Carole Cook, who used Lucille Ball’s career boost to build her career, which included three roles on Broadway and a stint in Sixteen Candles, has died and the incredible Mr. Limpet. She is 98 years old.
Cook died of heart failure in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, three days before her birthday, according to her husband, actor Tom Troupe.
On television, Cook played the ex-wife of Walter Findlay (Bill Macy) in Maude, the police bar owner at Stella’s in Kojak, Mrs. Cora Van Husen in Dynasty, and Donna La Mar, Charlie’s girlfriend. ‘ Neil), via Cagney & Lacey.
The fun-loving Texan came to Hollywood at Ball’s behest, appearing in a 1959 episode of comedian Westinghouse’s Desiru Theater. Ball persuaded her to change her name from Mildred to Carol in honor of the actress she admired most, Carol Lombard.
Cooke went on to co-star with Ball on 18 episodes of The Lucy Show from 1963 to 1968 — often playing Lucy Carmichael’s girlfriend, Selma Green — and five episodes of CBS from 1969 to 1974. “Here Comes Lucy”. They even played a crypto game together in 1965. Her hair is red, just like her mentor.
Cooke also played the wife of Don Knotts’ character in The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), watching him slip through her life, and in John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles (1984). Molly Ringwald’s sensitive grandmother Helen.
In 1965, she became only the second actress, after the legendary Carol Channing, to star in “Hello, Dolly!” – it was a long run in Australia – then appeared in the romantic comedy in 1979 and in the original Broadway production on 42nd Street in 1980.
In September 2018, Cook and her husband were interviewed by TMZ outside Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood, and she got into trouble when she suggested assassinating President Trump. “Where’s John Wilkes Booth when you need him, right?” she asked.
The Secret Service visited her, and she insisted: “You couldn’t have been nicer. I said, ‘I can’t go to jail, the stripes are horizontal, they don’t fit me.’”
