Stritch Marks

(Props to Monty)
Elaine Stritch, professional brassy dame who spent nearly 70 years dropping withering one-liners on stage and screen, has died at the age of 89. On the stage, she was nominated for 5 Tonys, winning for her 2001 one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty. She also won Emmys for a guest spot on Law & Order in 1993, for the documentary about her one-woman show and for her recurring role as Jack Donaghy’s caustic mother on 30 Rock. Stritch originated the role of Trixie Norton in a Honeymooners sketch with Jackie Gleason, Art Carney and Pert Kelton before the role, originally a burlesque dancer (who often marry sewer workers), was recast after just one episode, with the more wholesome looking Joyce Randolph playing the character as an ordinary housewife. Other roles included a bitter, grammatically correct mother who lost a son in Vietnam and objected to the IHP’s production of Hair on Head of the Class, a stern schoolteacher of Rudy’s class on The Cosby Show and a widow who put the moves on Jack Gilford in Cocoon: The Return. She was reportedly considered for the role of Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls but blew her audition and the role was cast with Bea Arthur.