Friday, December 29, 2017

Rose Marie (1923-2017)

She made her screen debut at age 4. Nominated three times for best supporting actress Emmy awards for her work on The Dick Van Dyke Show. And she was still working right up until her passing yesterday. This morning, Hollywood is mourning Rose Marie, who passed away at 94.

Rose Marie Mazzetta, to use her full name for a change, began her career as Baby Rose Marie at age 3 in vaudeville, and landed her own radio show as a teenager. In the 60's, she transitioned to television, first in the short-lived My Sister Eileen, before she was cast as comedy writer Sally Rogers in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-6). As noted, she earned three Emmy nominations over the course of the series' run. After that, she spent two seasons on The Doris Day Show, and otherwise could be found regularly on The Hollywood Squares, often in the top tier, with long time friend and frequent co-star Morey Amsterdam in the adjoining cubicle.

In the 70's, Rose dabbled in cartoons, contributing a role as a villain on Yogi's Gang (1973), and appeared in a recurring role on the original S. W. A. T. with Steve Forrest and Robert Urich. Her last series gig was 1994's Hardball, a short-lived sitcom in which her character was a send-up of then-Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott.

A documentary on Rose's career had just been released prior to her passing.

In memory of Rose Marie, we'll go back to the final season of The Dick Van Dyke Show, and the episode, "Dear Sally Rogers":



At the start of the year, we lost Mary Tyler Moore. Now, as 2017 draws to a close on Sunday, we're saying good-bye to Rose Marie. Rest in peace.

2 comments:

Hal said...

Her first semi-regular TV gig was on LOVE THAT BOB, during the 1958-59 season as one of Schultzy's friends. She appeared in about 10-12 episodes as Martha.

hobbyfan said...

Hmmm, maybe I should've checked the IMDB page before posting, since this was not included in any online articles I read. Thanks, Hal.