Lisa Kirk

Lisa Kirk, born Elsie Kirk on February 25, 1925, in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, was an American actress and singer whose Broadway career spanned from 1947 to 1984. She was raised in Roscoe, Pennsylvania, where her childhood home later became the Hotel Roscoe. Kirk initially pursued a law degree at the University of Pittsburgh before abandoning her studies after being offered a position in the chorus line at the Versailles nightclub in Manhattan. She subsequently studied theatre at HB Studio in New York City. Her voice, a rich contralto described by contemporaries as a husky alto, became one of her most recognized attributes.

Kirk made her Broadway debut in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Allegro in 1947, introducing the song "The Gentleman is a Dope." The following year she earned critical acclaim originating the role of Lois Lane/Bianca in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, for which she introduced "Why Can't You Behave," "Always True to You (in My Fashion)," and performed "Tom, Dick or Harry" alongside Harold Lang as Lucentio, Edwin Clay as Gremio, and Charles Wood as Hortensio. Kirk recounted learning the songs directly from Cole Porter and performing them for investors prior to the show's opening. Bloom and Vlastnik, in Broadway Musicals: the 101 Greatest Shows of All Time, noted that Kirk "hit the jackpot again" with those introductions. Critic Lewis Nichols observed that having startled audiences the previous season with "The Gentleman is a Dope," Kirk proved equally captivating as Bianca, playing the role as a fully accredited hoyden with a sense of humor.

Her subsequent Broadway credits included Here's Love in 1963 and the 1974 production of Mack and Mabel, in which she played an older actress who becomes a star tap dancer. Critic Clive Barnes noted her performance as "particularly fine." Me Jack, You Jill, in which Kirk also starred, closed during previews in 1976. Her final Broadway appearance came in a 1984 revival of Noël Coward's Design for Living.

Beyond the stage, Kirk was active in early American television, appearing in anthology series including Studio One, where she co-starred in a production of The Taming of the Shrew on June 5, 1950, as well as Kraft Television Theatre, The Colgate Comedy Hour, and General Electric Theater. In later years she made guest appearances on sitcoms including Bewitched and The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and on variety programs such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Dean Martin Show. Her only feature film work was done off-screen, dubbing the majority of Rosalind Russell's singing in the 1962 film Gypsy, with the exception of "Mr. Goldstone" and the first half of "Rose's Turn." It was rumored that she had also dubbed Lucille Ball's singing in Mame, a claim Ball publicly denied on The Merv Griffin Show.

Kirk maintained an active nightclub career throughout her life, performing regularly at the Persian Room in the Plaza Hotel and at New York City's Rainbow and Stars nightclub. In an April 1989 review of her Rainbow and Stars engagement, New York Times critic John S. Wilson noted that her long career had given her polish and presence, and that she performed a solid foundation of songs associated with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, and Jerry Herman. Wilson also observed that while her voice may not have been as full-bodied as it once was, she retained a warm projection that brought sensitivity and color to her material. Kirk also recorded several solo albums, including I Feel A Song Comin' On and Lisa Kirk Sings At The Plaza, released in 1959.

In 1968, Kirk was involved in an automobile accident that caused whiplash and nerve damage in her lower back. Following four years of physical and voice rehabilitation, she returned to performing in September 1972 at the St. Regis nightclub in New York City. In 1949, she married sketch artist and songwriter Robert Wells, co-writer of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" with Mel Tormé; the marriage lasted until her death. They had no children. In 1950, Kirk's mother, also named Elsie Kirk, filed suit against her daughter, claiming an agreement existed for the two to share Kirk's earnings; Kirk denied any such agreement existed.

Kirk died of lung cancer on November 11, 1990, at Memorial Sloan Cancer Center in Manhattan. She was 65 years old.