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“Elaine Stritch, Broadway’s Enduring Dame, Dies at 89”: Bruce Weber and Robert Berkvist of The New York Times pen an obit to the legendary entertainer, who passed away on Thursday. Related: Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune and Odie Henderson of RogerEbert.com also pay their respects. See also: Our content editor, Brian Tallerico, reviews this year’s excellent documentary, “Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me.”
“Plain-spoken, egalitarian, impatient with fools and foolishness, and admittedly fond of cigarettes, alcohol and late nights — she finally gave up smoking and drinking in her 60s, after learning she had diabetes, though she returned to alcohol in her 80s — Ms. Stritch might be the only actor ever to work as a bartender after starring on Broadway, and she was completely unabashed about her good-time-girl attitude. ‘I’m not a bit opposed to your mentioning in this article that Frieda Fun here has had a reputation in the theater, for the past five or six years, for drinking,’ she said to a reporter for The New York Times in 1968. ‘I drink, and I love to drink, and it’s part of my life.’ In an interview this year in The New York Times Magazine, …read more