Rita Gardner ( Schier; October 23, 1934 – September 24, 2022) was an American actress and singer.

Career

Gardner made her stage debut Off-Broadway in

Jerry Herman Gerald Sheldon Herman (July 10, 1931December 26, 2019) was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre. One of the most commercially successful Broadway songwriters of his time, Herman was the composer and lyricist ...

's musical review ''Nightcap'' (1958) before her breakout turn as Luisa in the original cast of ''

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neigh ...

'' in 1960. Other off-Broadway credits include ''

The Cradle Will Rock ''The Cradle Will Rock'' is a 1937 play in music by Marc Blitzstein. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles and produced by John Houseman. A Brechtian allegory of corruption and corporate greed, it ...

'' (1964), ''To Be Young, Gifted, and Black'' (1969), '' Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' (1972), '' Steel Magnolias'' (1987), ''Wings'' (1993), and '' The Foreigner'' (2004). Gardner made her

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 ...

debut in the short-lived musical (65 performances) '' A Family Affair'' in 1962 as Sally Nathan. She was featured in a brief 1963 revival of '' Pal Joey'' as Linda English and replaced Susan Watson soon after the opening of '' Ben Franklin in Paris'' in 1964. Her Broadway career subsequently stalled, finding her serving as a standby or understudy in ''

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever ''On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner based loosely on ''Berkeley Square'', written in 1926 by John L. Balderston. It concerns a woman who has ESP and has been re ...

'' (1965), ''

The Last of the Red Hot Lovers ''Last of the Red Hot Lovers'' is a comedy by Neil Simon. It premiered on Broadway in 1969. Production The play opened on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on December 28, 1969, and closed on September 4, 1971, after 706 performances and si ...

'' (1969), and ''

Morning's at Seven ''Morning's at Seven'' is a play by Paul Osborn. Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1928, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to mak ...

'' (2002) (understudy for Cora and Esther). She had a featured role as Rosie in ''

The Wedding Singer ''The Wedding Singer'' is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor, and tells t ...

'' in 2006, with three musical numbers including the song "Move that Thang". Gardner's regional theatre credits include ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

'' and ''

The Impossible Years ''The Impossible Years'' is a 1965 comedy play written by Robert Fisher and Arthur Marx, son of comedian Groucho Marx. After two previews, the Broadway production, directed by Arthur Storch, opened on October 13, 1965, at the Playhouse Theatre, w ...

'' at the

Bucks County Playhouse THE BUCKS COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE The Bucks County Playhouse is located in New Hope, Pennsylvania. When the ''Hope Mills'' burned in 1790, the grist mills were rebuilt as the ''New Hope Mills,'' by Benjamin Parry. The town was renamed for the mills. ...

New Hope, Pennsylvania New Hope is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The population was 2,612 at the 2020 census. New Hope is located approximately north of Philadelphia, and lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Aquetong Creek. ...

(1983), the musical ''Lucky in the Rain'' at the

Goodspeed Opera House Goodspeed Musicals is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, located in East Haddam, Connecticut. A distinctive feature of the view from the Connecticut River, th ...

(1997), and ''Eleanor: A Love Story'' at

Ford's Theatre Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in August 1863. The theater is infamous for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater bo ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(1999). She appeared in the national tour of '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'' (1994). She gave a critically acclaimed performance in ''Murderers'' at The Cincinnati Playhouse (2007). In 2002, she appeared in her one-woman revue ''Try to Remember: A Look Back at Off-Broadway'' at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York City on Saturday evenings. The revue included ballads from ''The Fantasticks''. She performed the revue at the Metropolitan Room in New York City in 2011. Gardner's television credits include appearances in '' Law & Order'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (on season one episode 18), ''

Law & Order: Criminal Intent ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...

'', and ''

Dora the Explorer ''Dora the Explorer'' is an American children's animated television series and multimedia franchise created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner that premiered on Nickelodeon on August 14, 2000, went on hiatus on June 5, 20 ...

'' (as Grandma Fox). Gardner studied acting at

HB Studio The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency progra ...

in New York City. She was a faculty member for the sixth annual Cabaret Conference at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 2008.

Personal life and death

Born in New York City, Rita Schier was the daughter of Nathan and Tillie ( Hack) Schier. She had an elder brother, Lewis. Gardner married playwright

Herb Gardner Herbert George Gardner (December 28, 1934 – September 25, 2003), was an American commercial artist, cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, Gardner was the son of a bar owner. His late brother, Robert ...

in 1957; the marriage ended in divorce in 1970. That same year, she remarried, to Peter Cereghetti, and then divorced not long after. Her last marriage was to playwright Robert Sevra, who survived her. Gardner died of leukemia on September 24, 2022, in New York City, at the age of 87.

References

External links

Official website
* * *
Photographs from The Fantasticks

Lortel Archives listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Rita 1934 births 2022 deaths Actresses from New York City American women singers American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from leukemia People from Brooklyn Singers from New York City 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses