June Havoc, immortalized in 'Gypsy,' dies at 97

[March 30, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Actress and writer June Havoc, whose childhood in vaudeville as Baby June was immortalized in the musical "Gypsy," has died in Connecticut at age 97.

Havoc was the younger sister of famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee and died Sunday of natural causes at her home in Stamford. Her death was confirmed Monday by her publicist and friend, Shirley Herz.

While she never reached the fame of her sister, Havoc had a varied, successful theater career that lasted from 1918 into the next century.

With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, "Gypsy" is considered one of the best musicals ever written. The original 1959 production starred Ethel Merman, and it has been revived several times since. It also became a 1962 movie starring Rosalind Russell, with Natalie Wood as the grown-up Gypsy.

[Associated Press; By BOB THOMAS]

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