Rose Marie
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Rose Marie (born August 15, 1923) is an actress who had a career as a child star under the name Baby Rose Marie, but is best known for her adult role as "Sally Rogers" on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Born Rose Marie Mazetta in New York City to Italian-American Frank Mazzetta and Polish-American Stella Gluszcak, she became a performer at the age of three. At five she became a radio star on NBC and made a series of films. She was such a strong and convincing blues singer that there was a controversy over her actual age. Some people thought that NBC was trying to pass a midget off as a young girl. But indeed she was only a child. As a teenager she became a nightclub performer before becoming a comedienne. She was known then as The Darling of the Airwaves. According to her autobiography, Hold the Roses, [1] she was assisted in her career by many members of the Mafia, including Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel.
After appearing for many years on The Dick Van Dyke Show (in the role created by Sylvia Miles in the pilot episode), Rose Marie co-starred on The Doris Day Show, and later had a semi-regular seat in the upper center square on the 1970s version of Hollywood Squares, along with her friend and The Dick Van Dyke Show co-star Morey Amsterdam.
From 1977-81, she costarred with Rosemary Clooney, Helen O'Connell and Margaret Whiting in the musical revue 4 Girls 4, which toured the U.S. and appeared on television several times.
In the early 1990s, she had a recurring role as Frank Fontana's mother on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown.
Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam guest-starred together in a February 1996 episode of the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City, shortly before Amsterdam's death in October of that same year. She appeared with the surviving Dick Van Dyke Show cast members in a 2004 reunion special. Rose was especially close to actor Richard Deacon from that show, and offered him the suits left behind when her husband, musician Bobby Guy died in 1966, as the two men were of similar height and build.
As of 2005, she continues to perform.
[edit] External links
- Rose Marie at the Internet Movie Database
- Rose Marie at the Notable Names Database
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