'Gimme A Break' Star Nell Carter Dies
 

http://www.nbc4.tv/entertainment/193...12070101232003

Actress Found By 13-Year-Old Son

UPDATED: 10:27 a.m. PST January 23, 2003

LOS ANGELES -- "Gimme a Break!" star Nell Carter, who played the sassy, matronly housekeeper on the 1980s sitcom and received a Tony Award in 1978 for her performance in the Broadway musical "Ain't Misbehavin,"' died Thursday, her publicist said. She was 54.

The singer-actress collapsed in her Beverly Hills home and was found by one of her 13-year-old adopted sons, spokesman Roger Lane said.

Carter had suffered from diabetes for years, Lane added, and underwent brain surgery in 1992 to remove an aneurysm. She recovered and continued to perform, mostly on stage.

Carter was in rehearsals at a Long Beach theater for "Raisin," the musical version of "Raisin in the Sun."

In addition to Carter's Tony win for "Ain't Misbehavin,"' she won an Emmy in 1982 for a TV broadcast of the show. She starred in the NBC comedy "Gimme a Break," which ran from 1981 to 1987.

Growing up in Birmingham, Ala., Carter listened to her mother's recordings of Dinah Washington and B.B. King, and her brother's Elvis Presley records. She liked Doris Day, the Andrews Sisters, Johnny Mathis, and admired the work of Cleo Laine and Barbra Streisand.

Carter said she would have preferred to be an opera singer. "When I was growing up, it was not something you aspired to," she said in 1988. "I was a weirdo to want to be in show business. Most kids wanted to be teachers or nurses."

Blessed with a big voice and stage presence, the heavyset Carter prided herself on her range as a performer, doing musicals and drama as well as comedy.

Early in her career, she performed as a singer on the Gospel circuit. She moved on to coffeehouses and nightclubs in her native Birmingham, before going on to New York.

She aspired to be a belter: a singer who who gave her all. "You're afraid you might hyperventilate or crack, but you do it for the excitement of it," she said. "Head singers have to hold everything tight to get the note. I like belters, people who have that non-control but control."

Carter collected crystal and antique silver picture frames and was an avid reader, favoring biographies and history.

She is survived by an adult daughter, Tracy, from a former marriage and two adopted sons, Joshua and Daniel, both 13.


Never saw the show!

Chris

How sad. Gotta be tough finding your Mom dead.

I grew up watching that show. Loved it as a kid.

I contributed to this.

My coworkers and I were talking about her yesterday for some reason (really, who talks about nell carter?) and now she dies. Strange.

Richard Crenna
Nell Carter

Who will be third???

Sorry - her voice just jumped into my "Hair"- er I mean head: ;)

White boys are so pretty
Skin as smooth as milk
White boys are so pretty
Hair like Chinese silk

White boys give me goose bumps
White boys give me chills
When they touch my shoulder
That's the touch that kills

Well, my momma calls 'em lilies
I call 'em Piccadillies
My daddy warns me stay away
I say come on out and play

White boys are so groovy
White boys are so tough
Every time that they're near me
I just can't get enough

White boys are so pretty
White boys are so sweet
White boys drive me crazy
Drive me indiscreet

White boys are so sexy
Legs so long and lean
Love those sprayed-on trousers
Love the love machine

My brother calls 'em rubble
That's my kind of trouble
My daddy warns me "no no no"
But I say "White boys go go go"

White boys are so lovely
Beautiful as girls
I love to run my fingers
And toes through all their curls

Give me a tall
A lean
A sexy
A sweet
A pretty
A juicy
White boy

Black boys!
White boys!
Black boys!
White boys!

Hearing the name Nell Carter always makes me break out and sing the Gimme a Break theme song.

Gimme A Break, I sure deserve it.
It's time I made it to the top.
Gimme A Break, I'm looking forward,
Get behind me, pull out every stop.

I want a happy ending, I'm tired of pretending,
Won't let 'em get the best of me.
Whoa whoa whoa,

Gimme A Break! The game is survival!
Gimme A Break, and plan my arrival!
Gimme A Break for heaven's sake!
What happened to my piece of the cake?

Gimme A Break!
Gimme A Break!
Oh Gimme A Break!
Gimme A Break!
Hey Gimme A Break!

I remember her with a very young Joey Lawrence..

She was always over weight though

definately sad...I remember watching that show when I was really young.

There is a more active thread about this in the Other Forum...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ht=nell+carter