Broadway Legend Barbara Cook Passes Away Of Respiratory Failure At 89

American actress and singer Barbara Cook dies Tuesday morning out of respiratory failure in her Manhattan home surrounded by friends and family members.

Cook came to prominence in the 1950s as lead in the original Broadway musicals Plain and Fancy in 1955, Candide in 1956 and The Music Man in 1957.

The singer grabbed a Tony Award too for The Music Man in 1958.

Until the mid-1970s she continued performing in theater. Later she started as a cabarel and concert singer. She made several numerous recordings.

Born on 25 October in 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, to Nell and Charles Bunyan, the singer visited Manhattan in 1948 with her mother and decided to move to the city and find a work as an actress. Initially she started singing at clubs and resorts and in 1950 joined the Blue Angel club. In 1951 she debuted at Broadway.

Cook debuted in TV in 1952 on the show Armstrong Circle Theater and in 1954 she was case in soap opera Golden Windows.

In the 1970s she took to alcoholism and gained weight. She was depressed fighting trouble in getting stage work. However, she stopped drinking in 1977.

Cook married acting teacher David LeGrant on 9 March 1952 and divorced in 1965. Their son Adam LeGrant was born in 1959.

Some of her popular stage work include Flahooley, Plain and Fancy, The Gay Life, Fanny, She Loves me, Show Boat and Funny Girl.