Tony Winner Tammy Grimes, Original Star of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Dies at 82

Tammy Grimes, a two-time Tony winner whose raspy timbre captivated audiences in performances such as The Unsinkable Molly Brown, died on October 30 at the age of 82. Her death was confirmed to the New York Times by her nephew Duncan MacArthur.

Prior to winning a Tony Award in 1961 for headlining The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Grimes appeared off-Broadway in The Littlest Revue, which transferred to Broadway in 1956; she also earned a Theatre World Award in 1959 for Look After Lulu.

Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on January 30, 1934 to Luther Nichols and Eola Willard. She attended Stephens College in Missouri before moving to New York to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse. It was there she made her stage debut in 1955 with Jonah and the Whale.

Following stints in Rattle of a Simple Man, High Spirits and The Only Game in Town, Grimes won a second Tony for her performance in Private Lives. Her additional credits included California Suite, Tartuffe, 42nd Street and—most recently—the 1989 revival of Orpheus Descending.

Though she is primarily known for her work on the stage, Grimes appeared in myriad screen projects, including High Art, The Last Unicorn, Slaves of New York and her self-titled sitcom The Tammy Grimes Show.

Grimes met her first husband, Oscar winner Christopher Plummer, while he appeared in The Dark is Light Enough in 1955. They married in 1956 and divorced four years later. She married fellow actor Jeremy Slate in 1966, though the two divorced in 1967. Grimes’ third husband, composer Richard Bell, died in 2005; the two had wed in 1971.

Grimes is survived by her brother Nick and daughter Amanda Plummer, who won a Tony Award in 1982 for Agnes of God.