Carolyn Coates

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Actress

Stage actress Carolyn Coates died March 27 of cancer in Branford, Conn. She was 77.

Born in Oklahoma City, she grew up in Santa Monica, and started acting there in children’s theater. After majoring in acting at UCLA, she worked in stock companies on the East coast and met her future husband, James Noble in Worcester, Mass., playing Eliza Doolittle to his Henry Higgins in “Pygmalion.”

She was known for her portrayal of women of large character, such as Madam Irma in “The Balcony” and Hecuba in “The Trojan Women,” both at The Circle in the Square in New York City. She also appeared in “The Seagull,” “The Cherry Orchard” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

She appeared in many plays with Noble, including “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and “A Delicate Balance.” They studied with Lee Strasberg and were members of Paul Curtis’ American Mime Theatre.

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A member of the Theatre Artists Workshop, she was a recipient of the Theatre World Award, the Golden Straw Award from the Chicago Sun-Times and the Sarah Siddons Award. Her final performance was at New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre in 2001, playing Gladys in Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery.”

She is survived by her husband and a daughter.

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