Obituaries

Mary Tyler Moore Show Star Georgia Engel Dies at 70

Engel made her Broadway debut in the original production of ”Hello, Dolly!” and continued to earn acclaim onstage throughout her career.

Georgia Engel in the 2015 off-Broadway production of Annie Baker's John, directed by Sam Gold, at Signature Theatre.
Georgia Engel in the 2015 off-Broadway production of Annie Baker's John, directed by Sam Gold, at Signature Theatre.
(© Matthew Murphy)

Georgia Engel, the soft-spoken actor best known for her two-time Emmy-nominated role as Georgette Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died on Friday, April 12, at the age of 70. According to reports, Engel was a Christian Scientist who did not consult doctors, so her cause of death is unknown.

Engel made her Broadway debut in 1969 as a replacement in the role of Minnie Fay in the original Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! She returned to Broadway in the early 1980s as a replacement in My One and Only (starring Tommy Tune), and went on to appear in the 2002 revival of The Boys From Syracuse and the 2006 production of The Drowsy Chaperone.

Off-Broadway, she appeared in Will Eno's Middletown in 2010, Annie Baker's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in 2012, and Baker's John in 2015, which earned her a Lucille Lortel Award nomination, a Drama Desk Award nomination, and an Obie Award.

Engel most recently starred in Half Time at Paper Mill Playhouse — a new musical about a senior hip-hop dance team that featured a score by Matthew Sklar and Nell Benjamin, a book by Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin, and direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell.

Engel is survived by two sisters, Robin Engel and Penny Lusk.