Sandra Church

Church was born and raised in San Francisco, California. Her father died when she was two years old in a car accident. Her mother, a registered nurse with theatrical ambitions herself, moved Church at the age of five to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting. She attended Immaculate Heart High School.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

She was taken out of high school to audition for the lead role in Picnic, which kicked off her acting career.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

From 1953 to 1959, Church played various ingénue roles in theatrical plays. In 1953, Church made her Broadway debut in the role of Madge Owens, replacing Janice Rule, in William Inge's Picnic with Ralph Meeker.Marill, Alvin H. More Theatre: Stage to Screen to Television, Vol II (M-Z), Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1993. p. 944Inge, William. Four Plays. New York: Grove Press, 1958. p. 73.Hawkins-Dady, Mark (Editor). International Dictionary of Theatre - 1: Plays, Chicago: St. James Press, 1992. pp. 613-14. Her next performance was playing Sonya in Uncle Vanya (1956), an off-broadway production with Franchot Tone and Signe Hasso, followed by a role as Betsy Dean in the Ronald Alexander play Holiday for Lovers (1957). Church was featured as Helen White in Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio alongside Dorothy McGuire and James Whitmore.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Church's breakout performance came in 1959 as the original Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy (1959),Barnes, Clive. "Gypsy Bounces Back With Zest and Lilt", New York Times, September 24, 1974[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E0DB163CF931A35756C0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=%22Gypsy%22+&st=nyt]Brantley, Ben. "New Momma Takes Charge" New York Times May 2, 2003.Rich, Frank. The Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980-1993, Random House, 1998, {{ISBN|0-679-45300-8}}{{cite web|date=March 4, 1960|title=Sandra Church captures role of a stripper|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1798&dat=19600304&id=1gIdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8YoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5870,536408|accessdate=4 June 2011|work=Sarasota Journal}} for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. In his autobiography, playwright Arthur Laurents states, "It came down to between Suzanne Pleshette and Sandra Church. Suzanne was the better actress, but Sandra was the better singer. We went with Sandra."Gates, Anita.[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/arts/21cnd-pleshette.html?hp NYTimes-21cnd-Pleshette "Suzanne Pleshette, 70, 'Newhart' Actress, Dies" (bio)] The New York Times, January 21, 2008 In Gypsy, Church introduced the popular standard "Let Me Entertain You."Sondheim, Stephen, Finishing the Hat, New York: Alfred Knopf, 2010; {{ISBN|978-0-679-43907-3}}, pp. 58-77

Following Gypsy, Church appeared in the 1960 Broadway play Under the Yum Yum Tree, directed by Joseph Anthony.{{cite web|last=Roman|first=Lawrence|title=Cast (in order of appearance)|work=Under the yum-yum tree: a new comedy|publisher=Dramatists Play Service, Inc|year=1961}}

Church's first on-screen appearance was on the Producers' Showcase, followed by the role of Jeannie in The Mugger (1958). She subsequently guest starred on the television series Look Up And Live (1959), as well as The DuPont Show of the Month in 1960. Three years later, she played Marion MacWhite in the film adaptation of Eugene Burdick and William Lederer's novel, The Ugly American (1963). Also in 1963, she appeared on television in The Eleventh Hour and Kraft Suspense Theatre.

In October 1961 it was widely reported that Church and Gypsy composer Jule Styne would marry, although this was untrue.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SSYxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HAEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7200,3585008&dq=sandra+church&hl=en Toledo Blade, October 1961] In November 1964, she married Broadway play producer Norman Twain in Bridgetown, Barbados at the home of stage designer Oliver Messel.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wnEjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nGUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7171,6883884&dq=sandra+church&hl=en Profile of Sandra Church], Sarasota-Herald Tribune; accessed May 20, 2015. The couple divorced in 1975. She later married Albert H. Clayburgh until his passing in 1997.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Church's great-aunt was educator Mary Florence Denton, a longtime faculty member at Doshisha University in Kyoto.{{Cite web|last=Stoneberg|first=David|date=January 24, 2008|title=Japanese college honors a beloved missionary|url=https://napavalleyregister.com/star/lifestyles/japanese-college-honors-a-beloved-missionary/article_74ea5176-e101-55c6-a630-cb4d74968845.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-15|website=Napa Valley Register|language=en}}

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Category:1938 births

Category:American women singers

Category:American film actresses

Category:Actresses from San Francisco

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients

Category:Living people

Category:Singers from San Francisco

Category:21st-century American women