Actress Nanette Fabray, Tony, Emmy-winning star of stage and screen, dead at 97

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Award-winning actress and comedian Nanette Fabray has died at the age of 97, Variety reported Friday.

Fabray was known for her charm, energetic exuberance and multi-talented performances in musical theatre in the 1940’s, as well as movies and TV in the 1950’s.

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A publicity photo of Nanette Fabray in 1950.

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She won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical "Love Life" in 1949, according to her biography, and three Emmy Awards in the mid-1950s for her work on Sid Caesar's television show "Caesar's Hour."

She co-starred with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in the 1953 movie "Band Wagon" and played Grandma Katherine Romano on the hit show "One Day at a Time" from 1979 to 1984, among many other roles over her long career.

A photo from the 1953 movie trailer for ‘Band Wagon,’ starring from left to right, Oscar Levant, Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan, Fred Astaire and Nanette Fabray performing the final music and dance number ‘That's Entertainment!’

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Nanette Fabray, left, with Phyllis Diller, attend the Friars Club of California celebration honoring comedian Sid Caesar for his 80th birthday on October 6, 2002. 

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She was also a longtime advocate for the deaf after overcoming a serious hearing problem of her own. She was awarded the President’s Distinguished Service Award and the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award for her long efforts on behalf of the hearing impaired.

Fabray's son, Dr. Jamie MacDougall, according to The New York Times, confirmed she died at her home in Palos Verdes, California on Thursday.

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