41 Facts About Nanette Fabray

Nanette Fabray began her career performing in vaudeville as a child and became a musical-theatre actress during the 1940s and 1950s, acclaimed for her role in High Button Shoes and winning a Tony Award in 1949 for her performance in Love Life.

Nanette Fabray appeared as the mother of Christine Armstrong in the television series Coach.

Nanette Fabray's honors included the President's Distinguished Service Award and the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award.

Nanette Fabray used one of her middle names, Nanette, as her first name in honor of a beloved aunt from San Diego named Nanette.

Nanette Fabray's family resided in Los Angeles, and Fabray's mother was instrumental in introducing her to showbusiness as a child.

Nanette Fabray made her professional stage debut as Miss New Year's Eve 1923 at the Million Dollar Theater at the age of three.

Nanette Fabray spent much of her childhood appearing in vaudeville productions as a dancer and singer under the name Baby Nan.

However, because of her early dance training, Nanette Fabray considered herself to be primarily a tap dancer.

Nanette Fabray's parents divorced when she was nine, but they continued living together for financial reasons.

Nanette Fabray then attended Hollywood High School, participating in the drama program and graduating in 1939.

Nanette Fabray bested classmate Alexis Smith for the lead in the school play during her senior year.

Nanette Fabray entered Los Angeles Junior College in the fall of 1939, but she did not fare well and withdrew a few months later.

Nanette Fabray experienced difficulty in school because of an undiagnosed hearing impairment.

Nanette Fabray was later diagnosed with conductive hearing loss related to congenital, progressive otosclerosis in her twenties after an acting teacher encouraged her to have her hearing tested.

In 2004, Nanette Fabray was interviewed for the oral-history project of the Archives of American Television.

At the age of 19, Nanette Fabray made her feature-film debut as one of Bette Davis's ladies-in-waiting in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex.

Nanette Fabray appeared in two additional films that year for Warner Bros.

Nanette Fabray became a successful musical-theatre actress in New York during the 1940s and early 1950s, starring in such productions as By Jupiter, My Dear Public, Jackpot, Bloomer Girl, High Button Shoes, Arms and the Girl and Make a Wish.

Nanette Fabray received a Tony nomination for her role as Nell Henderson in Mr President in 1963 after an 11-year absence from the New York stage.

Nanette Fabray appeared on Your Show of Shows as a guest star opposite Sid Caesar.

Nanette Fabray appeared as a regular on Caesar's Hour from 1954 to 1956, winning three Emmys.

Nanette Fabray left the show after a misunderstanding when her business manager made unreasonable demands for her third-season contract.

In 1961, Fabray starred in 26 episodes of Westinghouse Playhouse, a half-hour sitcom series that was known as The Nanette Fabray Show or Yes, Yes Nanette.

Nanette Fabray appeared as the mother of the main character in several television series such as One Day at a Time, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Coach, in which she played mother to real-life niece Shelley Fabares, who became a regular cast member in One Day at a Time.

Nanette Fabray made 13 guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show.

Nanette Fabray performed on multiple episodes of The Dean Martin Show, The Hollywood Palace, Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall and The Andy Williams Show.

Nanette Fabray appeared in guest-starring roles on Burke's Law, Love, American Style, Maude, The Love Boat and Murder, Nanette Fabray Wrote.

In 1986, Nanette Fabray was cast in the pilot episode of the unsold TBS sitcom project Here to Stay.

Nanette Fabray was associated with her longtime neighbor Ronald Reagan's campaign for the governorship of California in 1966.

Nanette Fabray was hospitalized for almost two weeks after being rendered unconscious by a falling pipe backstage during a live broadcast of Caesar's Hour in 1955.

In 1978, during the filming of Harper Valley PTA, Nanette Fabray suffered a second major concussion after falling, hitting her neck on the sidewalk and the back of her head on a rock.

Nanette Fabray developed associated memory loss and visual issues such as nystagmus but had to finish her scenes, including one involving a car chase.

Nanette Fabray was closely directed, coached, and fed lines as she could not remember her lines or cues as a result of the concussion.

Nanette Fabray was filmed from specific angles to hide the abnormal eye movements that the concussion had temporarily caused.

Nanette Fabray even contributed the story line to an entire 1982 episode of One Day at a Time, which focused on hearing loss awareness and acceptance, treatment options, and sign language.

Nanette Fabray appeared in a 1986 infomercial for hearing device and deafness support products for House Ear Institute.

Likewise, after the passing of her second husband, Randy MacDougall, Nanette Fabray started to learn about the tribulations associated with spousal death and began to bring awareness to the need for changes in the law for widows and widowers.

Nanette Fabray focused her later years on campaigning for widows' rights, particularly pertaining to women's inheritance laws, taxes, and asset protection.

Nanette Fabray died on February 22,2018, at the Canterbury nursing home in California at the age of 97 from natural causes.

Nanette Fabray won a Golden Apple Award from the Hollywood Women's Press Club in 1960 along with Janet Leigh for being a Most Cooperative actress.

Nanette Fabray was awarded the President's Distinguished Service Award and the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award for her long efforts on behalf of the deaf and hard-of-hearing.