Karen Morrow


Karen Morrow is an American singer–actress best known for her work in musical theater. Her honors include an Emmy Award and a Theatre World Award, and an Ovation Award and five Drama-Logue Award nominations.

Early life and Broadway career

Morrow was born in Chicago and raised in Des Moines, Iowa by parents who were both classical singers. As a teenager, she first heard recordings by actress/singer Susan Johnson, which inspired her to try musical theater, beginning with the role of Meg in Brigadoon.
After graduating from St. Joseph Academy in 1954, she graduated from Clarke College in 1958. She then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she taught and performed on the side, but she soon moved to Manhattan. Her career there began with an appearance in the Off-Broadway show, Sing, Muse! in 1961; she won a 1962 Theatre World Award for her performance. She played Luce in a 1963 Off-Broadway revival of Rodgers & Hart's The Boys from Syracuse and a number of roles in City Center over the next five years, including The Most Happy Fella in 1966 as Cleo.
Morrow's first Broadway production, I Had a Ball, with Buddy Hackett and Richard Kiley, opened in December 1964, and folded six months later amid lackluster reviews. Most of Morrow's later Broadway productions would also have short runs despite some impressive casts. Two years later, she appeared as Mary Texas in A Joyful Noise, a misconceived effort to incorporate country music into a Broadway show. It closed after 4 previews and 12 performances. Next she played Na'Ama in 1968's I'm Solomon, which vanished just as quickly. In November 1971, she appeared as Babylove in The Grass Harp, which lasted one week at the Martin Beck Theatre, but brought her good notices, especially for her rendition of "Babylove Miracle Show". In 1972, Morrow appeared as Irene Jantzen in another short-lived Broadway production, The Selling of the President, which had 5 regular performances. Her last Broadway performance was as The Princess Puffer/Miss Angela Prysock in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, as a replacement, in December 1986.
Asked why so many of the Broadway shows that she appeared in were flops, Morrow said, "I've analyzed this, trying to think of why I've had so many flops. I keep coming back to my contemporaries... it was always the ones who could sing but also had something extra, something interesting about themselves... I think with me, I was just a singer with a big voice and I was pleasant, and that can only take you so far."

Later years

From 1969, she made Los Angeles, California her home base, where she worked on local cable in a short-lived series called Singin' that co-starred her friend and peer, Nancy Dussault and appeared regularly on The Jim Nabors Hour, The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show and Match Game. She won an Emmy Award for the PBS program "Cabaret Tonight".
Other TV work included appearances on Girl Talk, Love, American Style, Medical Center, Paul Sand in Friends & Lovers, Karen, Starsky & Hutch, Tabitha, Alice, Friends, Ladies' Man, The Love Boat, Too Close for Comfort, Trapper John, M.D.,
Goodnight, Beantown, Falcon Crest, Murder, She Wrote, Night Court and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, among other programs.
Morrow appeared in three TV movies: Eve Wister in I Was a Mail Order Bride, Martha Biggs in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, and Mrs. Turner in Cage Without a Key.
She was also a regular on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion.
Her stage work outside of New York has included Parthy in Show Boat,
Die Fledermaus, It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Sally Adams in Call Me Madam, Hello, Dolly!, Oliver!, Carlotta in Follies Sweeney Todd and A New Brain. She also has appeared in concerts with major orchestras in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Honolulu.
She can be heard on the 2002 concept album Miss Spectacular, a studio recording of an unproduced work by Jerry Herman, with whom she has worked and recorded extensively. Other albums include An Evening with Jerry Herman.
Morrow taught musical theatre performance at UCLA and continues to teach master classes in performance and audition skills. She is a member of the faculty of AMDA.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1962The Red Skelton ShowGuest VocalistEpisode: "One Good Intern Deserves Another"
1969–1970The Jim Nabors HourBlancheEpisodes #1.2, #1.15
1973Love, American StyleElizabeth / Mrs. SommersSegments: "Love and the Vertical Romance", "Love and the Odd Couples"
1974Medical CenterNormaEpisode: "The World's Balloon"
1974Paul Sand in Friends & LoversTrudyEpisode: "Maid in the Snow"
1975Cage Without a KeyMrs. TurnerTelevision film
1975KarenCeritaEpisode: "A Day in the Life"
1976Good HeavensLilaEpisode: "Jack the Ribber and Me"
1976The Boy in the Plastic BubbleMartha BiggsTelevision film
1976Starsky & HutchMitzi GrahamEpisode: "Nightmare"
1977–1978TabithaAunt MinervaMain role
1979AliceIna SimpsonEpisode: "Alice's Decision"
1979FriendsPamela RichardsMain role
1979The Love BoatDaphne KnoxEpisode: "The Grass Is Always Greener/Three Stages of Love/Oldies But Good"
1979-1980Password PlusHerselfMarch 1979 and October 1980
1980That's Me, TooVærtshusgæstFeature film
1980–1981Ladies' ManBetty BrillMain role
1982The Love BoatRuth GaylorEpisode: "Baby Talk/My Friend, the Executrix/Programmed for Love"
1982I Was a Mail Order BrideEve WhisterTelevision film
1983Too Close for ComfortKaren DayEpisode: "The Yearning Point"
1983Trapper John, M.D.KarenEpisode: "May Divorce Be with You"
1983Goodnight, BeantownPauline2 episodes: "Invasions of Privacy", "Valerie's Fan"
1988Falcon CrestBernice Haberman2 episodes: "Hornet's Nest", "A Madness Most Discreet"
1989Murder, She WroteGladysEpisode: "Double Exposure"
1989Night CourtAmanda CaswellEpisode: "For Love or Money"
1997Sabrina, the Teenage WitchNanaEpisode: "Sweet Charity"