Janie Promote, a Broadway actor who gained a Tony Award for her joyful efficiency reverse the Andrews Sisters in 1974’s nostalgic musical Over Right here!, died June 9 at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey, following a quick sickness. She was 86.
Her demise was introduced by pals together with actor James Dybas, who famous that Promote’s household was along with her on the time of her passing, and composer Alan Menken.
“Janie Promote was my very first main woman, in my very first produced musical, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater,” Menken wrote on Fb. “She was fantastic to work with and delightful and evocative because the character of Sylvia Rosewater. That was 47 years in the past, in 1979; such a magical and thrilling time for me and for Howard Ashman. The reminiscence of Janie lives on vividly in my coronary heart.”
Born October 1, 1939, in Detroit, Promote landed her first Broadway function in 1968’s George M!, following that one up in 1973 with roles in Irene.
Her subsequent present, Over Right here!, an homage to World Struggle II entertainers that costarred two of simply such performers in sisters Maxine and Patty Andrews. The unique Broadway solid additionally included a slew of up-and-comers comparable to Deal with Williams, John Travolta, Phyllis Somerville, Ann Reinking and Marilu Henner. Nevertheless it was Promote who gained the manufacturing’s sole Tony Award: She was named Greatest Featured Actress in a Musical.
Subsequent Broadway credit embrace Pal Joey (1976); Comfortable Finish (1977); and a 1978 substitute flip in I Love My Spouse showing alongside Tom and Dick Smothers, Tom Wopat and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. Though by the Nineties she had largely retired from appearing, she served as a standby and substitute for Carol Burnett in Moon Over Buffalo in 1995.
On tv, Promote appeared in, amongst others, the 1975 TV film Wives, directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Garry Marshall; an episode of the 1976 sequence Facet By Facet; the 1975 film Misplaced and Discovered starring George Segal, Glenda Jackson and Maureen Stapleton; and, in 1984, the TV film A Good Sport starring Lee Remick and Ralph Waite.
Promote is survived by son Jason Fries, 4 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. She was predeceased by husbands Earl Fries and Pat Trese.
