Phyllis Newman & Adolph Green
In 1957, backstage at Bells are Ringing when Phyllis auditioned to standby for Judy Holliday on Broadway. She got the job. And eventually, the show's composer.
Married January 31, 1960. Extended engagement lasted 42 years, until Green passed away on October 23, 2002.
"I was immediately attracted to him," Newman recalled to Variety, upon first meeting Green. "But I was intimidated by his ego, his success and most of all his mind-boggling eccentricity." Finding Phyllis "Just in Time," to quote one of the lyricist's hundreds of songs, was just the ticket for Adolph. In fact, the role he wrote for her in 1962's Subways Are For Sleeping would win her a Tony—over Streisand, no less! Afterwards, Newman's career shifted to raising their two children, Adam and Amanda. Of Green's close collaboration with Betty Comden, the multiple Tony-winning tunesmith once told a reporter that only occasionally did it interfere with Phyllis. "It's been a problem in certain ways," he said, "because so much of my time is taken up by my work. But [Phyllis] more than understands it, she encourages it! She tells me, 'Work more, get over there!' Betty and I have always been special kinds of friends, our relationship is a unique one."
