ROMANTIC COMEDY PLAY CAST - SHOW BILL SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: KAREN VALENTINE, KEITH BAXTER, BENAY VENUTA, BETTE FORD, JILL LARSON, TOM TROUPE - HFSID 301551

ROMANTIC COMEDY PLAY CAST
Playbill signed on the cast page by six performers
Show Bill signed: "Karen Valentine", "Keith Baxter", "Benay/Venuta", "Bette Ford", "Jill/Larson", "Tom Troupe", 74 pages, 5½x9. Playbill for a production of Romantic Comedy at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (New York). Signed on the cast page. Romantic Comedy began its year long-run of 364 performances in November 1979, but the signers here represent the replacement cast, which replaced original stars Mia Farrow and Anthony Perkins on September 16, 1980. KAREN VALENTINE (b. 1947) debuted on TV as a singer on The Ed Sullivan Show (1964). She earned an Emmy portraying a student teacher on Room 222 (1969-1974). On film she has usually been cast in wholesome roles, often Disney movies like The North Avenue Irregulars (1979). This play was her only Broadway appearance. British actor KEITH BAXTER (b. 1933) appeared in both feature films (The Barretts of Wimpole Street, 1957) and made-for-TV movies, including Merlin (1998). He made his Broadway debut as King Henry VIII in A Man For All Seasons in 1961. Singer, dancer, actress BENAY VENUTA (1911-1995) made her first film appearance in Trail of '98 (1928). Her Broadway debut came when she replaced Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1935). Venuta and Merman became friends, and appeared together in a revival of Annie Get Your Gun (1966). She was slated to star as Earle Stanley Gardner's detective Bertha Cool on a television series, but only the 1958 pilot was ever made. Venuta played Jean Smart's mother, Ellen Stillfield, on Designing Women (1986-1991). BETTE FORD (b. 1937) was pursuing a modeling and acting career when she saw her first bullfight in 1953. She went on to become a famous matadora, killing over 200 bulls while performing in Mexico, Panama and the Philippines. (Ernest Hemingway was one of her fans, lauding her courage and intelligence.) She starred in an Emmy-nominated short film, Beauty and the Bull (1954). After retiring from the ring, Ford returned to acting. In three decades as a TV guest star, she has made multiple visits on the series Falcon Crest, L.A. Law and Providence. In 1984, she played the woman who accepted the marriage proposal of Coach (Nick Colasanto) in a 2-part Cheers. Ironically, her only other Broadway appearance was in First Lady (1952, but not in the title role). JILL LARSON (b. 1947) appeared in one more Broadway play (Death and the King's Horseman, 1987), but has been seen frequently on TV, including recent performances on Desperate Housewives and CSI. She has had recurring roles on three soaps: Santa Barbara, One Life to Live and All My Children. TOM TROUPE (b. 1928) made only one other Broadway appearance (a revival of The Gin Game, 1997), but has been seen frequently in TV guest spots since the late 1950s. These include repeat performances in the same role on Cagney & Lacy (1985) and Who's the Boss (1990-1991). Fine condition.