actress, and singer. Her comedy-variety series, The Carol Burnett Show, which originally aired on CBS, was one of the first to be hosted by a woman. Burnett has performed on Broadway, on television, and in dramatic and comedic film roles. She has received numerous awards and accolades, including seven Golden Globe Awards, seven Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award. Burnett was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2015.
Mad About You is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City as they navigate life together. In later seasons, the couple has a daughter.
Charlotte Rae Lubotsky was an American character actress and singer whose career spanned sixty-six years.
Millicent Mary Lillian Martin is an English actress, singer, and comedian. She was the lone female singer of topical songs on the weekly BBC Television satirical show That Was the Week That Was, and won a BAFTA TV Award in 1964. For her work on Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Side by Side by Sondheim (1977) and King of Hearts (1978), both for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Other television roles include her recurring role as Gertrude Moon in the NBC sitcom Frasier (2000–04) and Joan Margaret in Grace & Frankie (2017–2022).
June Lockhart is an American retired actress, beginning a film career in the 1930s and 1940s in such films as A Christmas Carol and Meet Me in St. Louis. She acted primarily in 1950s and 1960s television and with performances on stage and in film. On two television series, Lassie and Lost in Space, she played mother roles. Lockhart also portrayed Dr. Janet Craig on the CBS television sitcom Petticoat Junction (1968–70). She is a two-time Emmy Award nominee and a Tony Award winner. With a career spanning nearly 90 years, Lockhart is one of the last surviving actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Bonnie Gail Franklin was an American actress. She is best known for her leading role as Ann Romano in the television series One Day at a Time (1975–1984). She was nominated for Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe Awards.
Patricia Castle Richardson is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, for which she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical. She also received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in Ulee's Gold (1997).
Joanna Gleason is a Canadian-American actress and singer, known for her performances in theatrical musicals and plays, and on film and television.
Hunter Foster is an American musical theatre actor, singer, librettist, playwright and director.
Elaine Stritch was an American actress, known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films and television series. Stritch was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995.
Penny Fuller is an American actress. She received two Tony Award nominations for her performances on Broadway stage: for Applause (1970), and The Dinner Party (2001). For her television performances, Fuller received six Emmy Award nominations, winning once, in 1982 for playing Madge Kendal in The Elephant Man.
Barbara Barrie is an American actress and author.
Patricia Ann Carroll was an American actress and comedian. She is best known for providing the voice of Ursula in The Little Mermaid. She made guest appearances in many popular television series including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laverne & Shirley, and ER; she also had a regular role on The Danny Thomas Show as Bunny Halper. Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee.
Karen Morrow is an American singer and actress best known for her work in musical theater. Her honors include an Emmy Award and a Theatre World Award, and an Ovation Award and five Drama-Logue Award nominations.
Susan Watson is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in musical theatre.
Ken Bloom is a New York-based, Grammy Award-winning theatre historian, playwright, director, record producer, and author.
| Preceded by None | Good Morning America co-host November 3, 1975–August 5, 1977 with David Hartman | Succeeded by Sandy Hill as David Hartman's co-host from 1977 to 1980 |
