Carly Simon Loses Both Sisters to Cancer: Broadway Composer Lucy Simon And Opera Singer Joanna Simon Die One Day Apart

By EJ Panaligan

From left: Lucy, Joanna and Carly Simon. Photo: Disney General Entertainment Con

Musician Carly Simon has lost both of her sisters, Lucy and Joanna, to cancer one day apart from each other. Lucy, known throughout her life and career as a composer on Broadway, died of metastatic breast cancer at the age of 82 on Thursday in her Piermont, N.Y. home. Joanna, the oldest of the sisters who was known as an opera singer, died of thyroid cancer at 85 on Wednesday, according to the New York Times.

During Lucy Simon’s Broadway career, she was nominated for a Tony award in Original Score for her work on the long-running musical “The Secret Garden.” Before she became a composer, she and Carly Simon started out as a folk act in Provincetown, Mass. billed as the Simon Sisters, and their recording of “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” reached No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. in 1981, Lucy Simon won a Grammy with her husband David Levine in Best Recording for Children for “In Harmony,” winning the award again in 1983 for the album’s sequel.

More recently, Lucy Simon had contributed work to the musical “On Cedar Street,” based on the 2015 book “Our Souls at Night” with Victoria Clark directing, but her cancer battle forced her to step away from the project. She is survived by her husband David, her daughter Julie and former husband Christopher Knight, her sister Carly, grandchildren Sophie, Ben, Charlie and Evie.

Joanna Simon started performed regularly on opera and concert stages in 1962, when she made her debut at the New York City Opera as Mozart’s Cherubino. In 1972, she performed the titular role in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s “Black Widow” at the Seattle Opera, while in 1975 she performed the role of Pelagia in the world premiere of Robert Starer’s “The Last Lover” at the Caramoor Music Festival. Her singing career ran through until 1986, participating in numerous recordings along the way with orchestras, including performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Joanna Simon sings Saint-Saëns' Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix (My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice) from his opera Samson and Delilah, on the Ed Sullivan Show, March 28, 1971. This was the last episode hosted by Ed Sullivan and Simon was his final guest. YouTube, click here!

Lucy and Joanna Simon’s deaths follow the death of brother Peter, the youngest of the four siblings who was a photographer. He died of cardiac arrest at the age of 71 in 2018 after a bout with cancer.

First published at Variety, October 21, 2022

Joanna Simon, Opera Singer from Famously Musical Family, Dies at 85

A renowned mezzo-soprano, she grew up alongside her younger sisters, Carly and Lucy, both of whom became singer-songwriters.

Joanna Simon performing at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1999. She was one of the best-known American opera 

singers to emerge in the 1960s. Credit...Photo: Steve J. Sherman

by Clay Risen

Joanna Simon, a smoky-voiced mezzo-soprano who grew up in a family loaded with musical talent, including her younger sisters Carly and Lucy, before forging an acclaimed career as an opera and concert singer, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 85.

Mary Ascheim, a first cousin of Ms. Simon’s, said the cause was thyroid cancer. Ms. Simon died in a hospital a day before Lucy Simon’s death at 82 at her home in Piermont, N.Y.

Ms. Simon was one of the best-known American opera singers to emerge in the 1960s, a time when arts funding was flush, audiences were full and gleaming new music palaces were opening, chief among them the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York.

Her easy grace and glamorous good looks made her a popular guest on television talk shows. She sang and sat for interviews on “The Tonight Show” and “The Dick Cavett Show,” and she was a featured performer on the last original telecast of “The Ed Sullivan Show” before it went off the air in 1971.

Joanna Simon as the cover girl for Stereo Review, October 1971.
Simon was featured in an article by journalist William Livingstone.

In her embrace of popular culture, Ms. Simon was not too far removed from her singer-songwriter sisters. Carly Simon achieved lasting fame in the early 1970s with pop hits like “Anticipation” and “You’re So Vain.” Lucy Simon sang with Carly early on — they were billed as the Simon Sisters — and later found success as a composer. She received a Tony nomination in 1991 for best original score, for the musical “The Secret Garden.”

