Nell Carter

About Nell Carter

Who is it?: Actress, Soundtrack
Birth Day: September 13, 1948
Birth Place:  Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Cause of death: Heart disease complicated by diabetes
Resting place: Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery (Culver City, California)
Other names: Nell Ruth Carter Nell–Ruth Carter
Education: A. H. Parker High School
Occupation: Actress, singer
Years active: 1970–2002
Known for: Nell Harper – Gimme a Break!
Spouse(s): George Krynicki (m. 1982; div. 1992) Roger Larocque (m. 1992; div. 1993)
Partner(s): Ann Kaser (?–2003)
Children: 3

Nell Carter

Nell Carter was born on September 13, 1948 in  Birmingham, Alabama, United States, is Actress, Soundtrack. Her trademark sass complimented by a distinctively adenoidal voice that could out-snarl Eartha Kitt and Fran Drescher put together, short (4'11"), round, and robust Nell Carter was one indomitable, in-your-face firecracker...and it made her a star. She was born Nell Ruth Hardy in 1948 in Birmingham, Alabama and raised there, one of nine children born to Horace and Edna Hardy. She grew up listening to the sounds of Dinah Washington and Elvis Presley and developed an early interest in singing that led to performances in various youth groups, her church choir, on local radio and even the gospel circuit. This was a positive distraction from the major traumas suffered during her early life which included the tragic death of her father, who was electrocuted when he accidentally stepped on a live power line, and a rape at gunpoint when she was a young teenager.By age 19, Nell had relocated to New York where she found work singing in assorted niteries (Rainbow Room, Sweeney's), cafés, and musical revues to her liking. Studying at Bill Russell's School of Drama from 1970 to 1973, she made her Broadway debut in "Soon" a two-act musical show that lasted two days and included such up-and-comers as Richard Gere, Peter Allen and Barry Bostwick. Other musical roles came with "Dude" (1972), "Be Kind to People Week" (1975) and "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" (1976). Receiving further training in London, Nell, who continued to gain both in girth and talent, made a star-making leap when she was cast alongside Armelia McQueen, Charlayne Woodard, André De Shields and Ken Page in the 1978 ensemble revue, "Ain't Misbehavin'", a musical catalogue of Fats Waller songs. The stellar quintet ran for nearly four years and the scene-stealing Carter, with such show-stopping songs as "Mean to Me" and "Cash for Your Trash", received a multitude of awards, including the Theatre World, Drama Desk, Obie and Tony. The show was taped for TV in 1982 for which Carter also nabbed the Emmy, and a Broadway revival with all five performers reunited was restaged in 1988. Later musical vehicles included her own feisty version of "Dolly Levi" in a 1991 African-American revival.Tough and temperamental with a larger-than-life presence, Carter was invariably drawn toward the small screen and was initially featured in the daytime soap Ryan's Hope (1975) and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (1979), the latter perfectly cast as a police sergeant. Audiences took to her immediately and, eventually, she was handed her own vehicle as the loving but no-nonsense housekeeper of a white family in the NBC sitcom Gimme a Break! (1981). That show, which ran for six seasons, earned her two additional Emmy nominations for "Best Actress in a Comedy". Following this, she co-starred on You Take the Kids (1990), which fizzled, and the already established Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (1992) as Mark Curry's boss. Other spunky guest shots over time included such popular programs as Amen (1986), 227 (1985), Touched by an Angel (1994), Ally McBeal (1997) and Reba (2001), as well as quiz show participations on Match Game (1990) and To Tell the Truth (1990). Her work in films, which included a standout musical song ("White Boys") in Milos Forman's film adaptation of Hair (1979) and a touching role as Piper Laurie's housekeeper in The Grass Harp (1995), was never fully engaged. Carter was notoriously opinionated and audaciously candid as a person, a true survivor in her off-stage life, which was riddled with misfortune. She endured constant weight problems and severe alcohol/cocaine habits (recovered) as well as two divorces, a suicide attempt, several miscarriages, bankruptcy, the death of a brother from AIDS and multiple surgeries after suffering a near-fatal brain aneurysm in 1992. She battled diabetes for much of her adult life and once collapsed on stage during a 1997 performance of "Annie", in which she played the boisterous "Miss Hannigan". To comfort and complete herself, she studied and adopted Judaism as her religion. In 1989 and 1990, she adopted two infant sons, Joshua and Daniel, to her family, which included daughter Tracey.After a history of ups-and-downs, the 54-year-old singer/actress collapsed and died alone on January 23, 2003, in her Beverly Hills home, subsequently found by her 13-year-old adopted son, Joshua. The cause of death was not immediately established at the time but it was later established that she had suffered a fatal heart attack, complicated by her diabetes and obesity. She was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. At the time of her death, she was in rehearsals for another musical stage lead, this time in the Long Beach, California revival of the hit musical "Raisin". The musical opened a few days later as scheduled with Nell's understudy taking over the role.
Nell Carter is a member of Actress

Does Nell Carter Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, Nell Carter has been died on January 23, 2003(2003-01-23) (aged 54)\nBeverly Hills, California, U.S..

🎂 Nell Carter - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

When Nell Carter die, Nell Carter was 54 years old.

