Tony-Winning Guys and Dolls Star Isabel Bigley Dies at 80

Tony Award-winner Isabel Bigley, who created the role of feisty Salvation Army lass Sarah Brown in the classic musical Guys and Dolls, died in Los Angeles on September 30th.  She was 80 years old.

Born and raised in the Bronx, Bigley attended Julliard and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

After, in 1946, performing in the chorus of Oklahoma! on Broadway, Bigley took over the role of Laurey in the London production; she played opposite Howard Keel.  Bigley stayed with the show for over three years.

Before creating the role of Sarah in Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls in 1950, Bigley was seen in "Gay Rosalinda" (the first television musical to be produced for the BBC), the British TV show "Cafe Continental," and a hit nightclub act called "Bagatelle."  In addition to the Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony, she won a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in Guys and Dolls, which also starred Robert Alda, Vivian Blaine and Sam Levene.

Bigley followed Guys and Dolls with the 1953 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Me and Juliet (generally considered to be one of the duo's lesser efforts, although it ran for a respectable 358 performances).  Playing alongside such stars as Ray Walston, Bill Hayes and George S. Irving, she created the role of Jeanie in the show.

Although a screen test for Howard Hughes did not lead to a big screen career, she made numerous television appearances--including "Premiere," "Toast of the Town" and "The Colgate Comedy Hour."

Bigley, after marrying MCA executive Lawrence Barnett, retired from show business in 1958.  She spent the last five decades devoted to her husband, six children and to philanthropic causes.

A resident of Rye, NY for 30 years, she later moved with her husband to Rancho Mirage, CA, where in 2000, she joined the board of trustees of the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert and in 2005, became the chair of the theatre's board.  She was the first woman to do so.

Bigley is survived by her husband, six children, sixteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.