Tammy Grimes’ appearance in Denver echoed many memories of her past. She appeared at the start of her career in the national company production of The Lark with Julie Harris and Christopher Plummer, which played at the Central City Opera House in 1956. She and Plummer were married by a justice of the peace in neighboring Blackhawk in August of 1956. They were divorced in I960. Miss Grimes next appeared in Denver in 1963 at Denver’s Auditorium Theater in the title role of the musical hit The Unsinkable Molly Brown, a role that brought her stardom.
During the season at Elitch, on July 18th, Miss Grimes appeared at the Molly Brown House in Denver for a garden party that rekindled the memories of her role as Molly Brown.
[Borrillo, Theodore A. Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey, 2012. p. 327]
Tammy Grimes Bio from the Program for Outward Bound
TAMMY GRIMES (Mrs. Cliveden-Banks) – is a multifaceted talent, equally at home before a movie or TV camera, in a recording studio, or on stage. New York audiences have enjoyed her performances in Clerambard, The Cradle Will Rock, Bus Stop, Look After Lulu for which she won the Theatre World Award, The Littlest Revue, Rattle of a Simple Man, High Spirits, The Only Game in Town, Gabrielle, California Suite, and Tartuffe. She played the lead role in Molly at the Hudson Guild Theatre, starred in A Month in the Country at The Roundabout Theatre, and in 42nd Street at the Majestic Theatre. She won a Tony Award for Best Dramatic Actress for her role in Private Lives, and a Tony Award for Best Musical Comedy Actress for her unforgettable performance in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
A well-known Shakespearean actress, Miss Grimes performed in Henry IV, Part I and The Winter’s Tale at Stratford, Ontario. At the Cambridge Theatre she was seen in Twelfth Night, and at the Philadelphia Drama Guild she played the lead in The Taming of the Shrew as well as performing in Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid. She also starred in the National Company of Jean Anouilh’s The Lark.
Miss Grimes has appeared on virtually all the major TV variety and dramatic programs, and starred in her own ABC television series.
Her record albums include Tammy Grimes, and The Unsinkable Tammy Grimes, as well as the cast albums of High Spirits and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Again proving her versatility, she has also recorded A.A. Milne’s The Rabbit series, Maurice Sendak’s Higglety-Pigglety Pop, Kenney’s Window, and Where the Wild Things Are, as well as William Faulkner’s Wash and A Rose for Emily.
On film Miss Grimes has been seen in Three Bites of the Apple, Play It As It Lays, Somebody Killed Her Husband, The Runner Stumbles, and Can’t Stop the Music. Her most recent theatre appearance was in the starring role in George Bernard Shaw’s The Millionairess at the Hart- man Theatre in Boston and Connecticut. She is also starring in a CBS TV film, Asking for It, and will soon be seen in the film Moonbeam.
[Historic Elitch Theatre Program]
Seasons at the Theatre
- 1983
Productions/Roles:
- 1983 – Outward Bound
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
- In the 1960 Broadway musical comedy The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Grimes won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (even though it was the lead role.)
- In 1969 Grimes appeared in a revival of Noël Coward’s Private Lives as Amanda, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress.
Elitch Theatre Connections:
- Grimes appeared on Broadway in The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Elitch Theatre Alum, Harve Presnell, who would later appear in the film with Elitch Alum, Debbie Reynolds, and Presnell, would appear at the theatre twice with Debbie Reynolds in 1970 and 1986.
- In 2004, Grimes joined the company of Tasting Memories, a “compilation of delicious reveries in poetry, song, and prose”, with a starry rotating cast including Elitch Theatre alumna, Kitty Carlisle Hart.
Wikipedia Link:
