Ellen Hanley (May , â€" February , ) was a musical theater performer
best known for playing Fiorello H. LaGuardia's first wife in the
Pulitzer Prize-winning Fiorello!. She was related to the British
writers James and Gerald Hanley, and the playwright, novelist, and
scriptwriter William Hanley was her brother.Ellen Hanley was born in
Lorain, Ohio, one of three children of William Gerald and Anne Rodgers
Hanley. William Hanley, Sr. was born in Liverpool, England in , of
Irish Catholic immigrants. He was a seaman prior to settling in the
US, and then worked as a housepainter.In , Hanley married Ronny
Graham, a fellow actor. They adopted two children, Nora and Julian.
The couple divorced in .Ellen Hanley made her Broadway debut in Annie
Get Your Gun in playing the part of Mary. The following year she
appeared in Barefoot Boy With Cheek and won a Theater World award for
her performance as Clothilde Pfefferkorn. in thel ate s and s she
"toured extensively in summer-stock shows" and also during the s
performed in Julius Monk's revues. In she had a part in the musical
revue Two's Company, introducing the song "Roundabout". In she took
over the leading role in First Impression from Polly Bergen, playing
Elizabeth Bennett in a musical based on Pride and Prejudice. Later
that year she sang in Fiorello!. The Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick
musical was a hit which ran for nearly performances. She acted in The
Boys From Syracuse in , a Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart musical based on
Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.
best known for playing Fiorello H. LaGuardia's first wife in the
Pulitzer Prize-winning Fiorello!. She was related to the British
writers James and Gerald Hanley, and the playwright, novelist, and
scriptwriter William Hanley was her brother.Ellen Hanley was born in
Lorain, Ohio, one of three children of William Gerald and Anne Rodgers
Hanley. William Hanley, Sr. was born in Liverpool, England in , of
Irish Catholic immigrants. He was a seaman prior to settling in the
US, and then worked as a housepainter.In , Hanley married Ronny
Graham, a fellow actor. They adopted two children, Nora and Julian.
The couple divorced in .Ellen Hanley made her Broadway debut in Annie
Get Your Gun in playing the part of Mary. The following year she
appeared in Barefoot Boy With Cheek and won a Theater World award for
her performance as Clothilde Pfefferkorn. in thel ate s and s she
"toured extensively in summer-stock shows" and also during the s
performed in Julius Monk's revues. In she had a part in the musical
revue Two's Company, introducing the song "Roundabout". In she took
over the leading role in First Impression from Polly Bergen, playing
Elizabeth Bennett in a musical based on Pride and Prejudice. Later
that year she sang in Fiorello!. The Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick
musical was a hit which ran for nearly performances. She acted in The
Boys From Syracuse in , a Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart musical based on
Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors.
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