West Side Story star Carole D’Andrea, who played Velma on-screen and onstage, has passes away at the age of 87.
The actress originated the role of Velma in the 1957 Broadway production of West Side Story before reprising the role in the classic 1961 movie musical adaptation, reported People.
In a post on their mother’s Instagram page, D’Andrea’s daughters wrote, “Dear Facebook/ Instagram friends of Carole D’Andrea, This is @andreadoven , @robinmorse708, & Hilary @hilaryhigh , Carole’s daughters. We are writing to let you know that our beloved mother passed away peacefully at home this past Tuesday, March 11th due to heart failure.”
“It was a privilege to be by her side as she passed, and to witness in these last few weeks the grace and courage in which she carried herself as she prepared to, as our Godfather put it, ‘exit stage left’,” they added. “She also died on her 44th AA sobriety anniversary, which she said was ‘the day that I changed my life,'” as per the outlet.
“She told us many times in her last few days what a quality life she led as a mother, grandmother, performer, and teacher,” their message continued.
D’Andrea was born on August 28, 1937, in Altoona, Pennsylvania. At the age of 16, she turned down a scholarship to Penn State University before pursuing acting in New York after her parents died in a car accident, as per the outlet.
After playing Velma in the Jerome Robbins’ production of West Side Story in September 1957 at the Winter Garden Theatre, D’Andrea played Dainty June in the Broadway’s Gypsy in 1959, reported People.
She was married to the late actor Robert Morse, whom many know from Broadway and Mad Men, from April 8, 1961, until their divorce in 1981. The pair shared three daughters: Robin Morse, 61, Andrea Doven, 63, and Hilary Morse, 59.
D’Andrea is survived by her three daughters, as well as her grandchildren, Lucia, Francis, Jagger, Marlon and Lance, according tom People.
