Viviane Blaine Sam Levene Isabel Bigley in the Original Broadway Production of Guys and Dolls

Isabel Bigley (February 23, 1926 – September 30, 2006) was an American actress. She originated the part of Sarah Brown in

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony ...

's ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...

''.

Biography

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

-born Bigley's mother, a concert singer, guided her early interest in music, and her high school music teacher arranged for her to audition for a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan, which she received. She had been playing the role of Laurey in the London production of ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical theater, musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs (play), Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of ...

'' in 1950 when she was offered the role of Sarah Brown, the "mission doll", in the original

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

production of ''

''. For her performance, she received the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. In 1953 she starred as Jeanie, the chorus girl, in the

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...

show ''

Me and Juliet ''Me and Juliet'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, and lyrics and book by Oscar Hammerstein II. The sixth stage collaboration by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein, it tells a story of romance backstage at a long-running mu ...

'', a role created especially for her. She performed frequently in the early days of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

in such shows as ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

'' and ''

The Colgate Comedy Hour ''The Colgate Comedy Hour'' was an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the series ...

''. On June 25, 1951, she appeared with other entertainers in a one-hour program on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

that was the start of nationally broadcast color television.

Personal life

In 1953, she married Lawrence R. Barnett, then president of the

Music Corporation of America MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film ind ...

. She retired in 1958 to raise their four sons and two daughters. She died in 2006, aged 80, from pulmonary disease at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.Obituary
latimes.com, October 3, 2006. Her widower died on June 11, 2012, aged 98. Barnett and Bigley made many charitable contributions to arts education, including establishing a graduate program in arts policy and administration at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Bigley lived in both Los Angeles and

Rancho Mirage Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and locate ...

and in 2005 she was named chairwoman of the board of the McCallum Theatre in

Palm Desert Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has been ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bigley, Isabel 1926 births 2006 deaths Actresses from New York City American musical theatre actresses Television personalities from California American women television personalities People from the Bronx People from Rancho Mirage, California Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Television pioneers Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women