Nancy Dussault
Dussault was born in Pensacola, Florida. Her parents were George Adrian, a naval officer, and Sarah Isabel (née Seitz) Dussault. She grew up as a "Navy junior" . A former resident of Arlington, Virginia, she graduated from Washington-Lee High School (W-L) where she was an actress and singer in the W-L drama program and a choral singer in the nationally known Washington-Lee High School Choir and Madrigal Singers. She is an alumna of Northwestern University. In 1962, Dussault stepped into the role of Maria in the Broadway production of "The Sound of Music". She received a Tony Award nomination in 1961 for Best Featured Actress (Musical) for "Do Re Mi" and was nominated for her performance in "Bajour" (1965). Of her performance in "Do Re Mi" and later career, Bloom and Vlastnik wrote: "Confidently clowning alongside such pros as Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker...she never faded into the scenery. Equally comfortable as a pure soprano or a rangy high belter, her versatility was well captured on the...cast album... Well cast as a situation comedy wife, she spent much of the 1970s and 80s in California." Other stage shows included "Quality Street" in 1965 at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania. In 1978 she played the title role in "Peter Pan" at the Meldoy Top Theatre in Wisconsin and Sacramento Music Circus. She also appeared in the City Center Gilbert & Sullivan NYC Company, directed by Dorothy Raedler, with such Metropolitan Opera singers as Nico Castel, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, and Frank Poretta, Sr. Dussault took over as the Witch in "Into the Woods" on Broadway (1987–1989). She had appeared twelve years earlier in the revue "Side by Side by Sondheim" on Broadway. More recently she has appeared at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco as Mrs Peachum in "Threepenny Opera" (1999) and as Toinette in Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" (2007) In Arthur Hiller's 1979 film "The In-Laws", she played Carol Kornpett, wife of Alan Arkin who played Sheldon S. Kornpett, D.D.S. On television, Dussault made guest appearances (primarily as a vocalist and dancer) on variety shows of the 1960s, including "The Ed Sullivan Show", "The Carol Burnett Show", and "The Garry Moore Show". She was a regular on the 1970s series "The New Dick Van Dyke Show" and the long-running CBS game show "Match Game". Dussault played the pivotal character in the 1975 "The Courtesans" episode of Barney Miller (S1 E5), in which creator/producer Danny Arnold threatened to quit his own show if network censors removed a risque line. The resulting publicity over the x-rated episode ensured the series ratings survival, according to Hal Linden. Dussault guest-starred in an episode of the 1979 NBC anthology series "$weepstake$". She also played Ted Knight's wife in the role of photographer Muriel Rush on the 1980s situation comedy "Too Close for Comfort". She was part of the first anchor team of the ABC morning show "Good Morning America", paired with David Hartman, when that show launched in 1975. Dussault was the first actress to portray the character of Theresa Stemple, the mother of character Jamie Stemple Buchman, in season one of the NBC TV series "Mad About You". In January 1997, she played the mayor of Metropolis in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" ("Lethal Weapon" - Season 4, Episode 12).
Broadway
In a career spanning over half a century, Dussault received two Tony Award nominations.