Broadway Star Jan Maxwell Dies at 61

According to multiple reports on social media by both friends and former castmates and then confirmed by BWW, Broadway star Jan Maxwell has passed away at 61 years of age after a battle with cancer. The star is survived by her husband, actor/playwright Robert Emmet Lunney, and their son William Maxwell-Lunney.

Jan Maxwell, a five-time Tony Award nominee and two-time Drama Desk Award winner, was last seen on stage in City of Conversation at Lincoln Center, for which she was nominated for 2015 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and Scenes From an Execution in the Potomac Theatre Project revival at Atlantic Theater's Stage II.

Maxwell made her Broadway debut in 1989, as an understudy in the musical City of Angels. She received her first Tony nomination in 2005 for the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Her other nominations were for Coram Boy in 2007, Lend Me a Tenor and The Royal Family both in 2010, and Follies in 2012. Her nominations in two separate categories in 2010, made her only the fourth actress to achieve two nominations in a single year. Her 2012 nomination for Follies made her only the second actress to receive a Tony nomination in all four acting categories. Her other Broadway credits include, Dancing at Lughnasa (1992), A Doll's House (1997), The Sound of Music (1998) and The Dinner Party (2001).

Maxwell has appeared in films and television shows such as I Am Michael with James Franco, Neil LaBute's Billy and Billie (2014-15), The Divide (2014), The Good Wife (2014), and Gossip Girl (2009-2011). From 1994-2003, she appeared in four episodes of the NBC drama Law & Order, each time as a different character.

On Broadway she starred in Stephen Sondheim's Follies, where she was nominated for the Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Helen Hayes and Fred Astaire Awards.

Ms. Maxwell was nominated for two Tony Awards in 2010 - The Royal Family and Lend Me a Tenor. She won the Drama Desk Award for Best Actress for The Royal Family, Coram Boy (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination), Sixteen Wounded (Drama Desk nomination), A Doll's House, The Sound of Music, The Dinner Party, Dancing at Lughnasa and City of Angels.