Popular As Nell Carter
Occupation Actress
Age 54 years old
Zodiac Sign Libra
Born September 13, 1948 ( Birmingham, Alabama, United States)
Birthday September 13
Town/City  Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Nationality United States

🌙 Zodiac

Nell Carter’s zodiac sign is Libra. According to astrologers, People born under the sign of Libra are peaceful, fair, and they hate being alone. Partnership is very important for them, as their mirror and someone giving them the ability to be the mirror themselves. These individuals are fascinated by balance and symmetry, they are in a constant chase for justice and equality, realizing through life that the only thing that should be truly important to themselves in their own inner core of personality. This is someone ready to do nearly anything to avoid conflict, keeping the peace whenever possible

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

Nell Carter was born in the Year of the Rat. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Rat are quick-witted, clever, charming, sharp and funny. They have excellent taste, are a good friend and are generous and loyal to others considered part of its pack. Motivated by money, can be greedy, is ever curious, seeks knowledge and welcomes challenges. Compatible with Dragon or Monkey.

Some Nell Carter images

Biography/Timeline

1965

As a child, she began singing on a local gospel radio show and was also a member of the church choir. At the age of 15, she began performing with the Renaissance Ensemble that played at area coffee houses and gay bars. On July 5, 1965, Hardy, then 16 years old, was raped at gunpoint by a man she knew who gave her a ride home from a performance with the Renaissance Ensemble. Hardy became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, Tracey, the following year. Hardy attempted to raise Tracey alone, but found it too difficult. She sent Tracey to live with her elder sister Willie (Carter would later claim Tracey was the product of a short lived marriage, but revealed the truth in an interview in 1994).

1970

Beginning her career in 1970, Carter started in theater; singing and later crossed over to television. Carter was perhaps best known for her role as Nell Harper on the NBC sitcom Gimme a Break! which originally aired from 1981 to 1987. Carter received two Emmy and two Golden Globe award nominations for her work on the series. Prior to Gimme a Break!, Carter won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical in 1978 for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin', as well as an Primetime Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television in 1982.

1971

Carter made her Broadway debut in the 1971 rock opera Soon, which closed after three performances. She was the Music Director for the 1974 Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective's production of "What Time of Night It Is". Carter appeared alongside Bette Davis in the 1974 stage musical Miss Moffat, based on Davis' earlier film The Corn Is Green. The show closed before making it to Broadway. She broke into stardom in the musical Ain't Misbehavin, for which she won a Tony Award in 1978. She won an Emmy for the same role in a televised performance in 1982.

1978

In 1978, Carter was cast as Effie White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, but departed the production during development to take a television role on the ABC soap opera, Ryan's Hope in New York. When Dreamgirls premiered in late 1981, Jennifer Holliday had taken over the lead. In 1981, Carter also took a role on television's The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, before landing the lead role of Nell Harper on the sitcom Gimme a Break!.

1979

Additional Broadway credits included Dude and Annie. In 1979, she had a part in the Miloš Forman-directed musical film adaptation of Hair. Her vocal talents are showcased throughout the motion picture Soundtrack.

1980

Carter self-identified as a bisexual. After Gimme a Break! began, Carter's life took a turbulent turn. She attempted suicide in the early 1980s, and entered a drug detoxification facility around 1985. Her brother, Bernard, died of complications due to AIDS in 1989. Carter married Mathematician and lumber executive George Krynicki, and converted to Judaism in 1982 (she had been born into a Roman Catholic family and raised Presbyterian).

1981

The series was a ratings hit for NBC and earned Carter a Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations. Gimme a Break! aired from 1981 to 1987. In August 1987, after the cancellation of Gimme a Break!, Carter returned to the nightclub circuit with a five-month national tour with Comedian Joan Rivers. In 1989, she shot a pilot for NBC entitled Morton's By the Bay, which aired as a one-time special in May of that year. In this, Carter played the assistant to the owner of a banquet hall, and the focus was on her and her mad-cap staff. Alan Ruck and Jann Karam co-starred. NBC passed on the series development. In October of that same year, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to Game 4 of the 1989 World Series, played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.

1989

Carter filed for divorce from Krynicki in 1989; which was finalized in 1992. Carter had three children: two daughters Tracey and Tiffany son Daniel. She adopted both Tiffany and Daniel as newborns over a four-month period. She attempted to adopt twice more but both adoptions fell through. In her first attempt, she allowed a young pregnant woman to move into her home with the plan that she would adopt the child, but the mother decided to keep her baby. In 1992, Carter had surgery to repair two aneurysms and married Roger Larocque in June of that year, later divorcing Larocque the next year. Carter declared bankruptcy in 1995 and again in 2002. She also endured three miscarriages.

1990

In the mid-1990s, Carter appeared on Broadway in a revival of Annie as Miss Hannigan. She was upset when commercials promoting the show used a different Actress, Marcia Lewis, a white Actress, as Miss Hannigan. The producers stated that the commercials, which were made during an earlier production, were too costly to reshoot. Carter said racism played a part in the decision. "Maybe they don't want audiences to know Nell Carter is black", she told the New York Post. "It hurts a lot", Carter told the Post, "I've asked them nicely to stop it—it's insulting to me as a black woman." Carter was later replaced by Sally Struthers.

2001

In 2001, she appeared as a special guest star on the pilot episode of the new WB show Reba and continued with the show, making three appearances in season one. The following year, Carter made two appearances on Ally McBeal.

2003

On January 23, 2003, Carter collapsed and died at her home in Beverly Hills. Her body was discovered by her son, Joshua. Per a provision in Carter's will, no autopsy was performed. Using blood tests, X-rays and a physical examination, the Los Angeles County ruled that Carter's death was the result of "probable arteriosclerotic heart disease, with diabetes a contributing condition." She is survived by her three children. Carter is buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles.

2005

The following year had her rehearsing for a production of Raisin, a stage musical of A Raisin in the Sun in Long Beach, California, and filming a movie, Swing. Carter's final onscreen appearance was in the comedy film Back by Midnight. It was released in 2005, two years after her death.

Nell Carter trend