Carole Shelley

British actress (1939–2018)

Carole Augusta Shelley (16 August 1939 – 31 August 2018) was an English actress who made her career in the United States and United Kingdom. Her many stage roles included originating the roles of Gwendolyn Pigeon in The Odd Couple and Madame Morrible in Wicked. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Elephant Man (1979) and received additional nominations for her work on Absurd Person Singular (1975), Stepping Out (1987), and Billy
Elliot (2009).

Shelley was born in London, England, the daughter of Deborah ( Bloomstein), an opera singer of Russian Jewish descent, and Curtis Shelley, a composer of German Jewish origin. Her father had emigrated to London before World War II. She reprised the role for the 1968 film version (with Jack Lemmon replacing Carney), and the first season of the subsequent television series (starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman). She and Monica Evans, who co starred as her sister Cecily Pigeon, were the only two performers to appear in the original play The Odd Couple and both the film and original television adaptation—and in the same roles. In the 1970s, Shelley wanted to extend her range, feeling she was not using all her capabilities as an actor. She told The New York Times in a 1979 interview that she had "months of the most intensive deep water swimming — more than I’d ever been called upon to do in my life" when she played Rosalind in As You Like It at the 1972 Stratford Festival in Ontario. She received her first Tony Award nomination in 1975 for her performance as "Jane" in Absurd Person Singular. In 1982 she won an Obie Award for her performance Twelve Dreams. Shelley also began appearing in musicals in the late 1990s, with the revivals of Show Boat as Parthy and Cabaret as Fraulein Schneider in 1999. In 2003, Shelley created the role of Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked, in the 2006 Chicago production, and in a return Broadway engagement in 2007. Shelley played the role of Grandma in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theatre, beginning performances in October 2008. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2009. In 2014, she succeeded Jane Carr as Miss Shingle in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, which would mark her final Broadway appearance. Thereafter she took on numerous roles in television and films such as The Boston Strangler (1968), Some Kind of a Nut (1969), The Road to Wellville (1994), and she played Helen Moskowitz in the Emmy winning 1998 Frasier episode "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz". She was featured as "Aunt Clara" alongside Nicole Kidman and former Wicked co star Kristin Chenoweth in the 2005 film Bewitched. She lent her voice to several roles in Disney animated films; notably, Amelia Gabble (the Goose) in The Aristocats (1970), Lady Kluck, Maid Marian's sidekick and lady in waiting, in Robin Hood (1973), and Lachesis the Fate in Hercules. Shelley's "sister" co star in all three versions of The Odd Couple, Monica Evans, also played her "goose" sister in The Aristocats, Abigail Gabble, and Maid Marian in Robin Hood as a nod to their roles as Pigeon Sisters. Her final role was a cameo at the beginning of John Mulaney’s 2018 comedy special Kid Gorgeous; she played Mulaney’s guide around Radio City Music Hall.

In 1967, she was married to Albert G. Woods, who died in 1971.

Shelley died of cancer on August 31, 2018, at the age of 79 in New York City.

Year Title Role Notes1949 Give Us This Day Bit part Uncredited1949 The Cure for Love Lila Draper 1956 It's Great to Be Young Peggy, The Angel Hill Kids 1961 Carry On Regardless Helen Delling 1961 No, My Darling Daughter First Typist 1963 The Cool Mikado Mrs. Smith 1963 Carry On Cabby Dumb Driver 1968 The Odd Couple Gwendolyn 1968 The Boston Strangler Dana Banks 1969 Some Kind of a Nut Rita 1970 The Aristocats Amelia Gabble, the goose Voice1973 Robin Hood Lady Kluck, the chicken Voice1986 The Whoopee Boys Henrietta Phelps 1991 Little Noises Aunt Shirley 1991 The Super Irene Kritski 1994 Quiz Show Cornwall Aunt 1994 The Road to Wellville Mrs. Hookstratten 1997 Jungle 2 Jungle Fiona 1997 Hercules Lachesis Voice2000 Labor Pains Madge 2005 Bewitched Aunt Clara 2018 John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City Mystery Chaperone final credit

YearTitleRoleNotes 1961–1962 BBC Sunday Night Play Betty Hobson Episodes: "A Fair Cop" and "A Clear Chase" 1963 The Dickie Henderson Show Elsie Partridge Episode: "The Maid" 1963 Laughter from the Whitehall Bernice Warren Episode: "High Temperature" 1985–1987 The Berenstain Bears Additional Female Voices (voice) 12 episodes 1991 1994 One Life to Live Babs Bartlett Unknown episodes 1998 Hercules Lachesis (voice) 3 episodesCredited as Carole Schelley 1998 Frasier Helen Moskowitz Episode: "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz" 2000 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Judge Pamela Mizener Episode: "Nocturne" 2002 Third Watch Sister Rose Episode: "Cold Front" 2004 Scooter: Get a Clue! Aunt Eugenia (voice) Episode: "Here Comes the Shocker"