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Altoona native D’Andrea admired for talent, kindness

Hollywood, Broadway star made name in ‘West Side Story’

Carole D’Andrea shot to stardom as the Jet girl Velma in the iconic musical production of “West Side Story” and later reprised her role in the 1961 movie. The Altoona native died of heart failure on March 11 at her home in Santa Monica, California. Courtesy photo

Altoona native-turned Hollywood star Carole D’Andrea who made her name in the Broadway musical “West Side Story,” is being remembered as passionate, positive and talented by friends and the professionals she mentored as an acting and singing coach.

Longtime friend and Altoona native Dee (Hunt) Brantlinger remembered D’Andrea, 87, as “positive, spiritual, loving. Her acting students — professionals and neophytes — loved her.” D’Andrea died of heart failure on March 11 at her home in Santa Monica, California.

D’Andrea shot to stardom as the Jet girl Velma in the iconic musical production of “West Side Story” and later was cast to reprise her role in the 1961 movie — only one of six original Broadway cast members to appear in the film.

She is survived by her daughters: Andrea Doven, Robin Morse and Hilary Morse; and five grandchildren. D’Andrea was married to stage and screen actor Robert Morse from 1961-81.

“She and Bobby remained friends,” Brantlinger stated in an email. “Carole had off and on health issues, but managed to live a real life with children and grandchildren till she died.”

Both classically trained ballet dancers, Brantlinger and D’Andrea lived within walking distance of each other and grew up in the Seventh Street and First Avenue neighborhood.

Brantlinger said, “I slept over Friday nights and her mom would drop us off Saturday morning for dance class with Ruth Barnes. Also, we were swimmers and I would take Carole to the family cottage for the weekend of swimming in Entriken in beautiful, clear, clean water.”

Altoona artist Joe Servello of Hollidaysburg said he knew D’Andrea “a little bit” and kept up with her career.

“We were acquaintances and I admired her talent and thought highly of her,” Servello said Thursday. The two knew each other through their pursuits in local theater.

“I remember when she was in junior high school and wanted to be in musicals at the Mishler,” Servello said. “She went to music teacher, John Monti, and asked him what she could do to get into musicals. He told her to grow. She had to grow up to be in the shows.”

Servello described D’Andrea as “very positive, sweet and accommodating.”

Tragedy struck weeks before her high school graduation when Carole’s parents Patrick and Jesse Dandrea were killed in a car crash near Cresson on May 27, 1955. Brantlinger said Ruth Barnes and high school band director John Monti arranged for Carole to go to New York City. Carole modified her last name to include the apostrophe when she was pursuing her career, Brantlinger said.

According to Hollidaysburg native-turned Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, D’Andrea became a featured dancer at the famed Copacabana night club in New York City, as reported in the Oct. 15, 1957, edition of the LA Times.

In the stage production of “West Side Story,” D’Andrea was cast as Velma, a rich girl who falls for Riff. Jerome Robbins chose D’Andrea to play Velma in the film, co-directed and choreographed by Robbins.

After marrying Morse, a Broadway and film star, D’Andrea quit acting to raise her family. Later, she taught acting, first at Carnegie Hall in New York and then, starting in the early 1990s, in Hollywood. She took her classes online during the COVID-19 pandemic and was still teaching a week before her death, according to reports.

In the post to the Rehearsal Club Group’s Facebook page, her daughters stated, “It was a privilege to be by her side as she passed, and to witness in these last few weeks the grace and courage in which she carried herself as she prepared to, as our Godfather put it, ‘exit stage left.’ She also died on her 44th AA sobriety anniversary, which she said was ‘the day that I changed my life.’ She told us many times in her last few days what a quality life she led as a mother, grandmother, performer and teacher.”

Many performers took to social media recently to laud D’Andrea, including Wendy Luck, an internationally acclaimed vocalist, who stated in a post, “It is with immense sorrow to say goodbye to the stellar, razzmatazz, dancing legend, performing queen, larger than life, seer, healer, visionary Carole D’Andrea — my teacher, my friend, my buddy, my favorite jokester, my encourager … my guardian angel.”

She called D’Andrea a “famed lead, knock out dancer … she had the spark, passion, and artistry to wow endless audiences in everything she did. A performer and teacher extraordinaire, our worlds met in her Acting for Singers classes at Carnegie Hall, many moons ago, where she created a world for us to sing, act, live, and learn together with dripping authenticity. … Carole had the exquisite ability and compassion to see into hearts and guide with the gentle hand of a soul-healing expert.”

Mirror Staff Writer Patt Keith is at 814-949-7030.

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