Paulette Attie, singer, actress, songwriter, and author whose performing career spanned more than five decades, died Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York following an illness.
Her versatile talent and her optimistic way of looking at life adapted well to her various appearances on the legit stage, in cabaret rooms and concert halls, on television in daytime dramas and made-for-TV movies, on film, on radio as a talk show host, and in commercials and on voiceovers.
She appeared in a number of roles Off Broadway including her one-woman show which she also wrote, About Time. She performed and had leading roles in many musicals (Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, Can-Can), operas and operettas (The Bald Soprano, The Old Maid and the Thief, The Merry Widow, and La Vie Parisienne), and plays (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Perfect Party) in New York and in regional houses.
Ms. Attie performed in NY cabaret rooms, and in concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Bruno Walter Auditorium, Lincoln Center Outdoors, and the Hollywood Bowl. She produced and performed in a series of yearly concerts at New York’s Lamb’s Theatre and was the inaugural performer at the NY and Riverbank State Parks.
Her TV appearances included roles on Love of Life, One Life to Live, All My Children, and General Hospital. On WNYC radio, she hosted Paulette Attie’s Musical Playbill with weekly guests. In 1979, Paulette founded the National Musical Theatre. She conceived and wrote Encore, a musical theatre revue, produced by NMT, which toured the U.S.
Ms. Attie graduated UCLA cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She was the recipient of a National Poetry Award in 1998, five ASCAPlus Awards for songwriting, from 2000 to 2004. She was the first woman performer elected into the Friars Club in 1988. Her book, The Seven Keys to Live a Masterful Life, which incorporates her life philosophy, is about to be published.
She is survived by a brother, Maurice Attie of Los Angeles, Calif., a sister, Ariana Attie Frue of Tustin, Calif., and a nephew Sebastian Attie, also of Los Angeles.
A memorial service is being held on Friday, January 23rd at 6:00 pm at the Nicholas Roerich Museum, 319 West 107th Street, NYC.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that a tax-deductible donation be sent to CPC - Center for Peace through Culture, an organization that Ms. Attie was involved with over the years. Checks should be made out to and mailed to Laraine Lippe, 302 E. 88th St., #4G, New York, NY 10128.
Contributed by Sherry Eaker
