Death of Phyllis Newman, Tony defender and defender of women's health

© provided by the Associated Press
DOSSIER – In the archive photo of December 13, 1990, Phyllis Newman (left) and Lauren Bacall sing in tribute to the late conductor Leonard Bernstein, at the Majestic Theater in New York. Newman, a Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran, who became the first woman to host "The Tonight Show" before devoting herself to the fight for women's health, died Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019 in New York . She was 86 years old. (AP Photo / Mark Lennihan, File)

NEW YORK (AP) – Phyllis Newman, a Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran, became the first woman to host "The Tonight Show" before devoting herself to fighting for women's health. She was 86 years old.

Adam, Newman's son, said his mother died Sunday in New York of complications related to a long-standing lung disorder.

Newman won the Tony in 1962 for the best actress in the musical "Subways Are for Sleeping", where her costume consisted of a bath towel and whose lyrics had been co-written by her late husband, Adolph Green. She won a second Tony Award nomination in 1987 for her performance in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound.

© provided by the Associated Press
DOSSIER – On this Sunday, June 7, 2009, photo archive, actress Phyllis Newman arrives at the 63rd Tony Awards ceremony in New York. Newman, a Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran, who became the first woman to host "The Tonight Show" before devoting herself to the fight for women's health, died Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019 in New York . She was 86 years old. (AP Photo / Peter Kramer, File)

She played Aunt Blanche in Neil Simon's play, and then began a short stint in the ABC series "One Life to Live".

"I only had to do five episodes of" One Life to Live, "she told The Associated Press in 1988." I was playing Renee Devine, an ex-Las Vegas madam who was in charge. Dressed to kill, the character had just taken off. "

His other credits on Broadway include "On the Town", "Awake and Sing!" And "The prisoner of Second Avenue". She was waiting for Judy Holiday in "Bells Are Ringing" and replaced Barbara Harris in "The Apple Tree".

She played on television alongside Alan Arkin in "100 Center Street", "Oz", "" Coming of Age "," Murder, she wrote "," Milf "and" The Jury ". a guest of Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show".

His films include "The Human Stain", "It Must Be for You", "For the Moment", "A Higher Price at Rubies", "" The Beautician and the Beast "," "The Model" "" Find a man "and" Bye Bye Braverman. "

In the following years, she focused on fundraising and in 1996 founded the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of the Actor's Fund. Her work earned her the 2009 Tony Robertson Tony Award. She also organized the annual Breathless on Broadway event to raise funds for research on the fight against pulmonary hypertension, a lung disease.

She began writing her autobiography, "Just in Time: Notes of My Life" after being diagnosed with breast cancer. "I started writing it because I did not want to talk about it.This is not a secret.After 50 pages late, Simon & Schuster bought it," he said. she declared in 1988.

"Betty Ford has been an example to me of my illness, I get terrible letters from women about it."

Newman had a mastectomy and had to remove his second breast. She described it as "no way to treat a woman".

Shortly after her recovery, she returned to work, first as part of a TV show called "The Mad of Central Park West" – which she co-authored with Arthur Laurents – and then in "Broadway Bound".

In addition to her journalist son, Newman leaves behind her daughter Amanda, a singer-songwriter named by Tony.

Associated slideshow: stars lost in 2019 (via photo services)