Stritch is a veteran Broadway performer with the outsized personality to match.

Born to a wealthy Roman Catholic family in Detroit, Stritch moved to New York to study acting at the New School and quickly made her way to Broadway. In 1950, she served as the standby for fellow vocal-belter Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam. She then went on to star in a slew of productions in the 1950s, including a revival of Pal Joey, Goldilocks, Bus Stop, and Sail Away. In 1972, Stritch moved to London to star in a production of Stephen Sondheim's Company. She stayed across the pond for a decade, where she married actor John Bay and starred in popular British sitcom, Two's Company.

After Bay's death in 1982, she moved back to the U.S. and returned to the stage in the early '90s, winning a 1996 Best Actress Tony for her work in Edward Albee's drama A Delicate Balance. In 2002 she found major success with her warts-and-all autobiographical one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, and in 2005, 2006, and again in 2008, Stritch took to the stage to perform a brassy one-woman cabaret act-a mixture of Broadway show tunes and vintage Hollywood gossip-at her home, the Carlyle Hotel. (A prix-fixe menu at the hotel was even named The Ladies Who Lunch, after the Stephen Sondheim song Stritch made famous.) She's also dabbled in films but has found success in TV the last few years with recurring parts on 30 Rock and Law & Order, winning an Emmy for her guest role on the latter.

Stritch was once engaged to the late Ben Gazzara, whom she dumped to date Rock Hudson. She was married to John Bay until his death from brain cancer in 1982. [Image via Getty]