Charlotte Rae

At 92 years old, Charlotte Rae has this physical status:

Charlotte Rae Lubotsky (April 22, 1926 – August 5, 2018), also known as Charlotte Rae, was an American character actress, comedian, and singer whose career spanned six decades. Rae was known for her role as Edna Garrett in the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and its spin-off, The Facts of Life, in which she appeared from 1979-1996.

In 1982, she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Comedy.

She appeared in two Facts of Life television films: The Truth of Life Goes to Paris in 1982 and The Facts of Life Reunion in 2001.

In 101 Dalmatians, she portrayed "Nanny"; the story and Aunt Pristine Figg. The film's producer, Tom and Jerry.

In Girl Meets World, she appeared as Gammy Hart. She appeared in the film Ricki and the Flash (2005) with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Rick Springfield.

Rae's autobiography, The Facts of My Life, was released in November 2015, co-written with her son Larry Strauss.

Early life

Charlotte Rae Lubotsky was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 22, 1926. Esther (née Ottenstein) and Meyer Lubotsky, both Russian Jewish immigrant immigrants, were among her parents. Mr. Lubotsky, the proprietor of a retail tire company, was a narcotics retailer. Esther Lubotsky, Rae's mother, had been childhood friends with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. Rae was the second of three sisters in Beverly and Miriam (named "Mimi"). Rae's family lived in an apartment built for them above their father's Milwaukee tire store for the first ten years of her life. Her parents bought a house for the family in nearby Shorewood, Wisconsin, in 1936. In 1944, she graduated from Shorewood High School.

Rae attended Northwestern University, but she did not complete her studies. Cloris Leachman, a student at the University of Leachman, was a new acquaintance while there. Leachman succeeded Rae on The Facts of Life for the show's last two seasons several years ago. Agnes Nixon, Charlton Heston, Paul Lynde, Gerald Freedman, Gerald Freedman, Claude Akins, and Sheldon Harnick all appeared at Northwestern University, including Agnes Nixon, Charlton Heston, Sheldon Harnick. "I never thought I'd get into comedy" during an interview with Milwaukee Talks in 2016. She told her that her last name would not do her, she swore it out, to her father's chagrin.

Personal life

On November 4, 1951, Rae married composer John Strauss. He came out as bisexual in the mid-1970s, and the couple divorced in 1976. Strauss died in 2011 at the age of 90 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. Lawrence, a high school coach, and his older brother Andrew (1955-1999) were Rae's two sons with Strauss: Lawrence, a high school tutor, and his older brother Andrew (1955–1999). Andy was autistic and had epilepsy.

In the early 1970s, Rae joined Alcoholics Anonymous. The company was a vital component of her personal life.

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Career

Rae made her television debut on episodes of Look Up and Live and The United States Steel Hour in 1954. This resulted in appearances on numerous other television shows including Armstrong Circle Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre, The Philco Television Playhouse, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The DuPont Show of the Week, and The Phil Silvers Show.

Where Are You, her first big success on the sitcom Car 54. (1961-1963), in which she portrayed Sylvia Schnauzer, Officer Leo Schnauzer's wife (played by Al Lewis). This was followed by actresses from 'Way Out, The Defenders, Temperatures Rising, The Partridge Family, The Partridge Family, Love, American Style, McMillan & Wife, She Wrote, St. Phyllis, 227, Murder, She Wrote, St. Elsewhere, Diagnosis: Murder, All in the Family, and Good Times. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her support in the 1975 drama Queen of the Stardust Ballroom. Rae played Mrs. Bellotti, the hotel's dysfunctional adult son who had never seen, on Norman Lear's ABC television comedy Hot l Baltimore, wherein she appeared in "The "E" on the hotel's neon sign was burnt out). Mrs. Bellotti, who was a little odd, would visit Moose and then speculate about all the strange situations that Moose would get into with the hotel's guests. Molly the Mail Lady appeared in an early season of Sesame Street.

Rae appeared on the Rich Little Show, a variety show that aired for 11 episodes in 1976.

In 1978, NBC was losing to both CBS and ABC, and NBC, and NBC executive Fred Silverman, a former CBS, ABC, and NBC executive, insists Norman Lear produces Diff'rent Strokes. Knowing that Rae was one of Lear's favorite actresses (in addition to Hot l Baltimore's 1974 episode of All in the Family), he hired her immediately for the role of housekeeper Edna Garrett, co-starring Conrad Bain in all 24 episodes. Mrs. Garrett is asked to help out at Kimberly Drummond's (actress Dana Plato) private school for girls called East Lake (later moved to Eastland) in "The Girls' School" episode. Mrs. Garrett, who has been away from home for the rest of the week, has decided to return to her housekeeping duties at the Drummond home.

Rae suggested a spinoff based on the Diff'rent Strokes' "The Girls' School" episode in July 1979. The show, which will be titled The Facts of Life, will portray a housekeeper turned housemother for boarding students in a prestigious private school. The course will address topics including weight gain and dieting, insomnia, heroin, and dating among teenagers. Rae had a clause in her deal that stated she could return to Diff'rent Strokes if the new spinoff was not successful.

