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Here's to the Ladies Who Lunch: Elaine Stritch Dead at 89

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The New York Times reports that Elaine Stritch, “the brassy, tart-tongued Broadway actress and singer who became a living emblem of show business durability” died in her Michigan home today. She was 89.

Stritch was famous for her interpretations of Stephen Sondheim, but may be better known to some as Jack Donaghy’s mother, Colleen, on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock.

Baldwin produced a documentary about Stritch last year that documented the star’s long career as well as captured her bawdy sense of humor and famously smart mouth. In this trailer for the film she tells John Turturro, “I did Virginia Woolfe on Broadway and for the first time in my life I had an orgasm.”

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You can hear Baldwin and Stritch’s obvious affection for one another in a May 2013 interview for Baldwin’s show, Here’s the Thing. It’s also interesting to hear the star, famous for her career longevity, talk about retiring to Michigan and letting go of show business.

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