Broadway star Kaye Ballard, star of the 1960s sitcom The Mothers-In-Law alongside Eve Arden, has died at age 93. According to the Associated Press, she passed away the night of Monday, January 21 at her home in Rancho Mirage, CA from kidney failure.
Ballard appeared in the Broadway hits The Golden Apple and Carnival! and made cameos in shows including The Doris Day Show, Love, American Style, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, and What a Dummy. She also sang “Lazy Afternoon,” “In Other Words” — better known as “Fly Me to the Moon” — and “Maybe This Time.” She was also known for her comedic nature.
“In high school, I turned to comedy,” she told TV Guide in 1966. “I did it out of self-consciousness. I just wasn’t pretty enough for what I wanted to be. My present style of comedy is based on this self-consciousness.”
Just one week before her death, a documentary about her death called Kaye Ballard: The Show Goes On, premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. “She was so excited to be able to tell her story,” the film’s director, Dan Wingate, said. “She was really anxious for young people, especially, who are going into the arts to understand the full breadth of a life in the arts, the ups and downs.”
Rest in peace…
