Ann Crumb, Celebrated Star of Aspects of Love & Anna Karenina, Dies at 69

Ann Crumb, an internationally known actress and singer, passed away on October 31 of ovarian cancer in Media, Pennsylvania. Her death was confirmed by publicist Kevin McAnarney. Crumb was 69.

Crumb created numerous leading roles on Broadway and in London's West End, starring in Aspects of Love, The Goodbye Girl, Nine, Les Misérables, Chess and the musical Anna Karenina, for which she received a Best Actress Tony Award nomination. Crumb was the first American actress chosen by Andrew Lloyd Webber to originate a starring role when she appeared in the West End's Aspects of Love.

She was also the recipient of a Barrymore Award and three other Barrymore nominations, in addition to a Broadway National Theater Award nomination for Best Actress and an Arts Recognition Award. Her extensive list of credits includes everything from the classics to post-modernist theater, Shakespeare to Shepard and Ionesco.

Crumb performed classical and jazz concerts throughout the U.S.A. and Europe, including in Austria at the Salzburg Festival, in Holland at the Nederlandse Programma Stichting in Germany with the Bochumer Symphoniker and in Italy with the Lirico Sinfonica Petruzelli e Teatri di Bari.

She starred opposite John Cullum in a national tour of Man of La Mancha and appeared off-Broadway in Inside Out and Johnny Guitar opposite Judy McLane. She also led an acclaimed off-Broadway revival of Rags.

Crumb is survived by her father, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Crumb, her mother, violinist Elizabeth Crumb, and her two brothers, Peter Crumb and composer David Crumb.