She did work some. I'm not sure exactly what period you mean by "her later years." She had to leave Dinner at Eight at the Beaumont after two previews because of illness, and she died a year later. But she certainly did work some in her last 15 years or so, like that ill-fated Matchmaker for the Roundabout, and Over and Over at the Signature. She played Parthy in the Prince Show Boat in Chicago, and she also did Driving Miss Daisy there.
It was tough for her, I'm sure. She was never the kind of star that Lansbury is. She was never in demand in the same way, except perhaps briefly during and for a short time after Annie. She was able to do serious stuff, or so it seems because she was very well reviewed when she toured in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, and I think she was well received in the Chicago Driving Miss Daisy (where she followed Ssda Thompson and Ellen Burstyn in the role). But I'm not sure that she was widely perceived as able to do non-comedic material, and that probably hurt her. |
