Elaine Stritch, a celebrated actress and New York City icon, died Thursday at her home in Birmingham, Michigan, according to reports. She was 89.
Stritch, known in recent years for her Emmy Award-winning role as Alec Baldwin’s spunky, perpetually unimpressed mother on NBC’s “30 Rock,” has had many roles in film and TV, but the longtime resident of Manhattan’s Carlyle Hotel lit up the stage most of all.
She is especially remembered for her legendary rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch” in the Sondheim musical “Company” in 1970, long after her 1946 Broadway debut.
She earned a Tony Award nomination in 1955’s “Bus Stop,” but it was her own one-woman show, “Elaine Stritch at Liberty,” that won her the coveted award in 2001. A TV documentary based on the show earned her the second of her three Emmy Awards as well. Her last piece of work, “Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me,” a documentary of her life, hit theaters earlier this year.
To honor Stritch’s memory, Broadway marquees will dim their lights on Friday at 7:45 p.m. for one minute.
