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Sheila Sullivan

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Sheila Rae Sullivan (born August 1, 1937 in Renton, Washington) is a Broadway actress[1] and singer.[2]

Sheila Sullivan in "Play It Again Sam"

In 1957, Sullivan was a Tropicana girl at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino then run by mobster Johnny Roselli.[3] Sullivan performed as a chorus girl with Eddie Fisher opening night.[4] In 1958 she wrote a letter to the head of publicity at Convair, Ned Root,[5] and volunteered to man history's first spaceship. Instead of sending her to the moon, like she wanted, Ned Root made her his wife.

In 1964, Sullivan was the understudy for Paula Wayne in Golden Boy with Sammy Davis Jr.[6] The Tony-winning musical included Broadway's first interracial kiss.[7] The billboard outside the Majestic Theater[8] featuring Davis (a Black man) and Wayne (a white woman) was riddled with bullets because of it.[9] On March 25, 1965, Sullivan arrived in Montgomery, Alabama[10] with her cast members in an effort to support Martin Luther King Jr.[11] for the third March to Montgomery.[12] After two days of extreme weather conditions,[13] no sleep, and tumult, Sullivan was still wearing heels when she marched over the Edmund Pettus Bridge.[14] The next day, Golden Boy's leading lady, Wayne, called in sick for the first time. Sullivan's Broadway debut[15] was as Wayne's replacement for the lead's love interest Lorna Moon, mere hours after her participation in the Selma march.[16]

The producer of Golden Boy, Hilly Elkins,[17] was dating Sullivan.[18] One night Elkins stormed into the apartment Sullivan shared with Corky Hale, violently attacked Sullivan banging her head into the floor.[19][20] It was her neighbor Gloria Steinem who called the police and saved Sullivan's life.

Sullivan's second husband was actor Robert Culp. She appeared with her husband in several films including Hickey & Boggs (1972), A Name For Evil (1973), Houston, We've Got a Problem (1974) and Give Me Liberty (1974).

In April 2023, living in her small Upper West Side one-room apartment for more than 40 years, Sullivan was served eviction papers. With the help of her neighbor, journalist Tina Dupuy, the problem was found, stopping the eviction: a city agency that had been subsidizing her rent, which she still qualified, had stopped paying its share after a request for the current status had been lost and not responded to.[21]

References

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  1. ^ Little, Stewart W. (1969-01-20). "Onstage 1969". New York.
  2. ^ Sheila Sullivan – Nobody's Heart (Belongs to Me), 29 June 2018, retrieved 2023-06-30
  3. ^ Rappleye, Charles; Becker, Ed (1991). All American Mafioso: The Johnny Rosselli Story. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-26676-5.
  4. ^ "$15 Million Tropicana Hotel Opens Today". Las Vegas Sun. 1957-04-03. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  5. ^ Air Corps News Letter. 1957.
  6. ^ "Sheila Sullivan – Broadway Cast & Staff". IBDB. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  7. ^ "Paula Wayne Death ~ Remembering Paula Wayne | Blog". American Masters. PBS. 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  8. ^ "Majestic Theatre | Shubert Organization". shubert.nyc. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  9. ^ Haygood, Wil (2020-05-12). In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-8041-7251-6.
  10. ^ In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. 12 May 2020. ISBN 9780804172516.
  11. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 1964". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  12. ^ "Selma to Montgomery: 50 Years Later". The White House. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  13. ^ Puleo, Mark (January 13, 2023). "'Nevertheless, the marcher went on': How weather played a constant role in the civil rights movement". accuweather.com.
  14. ^ Haygood, Wil (2020-05-12). In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8041-7251-6.
  15. ^ Katie (2023-06-30). "The Debut Of An Actor Musician Or Other Performer On Broadway". brightstarmusical.com. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  16. ^ "Golden Boy – Broadway Musical – Original". IBDB. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  17. ^ Grimes, William (2010-12-07). "Hillard Elkins, Producer, Is Dead at 81". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  18. ^ Leiber, Jerry; Stoller, Mike (June 2010). Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-5939-9.
  19. ^ Corky Hale UNCORKED!. Dorrance. August 2018. ISBN 9781480988910.
  20. ^ Corky Hale: Uncorked!. Dorrance. August 2018. ISBN 9781480988910.
  21. ^ Wilson, Michael (2023-07-12). "The Glamorous Stranger Next Door Knew Everyone. And She Needed Help". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
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