Rosemary Prinz

Rosemary Prinz, born January 4, 1931, in the Bronx, New York, is an American actress whose career has spanned Broadway, daytime television, and regional theater for more than five decades. Her father, cellist Milton Prinz, performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini and founded the New York String Quartet. Prinz later taped the soap opera How to Survive a Marriage in the same studio where her father had worked with Toscanini.

Prinz made her professional acting debut in 1947 at age sixteen in Dream Girl at the Craigsmoor Summer Theatre, having received her father's permission to complete high school early. She subsequently appeared in touring productions of Joan of Lorraine alongside Diana Barrymore, Kiss and Tell, Glad Tidings, and The Second Man. In 1948, she performed in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Flat Rock Playhouse in North Carolina. Her Broadway debut came on December 17, 1952, when she played First Girl Scout in The Grey-Eyed People at the Martin Beck Theatre. She next appeared on Broadway as Pandore in Tonight in Samarkand, which opened at the Morosco Theatre on February 16, 1955.

During the mid-1950s, Prinz played Amy on the NBC soap opera First Love from 1954 to 1955. She then joined the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, appearing in its first episode on April 2, 1956, in the contract role of Penny Hughes. The character's romance with Jeff Baker, played by Mark Rydell, was considered daytime television's first teen romance. The couple's storyline concluded with Jeff's death in a car crash and Penny's subsequent amnesia. Prinz remained with the show until 1968, when conflicts with series creator and writer Irna Phillips, combined with the stress of the role, led to a nervous breakdown and her eventual departure. She made brief return appearances on the series in 1985, from March 29, 1986 through April 1987, in August 1998, and on December 26, 2000.

From 1968 to 1969, Prinz toured in The Apple Tree alongside Tom Ewell, playing the role of Ella. She returned to Broadway in a revival of Three Men on a Horse, playing Audrey Trowbridge when the production opened at the Lyceum Theatre on October 16, 1969. In January 1970, she joined the original cast of the ABC soap opera All My Children as Amy Tyler, a liberal peace activist. She agreed to the role for six months on the condition that creator Agnes Nixon write the character as protesting the Vietnam War and supporting Martin Luther King Jr. Prinz played Dr. Julie Franklin on the NBC soap opera How to Survive a Marriage from 1974 to 1975. She also appeared in a touring production of Last of the Red Hot Lovers in the early 1970s and starred in Mame and Gypsy at The Little Theatre on the Square in 1974 and 1975, respectively.

Prinz replaced Barbara Barrie in the role of Edna Edison in the original Broadway production of The Prisoner of Second Avenue, and in 1978 she appeared as Maggie Stratton in the original Broadway production of Tribute, co-starring with Jack Lemmon. That production opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on June 1, 1978. In December 1977, she had starred as Doris in Same Time, Next Year at New York's Studio Arena Theater. She played Maryanne in Amidst the Gladiolas at New York's Lion Theatre in December 1981 and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Sharon Playhouse in Connecticut in 1982. Her television work during this period included guest appearances on Laverne and Shirley, Hart to Hart, and Archie Bunker's Place, as well as a recurring role on Knots Landing.

In September 1983, Prinz starred as Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie for The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, a role she would go on to perform in five productions over the course of her career, including one in Japan. In July 1986, she co-starred with Fannie Flagg in a female version of The Odd Couple at the Westport Country Playhouse. The following year, Prinz originated the role of M'Lynn Eatenton in the Off-Broadway premiere of Steel Magnolias in 1987. The production had an extended run at the WP Theater before reopening at the Lucille Lortel Theatre during the summer of that year. In 1988, she took on the recurring role of Sister Mary Joel on the ABC soap opera Ryan's Hope.

Prinz co-starred with Ted Lange in a national tour of Driving Miss Daisy in the fall of 1989. Subsequent stage work included Tales of the Lost Formicans at New York's Apple Corps Theater in April 1990, A Perfect Ganesh at Connecticut's TheaterWorks in October and November 1995, Three Viewings at TheaterWorks in June 1996, Avow at New Jersey's George Street Playhouse in October 1996, and On Deaf Ears at the Martin R. Kaufman Theater in New York in December 1996 and January 1997. She starred as Lola in The Model Apartment at the La Jolla Playhouse in July 1997 and as Agnes in A Delicate Balance at Virginia Stage Company in Norfolk, Virginia, in October 1997.

Her later stage and screen work included the role of Maria Callas in Master Class at Portland Stage Company in 1998 and subsequent productions of the same play at Connecticut's TheaterWorks in January 2000 and Florida's Coconut Grove Playhouse in October 2000. She made her film debut in the romantic drama A Wedding for Bella, also released as The Bread, My Sweet, co-starring with Scott Baio. In September 2001, she co-starred with Mia Dillon in Concertina's Rainbow for Connecticut's Fairfield Theatre Company.