Super-talented and incredible actress Carole Cook has passed on at the ripe age of 98. The actress, widely loved for her works on stage and screen, died peacefully on Wednesday, according to sources closely related to the family.
Keep reading for the details.
Her representative, Robert Malcolm, confirmed to news outlets on Wednesday that the Broadway veteran passed on from heart failure three days before her 99th birthday.
Malcolm revealed she died in her home after returning from the hospital with her husband by her side every step of the way.
"She was one of my favorites. She passed away from heart failure today. She was in the hospital. She came home last week. Her birthday would have been Saturday. She would have been 99. She died peacefully, and her husband was there," Malcolm shared.
Malcolm showered encomiums on the late actress, describing her as a "wonderfully gifted and outrageous woman" who could say the "dirtiest things" in the nicest way.
Malcolm rounded up his statement by calling her a "lovely, lovely person" who was incredibly talented and loved what she did.
The late actress arrived in Hollywood in 1959 from Texas and got her first role on an episode of Lucille Ball's Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.
Cook, who was initially born Mildred Frances Cook, was convinced by Ball to change her first name to Carole in honor of her role model Carole Lombard.
The pair maintained a smooth working relationship, and she worked alongside her on 18 episodes of The Lucy Show from 1963-1968, playing Thelma Green. She continued in five installments of CBS' Here's Lucy from 1969-74.
The star married Tom Troupe in 1964 and Ball served as her matron of honor. The couple co-starred in the Los Angeles and Dallas versions of The Lion in Winter and also appeared together in The Gin Game.
In 1965, Cook broke a record by becoming the first woman ever to play Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly, right behind Carol Channing, who was the first to take on the role.
Cook also appeared on original Broadway projects like Romantic Comedy and 42nd Street.
The late star had many movie credits to her name, including Kojak, Hart to Hart, Home on the Range, Grey's Anatomy, Chico and the Man, Magnum, The Many Loves Of Dobie, That Girl, P.I., and a host of other hit movies.
In 2018, she sang and shared memories during a one-woman show at Feinstein's/54 Below club in New York, which was also one of her final performances.
The star was an active advocate for charities set up to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. She spent over 30 years working with S.T.A.G.E. LA, and performed annually at the San Francisco's Help Is On The Way benefit, a body that honored the founder's sons, who died of HIV/AIDS.
In 2015, Cook revealed she'd like to be remembered as someone who brought a little difference to people's lives.
“We all want to be beloved, and that would be nice,” she said. “I’d like for them to think ‘I’m glad I knew her.”
Cook is survived by her husband, Tom Troupe.
