The Broadway and TV star died at her home in Manhattan, New York on Friday, August 31.
- Sep 3, 2018
AceShowbiz - Broadway and TV star Carole Shelley has died, aged 79.
The British-born actress lost her battle with cancer at her home in Manhattan, New York on Friday, August 31, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
She originated the role of Crage Hall headmistress Madame Morrible in the Broadway hit Wicked in 2003 and won a 1979 Tony Award for her portrayal of Mrs. Kendal in The Elephant Man, but she was perhaps best known for playing Gwendolyn Pigeon in the stage, film and television versions of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple.
Shelley was also nominated for Tonys for her work in 1975's Absurd Person Singular, 1987's Stepping Out and, for Billy Elliot in 2009.
She made her Broadway debut in The Odd Couple in 1965, alongside Monica Evans, Walter Matthau, and Art Carney, and she and Evans reprised their roles as the Pigeon Sisters in the 1968 movie adaptation, starring Matthau and Jack Lemmon, and in four 1970 episodes of the ABC sitcom spin-off featuring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall.
Shelley and Evans also teamed up for voiceover work on Disney's The Aristocats and Robin Hood.
Shelley also appeared on television show The Avengers, The Cosby Show, and Frasier. She last appeared on Broadway in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder in 2013.
