Amsterdan

R.I.P. Kitty Carlisle Hart

“With a soupçon of courage and a dash of self-discipline, one can make a small talent go a long way.” Kitty Carlisle Hart, died today. As described by Marilyn Berger in the New York Times, "a doyenne of New York culture and society and a perennial entertainer who appeared on Broadway and in films and was still singing on the stage as recently as last fall, well into her 10th decade, died Tuesday at her home in Manhattan. She was 96."

The playwright Norman Krasna wanted to marry her, George Gershwin proposed to her and the financier Bernard Baruch wanted to leave his wife for her, she said.

She refused everyone, however, until she met Mr. Hart, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who, with George S. Kaufman, wrote “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and “You Can’t Take It With You” and who directed “My Fair Lady.”

As described by Ms. Berger: Mr. Hart, a man of sparkle and wit, largely directed their lives as well, organizing their homes and their dinner parties, even choosing his wife’s wardrobe.

When Mr. Hart died of a heart attack in 1961, Miss Carlisle was devastated, she wrote, but she went on to live by his precept that “you can’t escape from life, you escape into it.”

“I’m more optimistic, more enthusiastic, and I have more energy than ever before,” she said just after her 79th birthday. Energy, she said, came from doing the things she wanted to do. “You get so tired when you do what other people want you to do,” she said.

Labels: Kitty Carlisle Hart

posted by DanZ @ 10:18 PM