Profile
Photos
Comments
>"AS LONG AS HE NEEDS ME" FROM
"OLIVER"
| Georgia Brown | |
|---|---|
 | |
Georgia Brown (21 October 1933 – 5 July 1992) was a British singer and actress.
Born Lillian Claire Laizer Getel Klot in the East
End of
London to Mark and Annie Kirschenbaum Klot, Jewish immigrants to the United Kingdom,
she was
dispatched to Wales during the Blitz to escape
the bombings in
London. A lover of jazz, she selected her professional name from the
1925 tune
"Sweet Georgia Brown" by Ben
Bernie, Maceo
Pinkard and Kenneth
Casey. She also had a brother called Henry Kent (changed his
surname).
Brown first came to prominence as Lucy in the 1956 London revival of The Threepenny
Opera at London's Royal Court
Theatre, a role she repeated
the following year when she joined the cast of the highly successful off-Broadway production. Three years later she received critical and public acclaim
for her
portrayal of Nancy in Lionel
Bart's hit musical Oliver!West End. She
reprised the role in the 1963 Broadway production,
earning a Tony Award nomination for her performance. The role of Nancy was originally written
with
Lionel Bart's friend Alma Cogan in mind, but Alma was unable to commit
to the
role, although she did record a soundtrack recording of Oliver! Brown
lost out
to the international film role to friend Shani Wallis. in the
After a stint in Bart's Maggie May in 1965, Brown concentrated
on screen work in mostly forgettable films, with the exception of The Raging MoonBAFTA Award) and The
Seven-Per-Cent Solution, for more than a decade. (for which she was nominated for a
Brown returned to Broadway to join the cast of the long-running revue
Side By
Side By Sondheim in 1977. Two years later, she created the title
role in
Alan Jay Lerner and
Burton
Lane's flop musical
Carmelina.
She toured
Britain in Georgia Brown and Friends, then brought the revue to New
York City for a limited
run in 1982. Five years later, the Gilbert
Becaud musical Roza, under the
direction of Hal Prince, closed
after only
twelve performances, but her performance of Mrs. Peachum in the 1989
revival of
The Threepenny Opera earned her another Tony nomination.
In the 80's, Brown took the lead role of Dorothy Brock in Gower
Champion's
musical 42nd Street at Drury Lane, London and Shani Wallis took
over the role.
In her later years, Brown limited herself to concerts, cabaret
appearances,
and guest spots on such television series as Great
Performances, Murder, She Wrote,
Star
Trek: The Next
Generation, and Cheers,
which earned her an Emmy Award nomination.
In addition to a number of original cast albums,
Brown recorded several solo
albums, including Georgia Brown Sings Kurt Weill and Georgia
Brown
Sings Gershwin.
A permanent resident of the United States,
Brown died at age 58 during a
visit to London from complications
during emergency surgery to remove an intestinal obstruction.