Fritzi Burr

Actress-singer-comedienne Fritzi Burr, actress-singer-comedienne whose career spanning seven decades included comedy circuits, Broadway, film and TV, died Jan. 17 in Fort Myers, Fla., of natural causes. She was 78.

Actress-singer-comedienne

Fritzi Burr, actress-singer-comedienne whose career spanning seven decades included comedy circuits, Broadway, film and TV, died Jan. 17 in Fort Myers, Fla., of natural causes. She was 78.

Philadelphia native made a name for herself as a comedienne on the East Coast Little Theater circuit for 20 years before moving to Hollywood in the early 1960s.

She often appeared as the nurse in legendary vaudeville team Smith & Dale’s classic “Doctor Kronkeit” comedy sketch; later she appeared in Broadway productions “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” and “Once Upon a Mattress” and replaced Kaye Medford as Mrs. Brice on the Great White Way’s “Funny Girl.” She received acclaim as Yenta the Matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof” national touring company and had a long run with Milton Berle in the road version of “Norman, Is That You?”

Popular on Variety

Upon moving to Hollywood, Burr landed many roles in film and TV, including pics “Chinatown,” “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,” “Star Chamber” and “Three Ninjas” plus series “Rockford Files,” “Police Woman,” “That Girl,” “Love American Style,” “The New Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and many others.

When not performing, she volunteered much time to hospitals in California and Florida.

Survivors include sisters Temmi Salzman and Shirley Turteltaub; brother-in-law/multihyphenate Saul Turteltaub; a niece, Dr. Nita Salzman; and nephews Bennett Salzman and Adam Turteltaub and producer-director Jon Turteltaub.

Her husband and longtime friend, actor Aaron Heyman, died in 1995.

Donations in her memory can be made to Habitat for Humanity, the Wildlife Federation, Ronald McDonald House and/or the Actor’s Fund of America.

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXF%2FjqyanqaVZL2mu8%2BlnGamlazAcLLRoquzoV2XwrO%2BjGpoam9obIZzf5do

 Share!