The ultimate goal for most actors is to either land a lead role in a film or TV production or to perform on Broadway. There are only 41 official Broadway theaters as part of New York’s iconic theater district, and some of these have shown the same productions for several years, so securing a role on Broadway can be challenging and competitive.
These five stars, however, have performed in many Broadway plays and musicals and are recognized as among the greatest stage performers of all time.
1. Angela Lansbury
Known for her incredible singing voice, comedic timing, and acting range, the late English performer Angela Lansbury starred in more than a dozen Broadway and West End productions, including Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Sondheim: A Musical Tribute (1973), Sweeney Todd (1979), and Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (2012). She won a record four Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical and won Best Featured Actress in a Play for Blithe Spirit (2009).
Lansbury also received the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2022. The icon wasn’t present to accept the award, but the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus performed a tribute song in her honor. Landsbury died in October 2022. On the big screen, Lansbury was perhaps best known for Murder, She Wrote, for which she received 12 consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations. She also earned Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations for Gaslight (1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
2. Julie Andrews
A renowned English actress born in 1935, Julie Andrews has starred in several popular stage and film productions. She began her stage career in England during the late 1940s and, after moving to the US, starred in the Broadway musical The Boyfriend. She later earned her first of three Tony Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in My Fair Lady opposite Rex Harrison. She was also nominated for Camelot (1961) and Victor/Victoria (1996). However she refused the latter nomination because she believed her other castmates had been overlooked.
Although she has received multiple Tony nominations, Andrews rose to national fame in the 1960s for her work in film. After starring opposite James Garner in The Americanization of Emily (1964), she won an Academy Award for her performance as the titular character in Mary Poppins (1964) and, the following year, was nominated for her performance in The Sound of Music. Her last stage credit was for voicing the character of Polynesia in a West End production of Doctor Doolittle in 1998. She hosted PBS’ docuseries Broadway: The American Musical in 2004.
3. Ethel Merman
A three-time Tony Award nominee for Best Actress in a Musical, the late actress Ethel Merman, “the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage,” rose to fame during the 1930s due in part to her unique and powerful singing voice and on-stage presence. She starred in more than a dozen original Broadway musicals during her career and won the Best Actress in a Musical for Call Me Madam (1951). She was also nominated for Happy Hunting (1957) and Gypsy (1960) and received a Special Tony Award for career achievement in 1972.
Merman, who died in 1984, maintains a legacy of introducing some of the most iconic Broadway songs of all-time, including “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy. She also starred in the film There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954) and sang the song of the same name. That song was performed in her honor to close out the 56th Academy Awards in April 1984, two months after she passed away.
4. Jason Robards
Despite appearing in several notable films and even earning Best Supporting Actor Oscars for All the President’s Men (1976) and Julia (1977), Jason Robards enjoyed acting on the stage more than in films: “Once you’re on, nobody can say ‘cut it,’ ” he explained to Newsweek in 1958. “You’re out there on your own, and there’s always that thrill of a real live audience.”
An eight-time Tony Award nominee for Best Actor in a Play, Robards won his lone Tony for The Disenchanted (1958). He received his first Tony nomination for Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956) and also starred in several Broadway revivals, such as The Country Girl (1972) and No Man’s Land (1994). Robards also won an Emmy Award for the TV movie Inherit the Wind (1988) and received the National Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center Honor before his death in 2000.
5. Patti LuPone
A three-time Tony Award winner, Julliard-trained actress Patti LuPone is best known for performances in Evita (1979) and Anything Goes (1987). A talented singer with a distinct Long Island voice, LuPone is also a two-time Grammy winner and, in 2006, was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.