The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Co-star of ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ dies at 94
Widowed at 40, actress and comedian was a staple on game show.
LOS ANGELES — Rose Marie, an actress, singer and comedian best known for portraying the wise-cracking Sally Rogers in the popular 1960s sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” died Thursday, according to her agent and official website. She was 94.
Marie died about 2 p.m. in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley, her agent, Harlan Boll, said. He did not release any additional details.
Cast as a glib, man-hunting comedy writer on the popular sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” Marie continued playing the part, in a way, on other stages years after the role ended.
When the series wrapped in 1966, she became a regular on the “Hollywood Squares” game
show, essentially portraying her wise-cracking character, Sally Rogers, from “Dick Van Dyke.” She had been too depressed to pursue work as an actor and singer, she often said, after being widowed at 40. Marie stayed with the game show for 14 years.
For the rest of her life, while making public appearances, she invariably wore the black hair bow that had been her signature on the sitcom.
She had been onstage for much of the 20th century after winning a New York City talent contest in the late 1920s. As a 3-year-old, she had belted out “What Can I Say After I Say I’m Sorry?” in a raspy voice mature beyond her years.
Rose Marie Mazzetta was soon known professionally as Baby Rose Marie and became a sensation on the NBC radio network, which signed her to a seven-year contract. To prove to a doubting public that the singer who sounded like Sophie Tucker actually was a child, the network sent her on a yearlong tour.
She toured in vaudeville, was featured in a handful of movies and — after dropping “Baby” from her name as an adolescent — began headlining nightclubs. She also made her way to Broadway in the early 1950s in “Top Banana,” appearing with Phil Silvers in the musical revue and subsequent film.
“Some people think my whole life started with ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show,’ which is not so,” Rose Marie said in a 1999 interview with the Archive of American Television.
While performing at a New Jersey nightclub, she met her future husband, Guy, a trumpet player who had performed with Kay Kyser’s band before the war. She was 22 when she married him in 1946.
Marie and her husband moved to Burbank in 1946 and later bought a house in Van Nuys, where she lived for much of the rest of her life.
She never remarried. In her book, she called her husband “the love of my life.”
Marie is survived by her daughter, Georgiana, and her son-in-law, Steven Rodrigues.