Kate Murtagh

Kate Murtagh (October 29, 1920 – September 10, 2017) was an American actress, singer, and comedienne whose career spanned Broadway, film, and television across more than five decades. Born in Los Angeles, California, she was active on Broadway from 1944 to 1982.

Murtagh came from a musically accomplished family. Her mother, born Wootson Davis in Sikeston, Missouri, relocated to New York City in the early 1910s to pursue vocal training and married Henry B. Murtagh by 1914. Her father was a nationally prominent theater organist, pianist, conductor, and composer who held significant posts in major American cities. His engagements included a 1920–22 contract at the Liberty Theater in Portland, Oregon, followed by positions in Los Angeles at Grauman's beginning in September 1920, in Buffalo at the Lafayette Square theater starting in April 1924, and later at Brooklyn's Paramount Theater in the late 1920s. Henry B. Murtagh also won a 1920 competition to compose music for Oregon's state song, which was officially adopted in 1927.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Murtagh performed in a vocal trio alongside her sisters Jean and Onriett, with both parents coaching the act. The group initially aimed to sing straight harmony in the style of the Pickens Sisters but gradually incorporated more comedy into their performances. Radio appearances began as early as 1934, and by 1935 the trio was performing on RKO's vaudeville circuit in Los Angeles, also working under the name the Three Radio Kittens. They appeared in the 1938 film Freshman Year and performed summers in a revival of the melodrama The Drunkard at Theatre Mart in Beverly Hills, while also touring vaudeville venues along the Pacific coast and further east.

By 1940 the sisters had secured engagements in major Eastern cities, including a March–April run at Philadelphia's Carman Theater. They joined the touring production of Hellzapoppin in 1940–41 and followed that with an October–November 1941 engagement at the Bal Tabarin restaurant in San Francisco. The wartime years marked the peak of the trio's success. In 1942 they filmed soundies in New York, mimed to pre-recordings, and performed at the Oriental Theater in Chicago, the State Theater in New York, the Capitol Theater in Washington, and the Drake Hotel in Chicago. Their 1943 New York appearances included the State Theater, Folies Bergere, and Walton Roof, and they performed three times that year for servicemen and women at the Stage Door Canteen.

The sisters made their Broadway debut as cast members of the 1944 revue Take a Bow. That same year they also appeared at Washington's Capitol Theater and at several Chicago venues, including the Chez Paree, Chicago Theater, and Latin Quarter. Around the end of 1946 the trio disbanded, and Murtagh transitioned to a solo act combining comedy and singing. Onstage she was a physically distinctive presence, standing 6 feet 1 inch tall in high heels with measurements of 37½–27½–37 inches.

Murtagh returned to Broadway in 1949, portraying Melissa Tatum in the play Texas, Li'l Darlin'. That role led to television appearances, including Zeke Manners' show on WJZ-TV in 1950 and The Billy Rose Show in 1951. She later appeared on Broadway in Sugar Babies. Her television work included a recurring role as Iona Dobson in It's a Man's World, as well as appearances on Daniel Boone, My Three Sons, The Munsters, I Dream of Jeannie, The Twilight Zone, and Highway to Heaven.

Her film credits included Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), The Night Strangler (1973), Dirty O'Neil (1974), Switchblade Sisters (1975), Farewell, My Lovely (1975), The Car (1977), Doctor Detroit (1983), and Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992). Beyond performing, Murtagh pursued painting seriously in the 1940s, and in 1955 her one-panel comic strip Annie and Fannie was launched in syndication by New York's United Feature Syndicate. She is also pictured on both the front and back covers of Supertramp's 1979 multi-platinum album Breakfast in America, depicted on the front cover as a waitress named Libby, posed in front of a representation of New York City in a stance echoing the Statue of Liberty while holding a glass of orange juice and a menu.

Murtagh retired from acting in 1999. In her final years she resided at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, where she participated in improvisation classes. She died there on September 10, 2017, at the age of 96.