Phyllis Newman Has Passed Away at 86

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report the passing of Phyllis Newman. The news was shared on social media by her daughter, Amanda Green. Newman was 86 years old.

Newman got her start in show business at 4 years old imitating Carmen Miranda in theatres and clubs. Her portrayal of Martha Vail in the Jule Styne/Comden and Green musical Subways Are For Sleeping - costumed only in a bath towel - earned her a Tony Award.

Her other Broadway credits include Bells Are Ringing, The Apple Tree, On the Town, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Awake and Sing, Wish You Were Here, First Impressions, and her one-woman musical The Madwoman of Central Park West, which she co-authored with Arthur Laurents. She garnered a Tony Award nomination for her highly-acclaimed performance in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound.

Off-Broadway she earned a Drama Desk Nomination for her starring performance in James Lapine's The Moment When... at Playwrights Horizons. She received unanimous praise from critics for her role as an eccentric crisis hotline operator in Nicky Silver's off-Broadway comedy, The Food Chain, appeared with Fisher Stevens and Annabella Sciorra in the Naked Angels production of Shyster and starred in the Drama Desk-nominated revival of A Majority of One. Regionally she has been seen in Pleasures & Palaces and Rocket to the Moon as well as Arthur Laurents' My Good Name directed by Daniel Sullivan.

Newman has done concerts and narrations with symphony orchestras all over the world including Maestro Lukas Foss, Skitch Henderson and the NY Pops and a concert at Caramoor with her daughter, Amanda Green, conducted by Maestro Michael Barrett. She received rave reviews for her portrayal of Stella Deems in the concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies at Avery Fisher Hall, which is now available on DVD.

She's directed Stand Up For New York, a Toyota Comedy Festival event benefiting New York Women in Film & TV and Straws in the Wind at The American Place Theater. In the summer of 2004, she directed a work by many contemporary playwrights that opened the new Provincetown Playhouse. She also wrote and co-produced a musical revue for President Clinton's pre-inaugural festivities in Washington, D.C.

While Newman is best known for her work in the theatre, her television credits capture the history of the medium itself, ranging from Playhouse 90, in the days of live television theatre, and appearances on the legendary Ed Sullivan Show, to serving as the first woman to host The Johnny Carson Show. She has worked extensively in TV - starring opposite Alan Arkin in 100 Centre Street, Oz; Murder, She Wrote; thirtysomething and The Jury.

Her films include The Human Stain, It Had To Be You, For the Time Being, Fish in the Bathtub, A Price Above Rubies, The Beautician and the Beast, Only You, Mannequin, To Find a Man, Bye Bye Braverman, and Picnic.

In 1983, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, a topic covered in her autobiography, Just in Time: Notes From My Life. Her lecture, The Gift of Laughter, based on her successful book, has received standing ovations all over the country. Her experiences with the disease also led her to raise awareness of women's health issues and needs in the entertainment industry, and in 1996 she launched The Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of The Actors' Fund of America. The Initiative has disbursed millions of dollars to women in need. The group also sponsors health fairs and runs support groups.

Newman was married to the late Adolph Green, the legendary lyricist/screenwriter/composer, for 42 years. They have two children, Adam and Amanda.