Nanette Fabray facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nanette Fabray
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Fabray in 1963
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| Born |
Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares
October 27, 1920 San Diego, California, U.S.
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| Died | February 22, 2018 (aged 97) Palos Verdes, California, U.S.
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| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1924–2007 |
| Spouse(s) |
David Tebet
(m. 1947; div. 1951)Ranald MacDougall
(m. 1957; died 1973) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Shelley Fabares (niece) |
Nanette Fabray (born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares; October 27, 1920 – February 22, 2018) was a talented American actress, singer, and dancer. She started performing in vaudeville (a type of live variety show) when she was just a child. Later, she became a famous musical theater actress in the 1940s and 1950s.
She won a Tony Award in 1949 for her role in the musical Love Life. In the mid-1950s, she was a comedy partner to Sid Caesar on Caesar's Hour, earning three Emmy Awards. She also appeared with Fred Astaire in the movie musical The Band Wagon. From 1979 to 1984, she played Katherine Romano on the TV show One Day at a Time. She also acted alongside her niece, Shelley Fabares, in the TV series "Coach."
Nanette Fabray bravely dealt with a significant hearing impairment. She became a strong supporter for the rights of deaf and hard-of-hearing people. She received special awards for her work, including the President's Distinguished Service Award.
Contents
Early Life and Challenges
Nanette Fabray was born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares on October 27, 1920, in San Diego. Her mother, Lily Agnes, was a housewife, and her father, Raoul Bernard Fabares, was a train conductor. She used her middle name, Nanette, as her first name to honor a beloved aunt. Friends often called her Nan.
Her family lived in Los Angeles. Nanette's mother helped her get into show business as a child. She learned tap dance from famous dancers like Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. At age three, she made her first professional stage appearance. She spent much of her childhood dancing and singing in vaudeville shows as "Baby Nan."
Even though she started performing very young, Nanette wasn't always interested in show business. She believed children should enjoy their childhoods. She always considered herself a tap dancer first. She was not a regular on the "Our Gang" series, only appearing once as an extra.
When Nanette was nine, her parents divorced. During the Great Depression, her mother turned their home into a boarding house. Nanette and her siblings helped run it, with Nanette often ironing clothes. In her early teens, she studied at the Max Reinhardt School of the Theatre. She graduated from Hollywood High School in 1939.
Nanette always struggled in school because of an undiagnosed hearing problem. In her twenties, an acting teacher encouraged her to get her hearing tested. She was diagnosed with conductive hearing loss. Nanette said, "All these years I had thought I was stupid, but in reality, I just had a hearing problem." This discovery was a big moment for her.
A Star's Journey
Theatre Success
At 19, Nanette Fabray made her first movie appearance in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). She then appeared in a stage show called Meet the People in 1940. In this show, she famously sang an opera song while tap dancing!
A famous conductor, Artur Rodziński, saw her performance. He offered to help her study opera at the Juilliard School. However, Nanette preferred performing in musical theatre over opera. She decided to focus on Broadway.
She became a very successful musical theater actress in New York. She starred in shows like By Jupiter (1942) and High Button Shoes (1947). In 1949, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Love Life. After some time away, she returned to Broadway in 1963 and continued to tour in musicals for many years.
Television and Film Roles
In the 1940s, Nanette Fabray started working in television. She appeared on popular variety shows like The Ed Sullivan Show. From 1954 to 1956, she was a regular on Caesar's Hour with Sid Caesar. She won three Emmys for her comedy work on the show.
In 1961, Fabray starred in her own sitcom, Westinghouse Playhouse, also known as The Nanette Fabray Show. The show was loosely based on her own life as a newly married woman with stepchildren.
She often played the role of a mother on TV. She was the mother of the main character on One Day at a Time. She also played the mother of her real-life niece, Shelley Fabares, on the show Coach.
Nanette was a frequent guest on many popular shows. She appeared 13 times on The Carol Burnett Show. She was also a panelist on 230 episodes of the game show The Hollywood Squares. She played many game shows, including What's My Line? and Match Game.
In 1953, Fabray played her most famous movie role in the musical The Band Wagon. She starred with Fred Astaire and Jack Buchanan. In one famous scene, they performed the funny musical number "Triplets." Her other films include Harper Valley PTA (1978) and Amy (1981). Her last performance was in 2007 in a show called The Damsel Dialogues.
Personal Life
Nanette Fabray's first husband was David Tebet. Their marriage ended partly because of her struggles with depression and her worsening hearing loss. Her second husband was screenwriter Ranald MacDougall. They were married from 1957 until his death in 1973. They had one son, Jamie MacDougall.
She lived in Pacific Palisades, California. She was the aunt of actress and singer Shelley Fabares. Nanette was also friends with Ronald Reagan and supported his campaign for governor in 1966.
Nanette had two serious accidents during her career. In 1955, she was knocked unconscious by a falling pipe backstage during Caesar's Hour. In 1978, during the filming of Harper Valley PTA, she suffered another concussion when an elephant was spooked and knocked her over. She had temporary memory loss and vision problems but still managed to finish her scenes.
Advocacy and Honors
Nanette Fabray was a strong advocate for hearing awareness and support for deaf people. She served on many boards and spoke at events. She was one of the first people to use American Sign Language on live television. She showed sign language on shows like The Carol Burnett Show and Match Game.
In 1982, she even helped create a story line for an episode of One Day at a Time about hearing loss and sign language. She also helped bring attention to the need for closed-captioning on TV.
After her second husband passed away, Nanette also became an advocate for widows' rights. She worked to raise awareness about laws affecting widows and their finances.
Nanette Fabray passed away on February 22, 2018, at the age of 97.
She won a Tony Award and three Emmy Awards. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1986, she received a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. She also received the President's Distinguished Service Award and the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award for her work helping deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
Film and Television Roles
Film
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1939 | The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex | Mistress Margaret Radcliffe |
| 1939 | A Child Is Born | Gladys Norton |
| 1953 | The Band Wagon | Lily Marton |
| 1969 | The Happy Ending | Agnes |
| 1978 | Harper Valley PTA | Alice Finley |
| 1981 | Amy | Malvina |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954–1956 | Caesar's Hour | Herself | |
| 1961 | The Nanette Fabray Show | Nanette "Nan" McGovern | 26 episodes |
| 1967–1972 | The Carol Burnett Show | Herself | 13 episodes |
| 1972 | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | Dottie Richards | 2 episodes |
| 1979–1984 | One Day at a Time | Grandma Katherine Romano | 42 episodes |
| 1990–1994 | Coach | Mildred Armstrong | 3 episodes |
| 1991 | Murder, She Wrote | Emmaline Bristow | Episode: "From the Horse's Mouth" |
Stage Work
- Meet the People (1940)
- Let's Face It! (1941)
- By Jupiter (1942)
- Bloomer Girl (1945)
- High Button Shoes (1947)
- Love Life (1948)
- Arms and the Girl (1950)
- Make a Wish (1951)
- Mr. President (1962)
- Wonderful Town (1975)
- No, No, Nanette (1975)
See also
In Spanish: Nanette Fabray para niños
