Barbara Cook (1927-2017) was a stage and screen actress, who was active from the 1950s to 2017. Cook performed in Broadway musicals like Oklahoma!, Plain and Fancy, The Music Man, The King and I, The Gay Life, and Funny Girl.

Cook regularly performed on television in the late 1950s, starring in the 1958 musical adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, and making appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957), The Ed Sullivan Show (1955), The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1961), and The Play of the Week (1961).

As her career declined due to personal struggles, Cook instead turned to concert and cabaret performances in the 1970s, where she and composer Wally Harper would continue to pursue for three decades. Performances included such locations as Michael’s Pub, the Sydney Opera House, the St. Regis hotel, and Carnegie Hall, and a critically acclaimed show at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

After Harper’s death in 2004, Cook continued hosting shows, presenting with famous groups like the Metropolitan Opera; Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC; New York Philharmonic; and the English National Ballet. She would return to Broadway for the musical revue Sondheim on Sondheim in 2010 and be nominated for a Tony Award for her performance.

Cook announced her retirement in May of 2017 and would later pass away in August.