She continued her opera training in Vienna, then returned to New York to start her career.

The sisters occasionally crossed paths. Joanna sang backup on Carly’s album “No Secrets” (1972) and Lucy’s album “Lucy Simon” (1975), and Carly played guitar offstage during Joanna’s performance on “The Mike Douglas Show” in 1971. Carly wrote her own opera, “Romulus Hunt,” released as an album in 1993; it featured a character named Joanna, a mezzo-soprano.

The sisters grew up singing and playing music together and remained close as adults, avoiding the petty jealousies that often ensnare siblings engaged in similar careers.

“When Lucy was 16, I envied her hourglass figure,” Joanna Simon told The Toronto Star in 1985. “When Carly first became successful, I envied her first $200,000 check. But those feelings lasted for 20 minutes, and I didn’t dwell on them. I knew it was a given in the operatic world that very few achieved that kind of success. I never expected it, so I wasn’t disappointed.”

Ms. Simon in “Bomarzo” with New York City Opera in 1967, the year the opera, by the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, had its debut. She was the first to sing the role of Pantasilea, a courtesan in 16th-century Italy, in that opera. Credit...New York City Opera

Joanna Elizabeth Simon was born on Oct. 20, 1936, in Manhattan, the oldest child of Richard L. Simon, a publisher and founder of Simon & Schuster, and Andrea (Heinemann) Simon, a singer and homemaker. The family lived in Manhattan and, later, the Fieldston neighborhood of the Bronx.

The Simon children took to music early; Joanna could play piano at 6 years old. In high school she thought she would become an actress, though by college, at Sarah Lawrence (which Carly also later attended), she had switched to musical comedy. Then a voice coach encouraged her to consider opera.

Upon graduating in 1958 with a degree in literature, she continued her opera training in Vienna, then returned to New York to start her career.

Ms. Simon, who lived in Manhattan, married Gerald Walker, a novelist and editor at The New York Times Magazine, in 1976. He died in 2004. She dated Walter Cronkite until his death in 2009.

In addition to her sister Carly, she is survived by her stepson, David Walker, and a step-grandson. Her brother, Peter, a photojournalist, died in 2018.

Ms. Simon continued to sing professionally through the early 1980s, then gradually pulled back before retiring in 1986 to join “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” on PBS as a cultural correspondent. She won an Emmy Award in 1991 for a documentary on creativity and manic depression.

Funding for arts programming at “MacNeil/Lehrer” eventually dried up, and her position was cut. Casting about for a new career, she became a real-estate broker. Within six months, she told The Times in 1997, she had sold $6 million in property. She later became a vice president of her company, Fox Residential Group.

Joanna Simon arrives for the Vanity Fair 2007 Tribeca Film Festival party at the State Supreme Courthouse on April 24, 2007 in New York City. Evan Agostini/Getty Images For Tribeca Film Festival

While her musical background wasn’t the key to her newfound success, she said it sometimes came in handy.

“When I take customers into potential apartments, I go into the next apartment and vocalize,” she said. “If they can hear me, it’s no deal.”

Clay Risen is an obituaries reporter for The Times. Previously, he was a senior editor on the Politics desk and a deputy op-ed editor on the Opinion desk. He is the author, most recently, of “Bourbon: The Story of Kentucky Whiskey.”

First published at The New York Times, October 21, 2022

Robbie Coltrane: Harry Potter actor dies aged 72

By Helen Bushby and Steven McIntosh - Entertainment and arts reporters

Coltrane appeared in two James Bond films - Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough

Actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, has died aged 72.

He also appeared in ITV detective drama Cracker and the James Bond films Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough.

In a statement, his agent Belinda Wright confirmed the actor died in hospital near Falkirk in Scotland.

