Tammy Lee Grimes (January 30, 1934 – October 30, 2016) was an American film and stage actress. Grimes won two Tony Awards in her career, the first for originating the role of Molly Tobin in the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown and the second for starring in a 1970 revival of Private Lives as Amanda Prynne. A former husband, Christopher Plummer, and their daughter, actress Amanda Plummer, are also Tony Award winners. She originated the role of Diana in the Broadway production of California Suite. The role of Diana was played in the film by Maggie Smith, who won an Oscar for her performance. Grimes played the role of Elmire in the 1978 Broadway and television production of Tartuffe. She originated roles in several works by Noël Coward, including Elvira in High Spirits and Lulu in Look After Lulu! In 1966, she starred in her own television series, The Tammy Grimes Show. Grimes was also known for her cabaret acts. In 2003, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Early life Grimes was born on January 30, 1934, in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard (née Niles), a naturalist and spiritualist, and Luther Nichols Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended high school at a then all-girls school, Beaver Country Day School, and then Stephens College. She studied acting at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse. She studied singing with Beverley Peck Johnson. Career Known for a speaking voice compared to a buzz saw, she made her debut on the New York stage at the Neighborhood Playhouse in May 1955 in Jonah and the Whale. She made her Broadway stage debut as an understudy for Kim Stanley in the starring role in Bus Stop in June 1955. In 1956, she appeared in the off-Broadway production, The Littlest Revue, and had the lead role in 1959 in the Broadway production of Noël Coward's play, Look After Lulu!, after she was discovered in a nightclub by the playwright. She starred in the 1960 musical comedy The Unsinkable Molly Brown for which she won a Tony Award (Best Featured Actress in a Musical, even though it was the lead role) for what The New York Times called her "buoyant" performance as a rough-hewn Colorado social climber. She portrayed the title character, a Western mining millionairess who survived the sinking of the Titanic. In 1964, she appeared in the