Nancy Dussault

Nancy Dussault

Dussault in May 2010
Born (1936-06-30) June 30, 1936
Pensacola, Florida,
United States
Residence California
Nationality American
Alma mater Northwestern University
Occupation Actress, singer
Years active 1961–present
Known for Too Close for Comfort
Spouse(s) James Travis (1959-1982) (divorced)
Valentine Mayer (1985-present)

Nancy Dussault (born June 30, 1936) is an American singer and actress.

Early life

Born in Pensacola, Florida, her parents were George Adrian, a naval officer of French-Canadian descent and Sarah Isabel (née Seitz).[1] She grew up as a "Navy junior" . A former resident of Arlington, Virginia, she graduated from Washington-Lee High School (W-L) where she was an actress and singer in the W-L drama program under director Jack Jeglum and a choral singer in the nationally known Washington-Lee High School Choir and Madrigal Singers under director Florence Booker. She is an alumna of Northwestern University.

Broadway

In 1962, Dussault stepped into the role of Maria in the Broadway production of The Sound of Music. She received a Tony Award nomination in 1961 for Best Featured Actress (Musical) for Do Re Mi and was nominated for her performance in Bajour (1965). Of her performance in Do Re Mi and later career, Bloom and Vlastnik wrote: "Confidently clowning alongside such pros as Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker...she never faded into the scenery. Equally comfortable as a pure soprano or a rangy high belter, her versatility was well captured on the...cast album...Well cast as a situation comedy wife, she spent much of the 1970s and 80s in California." [2] Other stage shows included Quality Street in 1965 at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania.[3] She also appeared in the City Center Gilbert & Sullivan NYC Company, directed by Dorothy Raedler, with such Metropolitan Opera singers as Nico Castel, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, and Frank Poretta, Sr. Dussault took over as the Witch in Into the Woods on Broadway (1987–1989). She had appeared twelve years earlier in the review Side by Side by Sondheim on Broadway.

Film

In Arthur Hiller's 1979 film, The In-Laws, she played Carol Kornpett, wife of Alan Arkin who played Sheldon S. Kornpett, D.D.S.

Television

On television, she was a regular on the 1970s series The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and played Ted Knight's wife in the role of the photographer Muriel Rush on the 1980s situation comedy Too Close for Comfort. She was the first anchor of Good Morning America, working with David Hartman, when the show started in 1975. She was the first actress to portray the character of Theresa Stemple, the mother of character Jamie Stemple Buchman, in season one of the NBC TV series Mad About You.

Personal life

She lives in California with her husband, actor and director Val Mayer, and has no children.

References

  1. Biography filmreference.com, accessed September 3, 2009
  2. Bloom, Ken; Vlastnik, Frank (2004). Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time. Black Dog Publishing. ISBN 1-57912-390-2, p. 87
  3. 1965: Bucks County Playhouse, Bucks County Playhouse official website (2009)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nancy Dussault.
Preceded by
None
Good Morning America co-host
November 3, 1975August 5, 1977
with David Hartman
Succeeded by
Sandy Hill as David Hartman's co-host from 1977 to 1980
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.