She described Coltrane as a "unique talent", adding his role as Hagrid "brought joy to children and adults alike all over the world".

"For me personally I shall remember him as an abidingly loyal client. As well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent, brilliantly witty and after 40 years of being proud to be called his agent, I shall miss him.

"He is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his children Spencer and Alice and their mother Rhona Gemmell. They would like to thank the medical staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert for their care and diplomacy.

"Please respect Robbie's family's privacy at this distressing time."

Coltrane was made an OBE in the 2006 New Year's honours list for his services to drama and he was awarded the Bafta Scotland Award for outstanding contribution to film in 2011.

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe paid tribute to Coltrane in a statement, saying: "Robbie was one of the funniest people I've met and used to keep us laughing constantly as kids on that set.

"I've especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on Prisoner of Azkaban, when we were all hiding from the torrential rain for hours in Hagrid's hut and he was telling stories and cracking jokes to keep morale up.

"I feel incredibly lucky that I got to meet and work with him and very sad that he's passed. He was an incredible actor and a lovely man."

Fellow Harry Potter star Emma Watson said: "Robbie, if I ever get to be so kind as you were to me on a film set I promise I'll do it in your name and memory."

She paid tribute to Coltrane on Instagram saying there was "no better Hagrid" and he "made it a joy to be Hermione".

"I'll really miss your sweetness, your nicknames, your warmth, your laughs and your hugs."

Writing on Twitter, Harry Potter author JK Rowling described Coltrane as an "incredible talent" and "a complete one-off".

Actor Stephen Fry, who appeared alongside Coltrane in Alfresco, tweeted: "Such depth, power and talent: funny enough to cause helpless hiccups and honking as we made our first TV show Alfresco. Farewell, old fellow, you'll be so dreadfully missed."

Fellow Alfesco actor Hugh Laurie, who also starred alongside Coltrane in Blackadder, recalled their time spent sharing car rides between Manchester and London. "I don't think I've ever laughed or learned so much in my life", he tweeted.

And Blackadder star Tony Robinson described Coltrane as "such a sweet man... so talented as a comic and as a straight actor". Posting on Twitter about his favourite episode from the period sitcom, he said: "It was all down to you mate."

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described Coltrane's death as "very sad news".

"He had such range and depth as an actor, from brilliant comedy to hard-edged drama. I think my favourite of all his roles was Fitz in Cracker," she said. "Robbie Coltrane, Scottish entertainment legend - you will be hugely missed. RIP."

The official James Bond twitter account called him an "exceptional actor whose talent knew no bounds".

Broadcaster Richard Coles added: "Very sorry to hear Robbie Coltrane has died. We shared a dressing room once and he had the biggest pants I have ever seen, which he wore with tremendous flair. We were friends from then on.”

The Scottish star, whose real name is Anthony Robert McMillan, was born in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, in 1950.

Coltrane was the son of teacher and pianist Jean Ross and GP Ian Baxter McMillan, and was educated at independent school Glenalmond College in Perth and Kinross.

The actor's career began in 1979 in the TV series Play for Today, but he came to prominence in A Kick Up the Eighties, a BBC TV comedy series which also starred Tracey Ullman, Miriam Margolyes and Rik Mayall.

He also appeared in the 1983 ITV comedy Alfresco, with Fry, Emma Thompson, Siobhan Redmond and Hugh Laurie.

By 1987 he had a leading role in Tutti Frutti, about Scottish rock and roll band The Majestics, which also starred Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson. The year before he was in British crime film Mona Lisa, starring Bob Hoskins.

Coltrane was made an OBE in the 2006 New Year's honours list for his services to drama

Coltrane gained further fame starring as criminal psychologist Dr Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald in the ITV series Cracker from 1993 to 1995 and in a special return episode in 2006.

The role secured him the Bafta award for best actor for three consecutive years from 1994 to 1996.

