Stage, Film, and TV Actress Sheree North Dies at 72

Sheree North, who co-starred in the Broadway musicals Hazel Flagg and I Can Get It for You Wholesale, died on November 4 in Los Angeles from complications from surgery. She was 72.

North, who was born Dawn Bethel, earned a Theater World Award for her performance as jitterbug dancer Whitey in Hazel Flagg and repeated the role in Living It Up, the 1954 Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis vehicle loosely based on the show. In 1955, she replaced Marilyn Monroe in the film How to Be Very Very Popular. Her other films include The Lieutenant Wore Skirts and The Best Things in Life Are Free.

She returned to Broadway in 1962 for her only other Main Stem appearance, as Martha Mills in Wholesale. North did stage work throughout the country in such shows as Can-Can and Bye Bye Birdie; she also appeared frequently on television, earning Emmy Award nominations for guest spots on Marcus Welby, M.D. and Archie Bunker’s Place and gaining acclaim for her roles of Charlene on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Babs Kramer on Seinfeld.

North is survived by her fourth husband, Philip Norman, and two daughters from previous marriages, Dawn Bessire and Erica Torrablas.