Nell Carter
January 23, 2003 (aged 54)
American
Nell Ruth Carter
- Actress
- singer
1970–2003
Nell Harper – Gimme a Break!
3
Carter began her career in 1970, singing in the theater, and later began work on television. She was best known for her role as Nell Harper on the sitcom Gimme a Break!, which aired from 1981 to 1987. Carter received two Emmy and two Golden Globe award nominations for her work on the series. Prior to Gimme a Break!, Carter won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical in 1978 for her performance in the Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin' as well as a Primetime Emmy Award for her reprisal of the role on television in 1982.[7]
Early life[edit]
Nell Ruth Hardy[8] was born on September 13, 1948 in Birmingham, Alabama,[9] one of nine children born to Edna Mae and Horace Hardy. She was born into a Catholic family and raised Presbyterian.[10][11] Carter later self-identified as Pentecostal[12] and as Jewish. [10]
At the age of two, Hardy witnessed her father's electrocution when he stepped on a live power line.[13][14]
As a child, she began singing on a local gospel radio show and was also a member of the church choir. At age 15, she began performing at area coffee houses, and later joined the Renaissance Ensemble that played at coffee houses and gay bars.
On July 5, 1965 at the age of 16, Hardy was raped at gunpoint by a man whom she knew. She became pregnant as a result of the rape and gave birth to daughter Tracy the next year. Finding raising a baby alone too difficult, she sent her child to live with her older sister Willie. She later claimed that Tracy was the product of a brief marriage, but she revealed the truth in a 1994 interview.[15][16]
Career[edit]
Broadway work[edit]
At age 19, Hardy changed her surname to Carter and left Birmingham, Alabama, moving to New York City with the Renaissance Ensemble, where she sang in coffee shops, nightclubs and bathhouses before landing her first Broadway role in 1971.[17]
Carter made her Broadway debut in the 1971 rock opera Soon, which closed after three performances. She was the music director for the 1974 Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective's production of What Time of Night It Is. Carter appeared with Bette Davis in the 1974 stage musical Miss Moffat, based on Davis' earlier film The Corn Is Green, but the show closed before reaching Broadway. She became a star for her role in the musical Ain't Misbehavin, for which she won a Tony Award in 1978. She later won an Emmy for the same role in a televised performance in 1982.
In 1978, Carter was cast as Effie White in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls but departed the production during development to take a television role on Ryan's Hope. When Dreamgirls premiered in late 1981, Jennifer Holliday had taken the lead role.
Carter's additional Broadway credits include Dude and the 20th-anniversary production of Annie, in which she played Miss Hannigan.
Film and television[edit]
In 1979, Carter had a part in the Miloš Forman-directed musical adaptation of Hair. and her voice is heard on the film's soundtrack.[18]
In 1981, she took a role on the NBC action comedy television series The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo[19] before landing the lead role of Nell Harper on the sitcom Gimme a Break!.
Death[edit]
On January 23, 2003 at the age of 54, Carter collapsed and died at her home in Beverly Hills.[28][29] Her son Joshua discovered her body that night.[10][30] Per a provision in Carter's will, no autopsy was performed. Using blood tests, X-rays and a cursory physical examination, the Los Angeles County coroner's office ruled that Carter's death was the likely result of "probable arteriosclerotic heart disease, with diabetes a contributing condition."[31]
Carter's friend Ann Kaser inherited her property and custody of her two sons.[10][32][9] Carter is interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.[33][34][35]
Personal life[edit]
Carter attempted suicide in the early 1980s, and around 1985 she entered a drug-detoxification facility to break a longstanding cocaine addiction. Her brother Bernard died of complications from AIDS in 1989.[15]
Carter married mathematician and lumber executive George Krynicki, and she converted to Judaism in 1982.[10][11] She filed for divorce from Krynicki in 1989 and the divorce was finalized in 1992.
Carter had three children: daughter Tracy and sons Joshua and Daniel. She adopted both Joshua and Daniel as newborns over a four-month period. She attempted to adopt twice more, but both adoptions failed. In her first attempt, she allowed a young pregnant woman to move into her home with the plan that she would adopt the child, but the mother decided to keep the baby. Carter also had three miscarriages.[15]
In 1992, Carter had surgery to repair two aneurysms. She married Roger Larocque in June 1992[36] but divorced him the next year. Carter declared bankruptcy in 1995 and again in 2002.[15]