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"Dear
Friends: The lights did not dim on Broadway the 18th of November, but
they should have because the lights dimmed in my heart, as the light of
my life was extinguished in my arms at 7:50 A.M. in Cedars Sinai
Hospital in Los Angeles. My wife of 22 years the actress Beatrice Colen
died of lung cancer after a five year battle with the number one killer
of woman in the world today. She died peacefully as I held her and asked
God to lift her up quietly, gently and sweetly and He did. Two nights
before she died she watched with me and my older son James a tape of a
rehearsal of The Man Who Came to Dinner with James playing Sheridan
Whiteside at The Brentwood School. Her last words were to James and they
were, "James, you were wonderful; remember to play Sherry honestly
and for truth; don't play for laughs and DON'T UPSTAGE YOURSELF"!
She then handed a note to her oncologist, Dr. Philomena McAndrew, which
she had dictated to me that day and which read, "dearest Phil, you
have been with me in these horrific times; you dispensed love in all the
right doses. Don't forget me". She died on opening night of The Man
Who Came to Dinner, which was written by her grandfather, the Pulitzer
Prize winning playwright, George S. Kaufman, and that night our son
James, carried his mother's soul on stage with him in the title role and
gave a brilliant performance as Sheridan Whiteside. LIke many of us, my
wife was an actor. The word defined her, as it defines the many men and
woman on this service. She gave her life to her art and to me and our
family, and I am so blessed for having known her. There will be a
memorial service on Sunday November 28 at St James' Church, at 3900
Wilshire Blvd at 3:00 P.M.. If you are in town please come and if not
just pray for us where you are so that we may carry on with the fire
that was Betsy, the fire that warmed our existence and made us more than
we ever thought possible. My dearest Betsy, you were Marsha the car hop
on Happy Days; you were Etta Candy on Wonder Woman; you were your BFA in
acting from Temple U and you were two years of training at the H/B
studios under Uta Hagen and Austin Pendelton; you were every Chekov
scene you ever did for Uta and you were every commercial you ever made,
including the original Plop Plop Fizz, Fizz" Alkaseltezer
commercial in that huge pink boa; you were your 100 guest star parts on
Night Court and Cheers and Knots Landing; you were the heir to
theatrical royalty as the granddaughter of George S. Kaufman, and most
of all you were my loving wife and the brilliant mother of our two sons,
James and Charlie. Oh my God I miss you so much. Please watch over me
and the boys and don't let me over act. Patrick Cronin" |
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