Kaye Ballard (November 20, 1925 – January 21, 2019) was an American actress, comedian, and singer.
Early life
Ballard was born Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four children born to Italian immigrant parents, Lena (née Nacarato) and Vincenzo (later Vincent James) Balotta. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Calabria, a region of southern Italy.
Career
Ballard established herself as a musical comedian in the 1940s, joining the Spike Jones touring revue of entertainers. Capable of playing broad physical comedy as well as stand-up dialogue routines, she became familiar in television and stage productions. In 1954, she was the first person to record the song "Fly Me to the Moon."
In 1957, she and Alice Ghostley played the two wicked stepsisters in the live telecast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring Julie Andrews in the title role.
Ballard starred on Broadway as Helen in The Golden Apple (1954) introducing the song "Lazy Afternoon".
In Long Beach, California, she played Mama Morton in Chicago and fought with a vacuum cleaner as Pauline in No, No, Nanette. In 1998, she played Hattie Walker in the Paper Mill Playhouse's acclaimed revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. In 2005, she appeared in a road-company production of Nunsense, written by Dan Goggin. The following year, she completed her autobiography How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years.
She appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! as Madam A-Go-Go, a mysterious fortune teller who appears in the episode "Fortune Teller". She also performed with The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies at the Plaza Theatre in Palm Springs, California.
In December 2010, she, Donna McKechnie and Liliane Montevecchi starred in a production of From Broadway with Love, staged at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ballard was in the 2012 cabaret show Doin' It for Love, which premiered in Austin, Texas at the Paramount Theatre. Starring Ballard and Montevecchi, the cast included Broadway dancer Lee Roy Reams. (The Austin performance benefited the Texas Humane Legislation Network.) The show then went on to play in Los Angeles on March 8 and 10, 2012. Ballard announced her official retirement in 2015 at the age of 89.
Death
Ballard died at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, on January 21, 2019, at the age of 93. The cause was kidney cancer, according to a friend.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1958
|'
|Marge
|
|-
|1964
|'
|Sidonia
|
|-
|1970
|Which Way to the Front?
|Senora Messina
|
|-
|1976
|'
|Vivian Proclo
|
|-
|1976
|Freaky Friday
|Coach Betsy
|
|-
|1980
|Falling in Love Again
|Mrs. Lewis
|
|-
|1981
|Irene
|Dotty Busmill
|TV movie
|-
|1982
|Pandemonium
|Glenn's Mom
|
|-
|1988
|Tiger Warsaw
|Aunt Thelma
|
|-
|1990
|Modern Love
|Receptionist
|
|-
|1990
|Eternity
|Sabrina / Selma
|
|-
|1990
|Fate
|Judy
|
|-
|1994
|Ava's Magical Adventure
|Leona
|
|-
|1998
|'
|Mrs. Grumpy Old Man
|
|-
|1999
|Baby Geniuses
|Mayor
|
|-
|2000
|'
|Mrs. Crabby
|
|-
|2000
|Little Insects
|Queen Palooma (voice)
|
|-
|2003
|Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
|Herself
|Documentary
|-
|2017
|Senior Moment
|Maria
|
|-
|2019
|Kaye Ballard – The Show Goes On
|Herself