BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - Actress and singer Nell Carter has died. She was 54.

Her publicist says Carter collapsed in her Beverly Hills home and was found by her 13-year-old adopted son.

Carter had won an Emmy for her role in the sitcom "Gimme a Break!" and a Tony for her performance in the Broadway musical "Ain't Misbehavin."

:( Awwww that is so sad. RIP. Nell

that's terrible!! :( i like her... good voice..

:crying: God that is terrible, she was so good!


N@N or TV Land should have a Gimme A Break marathon in remembrance of her imo. :(

aww thats sad. :(

aw thats sad :( she was awesome

:( Shes awesome. She was on City Guys too.

What a shame. So young. I wonder what happened.

Thats too bad. It seems like a lot of actors and actresses have been dying recently..:(.

Originally posted by Janice
What a shame. So young. I wonder what happened.

Surprisingly, she died of natural causes. Here's a better aritcle:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress and singer Nell Carter, best known for her role as the matronly housekeeper in the 1980s television sitcom "Gimme a Break," died on Thursday of natural causes at the age of 54, her publicist said.
Carter collapsed at her Beverly Hills home in the early morning and was found by one of her adopted sons, spokesman Roger Lane said.

The cause of death was not immediately established but Lane noted that Carter suffered from diabetes and had battled for years with her weight.

"Obviously she was overweight and with diabetes that is always a concern. It can put a strain on the heart. We are waiting to hear the exact cause," Lane said.

The diminutive, 4-foot, 11-inch actress began her showbusiness life as a nightclub performer and won a Tony award in 1978 for her role in the Broadway musical "Ain't Misbehavin."'

But it was her starring role in the six-year-long sitcom "Gimme a Break," in which she also sang the title song, that gave her her widest audience.

She headlined in a multiracial production of "Hello Dolly" on the West Coast in 1991 and played the villainous Miss Hannigan in a 1996-97 touring revival of the stage musical "Annie."

Carter spoke openly of her weight problems and later of her struggle with substance abuse.

"Let me tell you. Rich is not better. Rich means you have to stay there to maintain it. You have to put on more faces to pretend who you are and you have more people in your face. And when the money is not there anymore, they're not either," Carter said in a 1995 newspaper interview.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Carter was the fifth of nine children, and at the age of two she witnessed the death of her father when he stepped on a live power line.

She converted to Judaism before her first marriage to businessman Georg Krynicki. The marriage ended in divorce in 1992, when Carter wed Canadian record producer Roger Larocque. The couple later divorced.

Carter leaves a daughter and two adopted teenage sons.

oh wow.. tha'ts aweful

Originally posted by Silver Daze
:crying: God that is terrible, she was so good!
N@N or TV Land should have a Gimme A Break marathon in remembrance of her imo. :(

They should. Back when CO died, TVL had an AITF marathon! Happy Trails, Nell :( :crying:

Originally posted by Frasier W. Crane
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Carter was the fifth of nine children, and at the age of two she witnessed the death of her father when he stepped on a live power line.



54 is too young to die. That must have been terrible to witness the horrible tragedy of her father at the young age of 2. Lots of stars have been dying recently. It's like some sort of bad omen.

:(

RIP Nell:(

OMG...I loved Nell Carter she was so funny...:crying:

Originally posted by Buffy&Angelique
that's terrible!! :D i like her... good voice..



I was just wondering what is with the big grin? I mean Nell died, thats sad. You should put a sad face not a happy face.



Anyways it's sad I hate that Nell died. I still think some station like N@N or TV LAND should have a Gimme A Break marathon in her remembrance. It would be nice of them to do that. :(

Originally posted by StrudelBone
OMG...I loved Nell Carter she was so funny...:crying:

Oh, I know......me too! I love watching Gimmie a Break on USA mornings when I was a kid. And she just did a recent commercial for Diabetes. :crying: She was really funny, I'll miss her.....:crying:

Rest in Peace. :(

Am I weird to think this way? I like Nell Carter, but I haven't watched some of her shows in years. I found out she died and I get such a strange feeling come over me. I got the same feeling when Carroll O' Connor died. I grew up watching Carroll. It felt like I had lost a relative or something when he died.

R.I.P Nell. :(

omg this is so sad! she was so great, its such a loss....

and ok i was watching the news and they had a clip of her and then they said shes best known as the..... then suddenly a clip of kim fields (younger years) came on the screen for like 5 seconds...then they flipped another clip of Nell...it was SO weird...

That's a shame. She seemed like a very nice lady. She was a very talented singer, too. What a voice!

Originally posted by Jenny
Am I weird to think this way? I like Nell Carter, but I haven't watched some of her shows in years. I found out she died and I get such a strange feeling come over me. I got the same feeling when Carroll O' Connor died. I grew up watching Carroll. It felt like I had lost a relative or something when he died.

R.I.P Nell. :(


I felt like that when Carroll O' Connor died, it was like I had lost my Great-Grandfather, same with Walter Mathau and Jack lemmon.

Originally posted by Willow4ever1981



I felt like that when Carroll O' Connor died, it was like I had lost my Great-Grandfather, same with Walter Mathau and Jack lemmon.




You know when Josh Ryan Evans (Timmy on Passions) died it was like losing a best friend. He was very funny on Passions and in The Grinch. It's hard to watch Passions again. :(

I heard about that its so sad :(

Originally posted by Willow4ever1981



I felt like that when Carroll O' Connor died, it was like I had lost my Great-Grandfather, same with Walter Mathau and Jack lemmon.

It was kind of strange when Walter and Jack died. They both died around the same day, only a year apart. That was kind of weird to me.

RIP!