Ellen Hanley (May 15, 1926 – February 12, 2007) was a

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

performer best known for playing Fiorello H. LaGuardia's first wife in the Pulitzer Prize-winning ''

Fiorello! ''Fiorello!'' is a musical about New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia, a reform Republican, which debuted on Broadway in 1959, and tells the story of how La Guardia took on the Tammany Hall political machine. The book is by Jerome Weidman and ...

''. She was related to the British writers James and Gerald Hanley, and the playwright, novelist, and scriptwriter William Hanley was her brother.

Biography

Ellen Hanley was born in Lorain, Ohio, one of three children of William Gerald and Anne Rodgers Hanley. William Hanley, Sr. was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, England in 1899, of Irish Catholic immigrants. He was a seaman prior to settling in the US, and then worked as a housepainter. In 1951, Hanley married

Ronny Graham Ronny Graham (August 26, 1919 – July 4, 1999) was an American actor and theater director, composer, lyricist, and writer. Life and career Graham was born Ronald Montcrief Stringer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of five children born ...

, a fellow actor. They adopted two children, Nora and Julian. The couple divorced in 1963. Ellen Hanley made her Broadway debut in '' Annie Get Your Gun'' in 1946 playing the part of Mary. The following year she appeared in ''Barefoot Boy With Cheek'' and won a Theater World award for her performance as Clothilde Pfefferkorn.Ellen Hanley, 80, Actress in Musicals, Dies
/ref> in the late 1940s and 1950s she "toured extensively in summer-stock shows" and also during the 1950s performed in

Julius Monk Julius Withers Monk (10 Nov 1912, Spencer, North Carolina – 17 Aug 1995, New York City, New York) was an American impresario in the New York cabaret scene. His 1956 revue, ''Four Below'', has been characterized as "the first legitimate cafe re ...

's revues. In 1952 she had a part in the musical

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

'' Two's Company'', introducing the song "Roundabout". In 1959 she took over the leading role in ''First Impressions'' from

Polly Bergen Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in '' The Helen ...

, playing Elizabeth Bennett in a musical based on '' Pride and Prejudice''. She is best-known for playing Thea,

Fiorello LaGuardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from ...

's first wife, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning in ''Fiorello!'', the

Jerry Bock Jerrold Lewis Bock (November 23, 1928November 3, 2010) was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical ''Fiorello!'' and the Tony ...

Sheldon Harnick Sheldon Mayer Harnick (born April 30, 1924) is an American lyricist and songwriter best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on musicals such as ''Fiorello!'' and '' Fiddler on the Roof''. Early life Sheldon Mayer Harnick was ...

musical hit which ran for nearly 800 performances, from late 1959. She acted, in 1963, in a successful off-Broadway revival of ''The Boys From Syracuse'', a Richard Rodgers- Lorenz Hart musical based on Shakespeare's ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. ...

''. Hanley died on February 12, 2007, aged 80, in Norwalk, Connecticut, of a stroke after a long battle with cancer.Broadway performer Ellen Hanley dies
/ref>

Appearances

*'' Annie Get Your Gun'' (1946-1949) as Mary *''Barefoot Boy with Cheek'' (1947) as Clothilde Pfefferkorn *'' Two's Company'' (1952–1953) *'' First Impressions'' (1959) as Elizabeth Bennett *''

'' (1959–1961) as Thea *''

The Boys from Syracuse ''The Boys from Syracuse'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play ''The Comedy of Errors'', as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporar ...

'' (1963) *'' The Burns and Allen Show'': Episode 3

Awards

*Theatre World Award (1947) for Clothilde Pfefferkorn in ''Barefoot Boy With Cheek''.New York Public Library
/ref>

Notes

References

''New York Times'', February 14, 2007.

''USA Today'', February 12, 2007.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanley, Ellen 1926 births 2007 deaths Actors from Norwalk, Connecticut American musical theatre actresses People from Lorain, Ohio 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women