Maureen Arthur — an actress best known as a Broadway star and for her breakout role in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying — has died at the age of 88.
It’s a sad reality that the older we get, the more likely we are to see the people who made our days a little brighter pass away. And when those people made a lot of memories for us with a special performance or a creation that meant a lot to us in our formative years, many of us find ourselves collectively missing them together.
It’s also unfortunate that we don’t always know how much of an impact people made on the things we enjoy until they’re gone. Because while we might have remembered them before , we may not have fully appreciated their talents until we saw a reason to give them a closer look.
But when someone has a career as long and respectable as Maureen Arthur, they leave behind a wealth of material to do that with.
The role that gave Arthur the biggest boost in her career is also the one you’re the most likely to know her for, Hedy LaRue in “How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter , she joined a national touring company for the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical in 1961 before spending a year on Broadway playing the ambitious yet ditzy mistress-turned-secretary in 1963.
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Four years later, she would star opposite Robert Morse as the same character in the movie version.
With her effervescent personality and soft voice, she became a frequent player in comedies for decades after the fact, mostly on television.
But while these qualities make it unsurprising to hear that she could do an excellent impression of Marilyn Monroe, they also likely led to typecasting that largely saw her play what author Tom Lisanti described as, “kooky gold diggers and dumb bimbos.”
Nonetheless, she enjoyed a career with a lot of famous highlights that included turns on Laverne & Shirley , Murder She Wrote , Matlock , Sanford and Son, and Mork and Mindy to name but a few.
But in addition to being a consistently funny presence on TV, she also made a robust reputation for herself as a civic-minded person off-camera.
According to Deadline, much of her free time was devoted to the Variety Club of Southern California , a children’s charity specializing in helping kids with physical and intellectual disabilities.
As The Hollywood Reporter confirmed, she also served as the organization’s president for many years.
In her brother Gerald’s words, “She spent tireless hours and traveled the country for telethons to raise money for them. If there was one thing she would want in her obituary, that would be it.”
Arthur passed away of natural causes at 88 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Her friend and fellow actress Ilene Graff broke the news of her death, saying, “The world is a little less sparkly without her, but I am so glad I got to be her friend. Her memory will definitely be a blessing.”
h/t: The Hollywood Reporter , Deadline
