08 August, 2017
The Broadway actress, known for her roles in such iconic shows from "The Music Man" to "Candide", died from respiratory failure, according to her son.
By 1948, the ambitious young woman moved to New York City where she worked as a typist while auditioning for musicals.
In recent years she focused on a concert career that resulted in live albums like Barbara Cook's Broadway and Mostly Sondheim: Live at Carnegie Hall.
"I have very fond memories of working in that show", Cook told LNP in 2012 as she prepared to perform at Longwood Gardens.
Cook, whose powerful soprano voice made her a popular Broadway ingenue in the 1950s and '60s, was probably best known for her musical roles on the Great White Way as Marian the Librarian in "The Music Man", Amalia Balash in "She Loves Me" and Cunegonde in "Candide".
Cook was born on October 25, 1927, in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of a travelling hat salesman.
She was forced to end her career in the early 1970s as she battled depression, alcoholism and weight gain.
Cook released her memoir, Barbara Cook: Then and Now, a year ago and she was supposed to perform a companion off-Broadway production of the same name. Fittingly, the AP reports that Cook's last meal was vanilla ice cream - which is also the title of one of Amalia's standout numbers in the musical.
Cook was the recepient of a 2011 Kennedy Center Honor and in 2010 she returned to the Broadway stage in Sondheim on Sondheim, for which she was nominated for a Tony.
