She was known as a star of stage, TV and screen but just three days before her 99th birthday, Carole Cook took her final bow.
Cook, whose career dates from the 1950s and who blossomed after she was mentored by comedy legend Lucille Ball, died of heart failure in Beverly Hills at 1:58 p.m. Wednesday at the age of 98, Cook’s husband, actor Tom Troupe, announced via an agent. The Hollywood Reporter described her as a “Lucille Ball protégé.”
“With tremendous sorrow and heartache, it is on behalf of her husband, Tom Troupe, and the family who was with her at the end, that I have been asked to report that the legendary actress of stage and screen (both large and small), Carole Cook, has passed away,” Harlan Boll write on Facebook.
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The statement continued that “Carole Cook, a native of Abilene, Texas, a legendary and critically acclaimed veteran of stage, television and film, has passed at the age of 98, just three days shy of her 99th birthday.”
Mark Cocanougher, Cook’s nephew, said Cook died at her home, “in her own bed, her husband Tom and I at her side, each holding her hand.”
“Carole departed in peace and comfort having lived a long and wonderful life doing the work that she loved. She made many friends, and I know they will all miss her spirit, humor, and talent on the stage, and for life in general. And that’s pretty great.”
Cook got her start in Hollywood when mentor Ball requested her comedic talents for the 1959 episode of Ball’s Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. Cook was subsequently guest-cast in a number of episodes of The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy. During her television tenure, she also appeared on a variety of shows including Maude, Dynasty and Cagney & Lacey. Her last TV appearance was in 2006 on Grey’s Anatomy.
“Today we lost one of the greats.” actor Mia Farrow posted in tribute. “Carole Cook was making people laugh since the 1950s—on TV, in movies and on stage. We became friends when we were in a Broadway play for a full year. At 98 that huge heart of hers just gave up. I love you Carole.”
On stage, Cook created the role of “Maggie Jones” in the New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo companies of the Tony Award winning musical 42nd Street and followed Carol Channing in the role of Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! in a two-year Australian and New Zealand-run in 1965, among other credits.
In movies, she was famous for portraying Molly Ringwald’s grandma Helen in Sixteen Candles in 1984. She most recently appeared in 2017’s A Very Sordid Wedding.
Cook is survived by her husband, Tom Troupe, Christopher Troupe (stepson) and wife Becky, Regina Cocanougher (sister) and assorted nieces and nephews.