The Facts of Life was not only an award-winning actor or actress in supporting roles or in guest shots on television series and specials, but also made her a television actress.

The Facts of Life had marginal ratings at first, but after a massive renovation, incorporating some cast changes, plus a time change for the second season, the show became a ratings favorite from 1980 to 1986. Rae maintained a lean diet in the first and second seasons, and by the second season, he had shed a significant amount of weight. As a result, it was briefly mentioned in the second-season premiere two-part episode "The New Girl" and the sixth installment "Shoplifting" that Rae's Mrs. Garrett's character had also gone on a diet and shed weight. Rae's fame and success as the seasons progressed. Rae was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 1982 for her role as Edna Garrett in The Facts of Life. However, the series was going through both the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons, but it was also transitioning. Rae's appearances on the programme had been cut at her behest, and as a result, she had not been seen in many episodes. The reason for this was that Rae found that the girls' characters were maturing and that they did not need as much of Mrs. Garrett's rearing and guidance.

Rae began to consider leaving the series near the end of the seventh season. She wanted to spend more time doing theater as well as traveling. Rae's producers attempted to persuade Rae to remain with The Facts of Life for at least two years, but she felt the program had slowed and decided to leave at the end of the 1985–86 season. Cloris Leachman, an Academy and Emmy Award-winning actress, had been hired to act as her replacement. Rae decided to make her last appearance on the show "Out of Peekskill," in order to assist with the transition. Edna Garrett will marry, leave Peekskill with her new husband (played by Robert Mandan), and then move to Africa to serve in the Peace Corps. Mrs. Garrett's sister, Beverly Ann Stickle, who will attend the wedding, and then as Mrs. Garrett's niece and mentor for the children will be introduced in the same story as Mrs. Garrett. Rae and Leachman were good friends who met each other when they were students at Northwestern University. Rae's top billing in the cast was passed on by the Leachman, and her character stayed for the show's second two years. The Beverly Ann was very similar to Leachman's character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Phyllis from the 1970s. The casting change from Rae to Leachman did not seem to have a major effect on viewership. The series maintained strong ratings until it came to an end in 1988's spring. NBC wanted to keep the show for a tenth season, but cast members Nancy McKeon and Mindy Cohn wanted to move on to other things.

Rae also did a lot of acting after being banned from The Facts of Life. In 1993, she portrayed Aunt Pristine Figg in Tom and Jerry: The Movie. Berthe appeared in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Pippin in 2000.

In 2001, Rae, Lisa Whelchel, Mindy Cohn, and Kim Fields were reunited in a television film titled The Facts of Life Reunion. In 2007, the entire cast was invited to the TV Land Awards, where several members of the cast, including Rae, performed the show's theme tune.

She appeared in a cabaret performance at the Plush Room in San Francisco in 2007. Rae appeared in the 2008 film You Don't Mess with the Zohan as an older woman with a fling with Adam Sandler's character. In the Life episode "I Heart Mom" on February 18, 2009, she appeared in a small role as Mrs. Ford.

In an off-stage measure to weigh the girls, Rae said in a 2015 interview with Entertainment Tonight that the pressure had the opposite effect on them; the more they tried to pressure them and weigh them and threaten them, the more they would eat." It's not the way you handle adolescence. You shouldn't do that."

The entire cast was reunited on April 19, 2011 - where the show was nominated and received the award for Pop Culture Icon. Nancy McKeon and Kim Fields (who played Jo and Tootie, respectively) gave a speech on behalf of her 85th birthday on the same day. The cast mirrored ABC's Good Morning America, where reporter Cynthia McFadden wished Rae a happy birthday and the cast performed the show's theme song at the end of the segment.

Sheldon Harnick, Vernon Duke, John La Touche, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, and Marc Blitzstein were among others' debuts on her first (and only) solo album, Songs I Taught My Mother in 1955.

She appeared in Ben Bagley's (and on its cast album) in 1956, as well as Joel Grey and Tammy Grimes ("Summer Is a Comet"), Sheldon Harnick ("The Shape of Things"), Robert Strouse and Lee Adams ("Spring Doth Let Her Colours Fly"), a parody of opera singer Helen Traubel's Las Vegas nightclub appearance, among others.

Dorothy Loudon, Cy Young, and Arthur Siegel sang "Everybody Loves You (When You Sleep)" and many other duets and ensembles for Bagley's studio. During her Broadway career, Rae earned two Tony Award nominations. In 1966, the first in a Musical in Pickwick was best Featured Actress; the second came in 1969 for Best Actress in a Play for Morning, Noon, and Night.

She appeared on Broadway in Three Wishes for Jamie (1952), Li'l Abner (1956), and Pickwick (1965), among others. She has been a stage actress since the 1950s. In 1973, Rae appeared in Terrence McNally's spoof Whiskey at Saint Clements' Theatre Off-Broadway. She appeared in The Vain Monologues Off-Broadway in 1999.

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