Arguably his best-known role came in the Harry Potter film series as he starred in all eight movies as Rubeus Hagrid alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

In 2016, he starred in Bafta-winning Channel 4 drama National Treasure, with Dame Julie Walters, about a comic and TV host accused of sexual abuse of women.

Late last year he appeared in the Harry Potter reunion TV special, which reunited the cast, although JK Rowling was absent and featured only in archive video clips.

Coltrane appeared alongside Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, along with Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman and Ralph Fiennes.

First published at BBC News, October 15, 2022

Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury dies at 96

By Elsa Maishman

Dame Angela Lansbury, who won international acclaim as the star of the US TV crime series Murder, She Wrote, has died aged 96.

The three-time Oscar nominee had a career spanning eight decades, across film, theatre and television.

Born in 1925, she was one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.

Dame Angela died in her sleep just five days before her 97th birthday, her family said in a statement.

"The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles," the family said.

Born in London, Dame Angela later moved to New York and attended the Feagin School of Dramatic Art.

She was noticed by a Hollywood executive at a party in 1942, and given her first role as a maid in the 1944 film Gaslight, based on the 1938 play of the same name. 

Her portrayal earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress the following year.

The term "gaslighting" originated from Patrick Hamilton's play, which was about a young woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing she is going crazy.

The British star went on to land two more Oscar nominations as Sibyl in The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1945 and Laurence Harvey's manipulative mother in The Manchurian Candidate - opposite Frank Sinatra - in 1962.

After a move on to Broadway in the 1960s she won several Tony Awards, including one for her turn as Nellie Lovett in Stephen Sondheim's 1979 musical play Sweeney Todd.

She appeared in the Disney hit Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971, and later featured in other children's films, providing the voice for Mrs Potts in the animated Beauty and the Beast; and more recently Mary Poppins Returns.

But it was her portrayal of sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the television series Murder, She Wrote which gained her millions of fans across the world.

Starring as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote brought international fame and made her very wealthy

She took up the role in 1984, and continued for 12 years and nine seasons.

The show made her one of the wealthiest women in the US at the time, with a fortune estimated at $100m.

"I worked much harder on a character in the theatre than I do playing Jessica," Lansbury said in a TV interview in 1985.

"Jessica's much closer to home for me. She's an easy-going woman.

"It's just that I can relate to her," she added.

Her later accolades included an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2013 at the age of 88.

During the ceremony, fellow actor Geoffrey Rush praised her as the "living definition of range".

It followed a lifetime achievement award from Bafta in 2002, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She was made a Dame in 2014 for services to drama, charitable work and philanthropy.

Tributes following her death lauded a "legend" of Hollywood.

Actor Josh Gad wrote on Twitter: "It is rare that one person can touch multiple generations, creating a breadth of work that defines decade after decade. Angela Lansbury was that artist."

Fellow actor Harvey Fierstein added that Dame Angela was "everything".

Actress Mia Farrow, who starred in the 1978 film Death on the Nile alongside Dame Angela, wrote that it was "an honour" to have worked with her.

Oscar-winner Viola Davis wrote that she thought the late star "would live forever". "What an absolutely beautiful legacy you've left," she posted. "You have influenced generations of actors to aspire to excellence."

Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander tweeted that "one of the most versatile, talented, graceful, kind, witty, wise, classy ladies I've ever met has left us", adding: "Her huge contribution to the arts and the world remains always."

Comedian and actress Kathy Griffin wrote: "I cannot tell you how many ladies and gays are crushed, moved and feeling nostalgic about something in the past with the news of the passing of the fabulous Dame Angela Lansbury."

Many tributes mentioned Dame Angela's work to raise awareness and money for Aids in the 1980s and 90s, fronting a TV information campaign and headlining fundraising events.

Dame Angela was married twice, briefly to the actor Richard Cromwell when she was 19, and later to the British actor and producer Peter Shaw.

They remained together for more than 50 years, until his death in 2003.

She is survived by three children and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

First published at BBC News, October 12, 2022