Tony-winning 'Promises, Promises' actress dies

[May 07, 2011]  THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) -- Tony Award-winning "Promises, Promises" actress Marian Mercer, whose five-decade career also included dozens of television appearances, has died in California at age 75.

Her husband, Patrick Hogan, tells the Los Angeles Times that Mercer died April 27 of Alzheimer's disease complications in the Newbury Park area of Thousand Oaks, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Besides her 1969 Broadway hit "Promises, Promises," Mercer won praise for the 1978 revival of "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off" co-starring Sammy Davis Jr.

On television, she starred in the ABC-TV comedy "It's a Living" from 1980 to 1982. She also had roles on "St. Elsewhere," "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" and "Love, American Style."

Besides her husband of 31 years, Mercer is survived by a daughter, Deirdre Whitaker, of Seattle.

[Associated Press]

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