Barbara Cook

Barbara Cook (October 25, 1927 – August 8, 2017) was an American actress and singer born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Nell (née Harwell) and Charles Bunyan Cook. Her father worked as a traveling hat salesman and her mother as a telephone operator for Southern Bell. Her parents divorced during her childhood, and after her only sister died of whooping cough, Cook lived alone with her mother. Despite beginning to sing at an early age — performing at the Elks Club and singing to her father over the phone — she spent three years after high school graduation working as a typist. In 1947, she was engaged as a featured performer at Atlanta's Southeastern Fair at the Lakewood Fairgrounds. The following year, during a visit to Manhattan with her mother, she chose to remain in the city and pursue an acting career.

Before reaching Broadway, Cook built her early performance experience through a touring vaudeville act in 1949 called "A Toast To Rodgers and Hammerstein," organized by pianist Erwin Strauss, the son of composer Oscar Straus. The act began in Boston and performed primarily at hotels and venues owned by Ernie Byfield in cities including New York and Chicago. By 1950, she had secured an engagement at the Blue Angel club in Manhattan. Her Broadway debut came in 1951, when she originated the role of Sandy in the short-lived musical Flahooley, a credit that appears in her verified Broadway record. That same year she portrayed Ado Annie in a City Center revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, remaining with the production as it moved to a national tour in 1952.

Cook's television work began in 1952 with an appearance on Armstrong Circle Theatre in an original play called Mr. Bemiss Takes a Trip. In 1954, she appeared in the soap opera Golden Windows and starred as Jane Piper in a television adaptation of Victor Herbert's operetta Babes in Toyland. That summer she returned to City Center to play Carrie Pipperidge in a revival of Carousel, a production she later described as the first time critics took serious notice of her work.

Her stage reputation grew substantially in 1955 with Plain and Fancy, in which she played the supporting role of Hilda Miller and received significant critical praise. Cook was also recognized with a Theatre World Award in 1955. The following year, her coloratura soprano range earned her the role of Cunegonde in Leonard Bernstein's Candide, in which she performed the vocally demanding comic aria "Glitter and Be Gay." Though Candide did not achieve commercial success, her portrayal of Cunegonde solidified her standing as one of Broadway's leading ingenues. In 1957, she appeared in a second City Center revival of Carousel, this time as Julie Jordan, and then originated the role of Marian the Librarian in Meredith Willson's The Music Man, for which she received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1958.

Cook continued to appear on television in the late 1950s, with credits including a 1956 Producers' Showcase production of Bloomer Girl, a 1957 live broadcast of The Yeomen of the Guard, a 1958 musical adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, and appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, and The Play of the Week. On Broadway, she starred in an acclaimed 1960 City Center revival of The King and I and in the short-lived 1961 musical The Gay Life. In 1963, she created the role of Amalia Balash in the Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick musical She Loves Me, and the number "Ice Cream" from that production became one of her signature songs.

By the mid-1960s, Cook was taking on a broader range of work. She appeared in the 1964 Broadway production Something More!, which ran for only 15 performances, and took on non-musical roles, replacing Sandy Dennis in the play Any Wednesday in 1965. She originated the role of Patsy Newquist in Jules Feiffer's 1967 play Little Murders, a credit confirmed in her Broadway record. She also starred in national tours of The Unsinkable Molly Brown in 1964 and Funny Girl in 1967. Her final original book musical role on Broadway came in 1971 with The Grass Harp, in which she played Dolly Talbo. In 1972, she returned to dramatic work in the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center's production of Maxim Gorky's Enemies. Her Broadway record also includes The Music Master among her credits, and her performing career on Broadway spanned from 1943 to 2010.

During the 1970s, Cook faced personal struggles with depression, obesity, and alcoholism, quitting drinking in 1977. Her professional circumstances shifted in the mid-1970s when she met composer and pianist Wally Harper, who encouraged her to develop a solo concert. On January 26, 1975, she made her debut in a solo concert at Carnegie Hall, accompanied by Harper, which produced both a celebrated performance and a live album. The collaboration with Harper continued until his death in 2004 and took Cook to cabaret venues and concert halls across New York City — including Michael's Pub and the St. Regis Hotel — as well as to national and international stages. Cook and Harper returned to Carnegie Hall in September 1980 for a concert of Harper's arrangements, later released on the recording It's Better With a Band.

In 1986, Cook received an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement for her one-woman show at London's Donmar Warehouse and the Albery Theatre. The following year, she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One Person Show in 1987 for her Broadway production A Concert for the Theatre, both presented with Harper. In October 1991, Cook and Harper appeared as featured artists at the Carnegie Hall Gala Music and Remembrance: A Celebration of Great Musical Partnerships, a benefit for the performing arts and AIDS research. In 1994, they performed a critically acclaimed concert series at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, which was recorded by DRG. Cook was named an honoree at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors. She made numerous recordings throughout her career and continued performing into her eighties. Cook died on August 8, 2017.