I was raised in Detroit by my widowed mom who had four children. I was always considered the ‘cute but chubby one.’ As I entered my teen years, I went from wearing Sears chubby clothing, to Lane Bryant’s plus-sizing. So, I went from chubby cute, to plain old fatso (a term that was freely used back then).
I remember watching the Tony Awards on TV every year, and it was there that I first spotted Nell Carter performing a song from the Broadway show, Ain’t Misbehavin’. Nell was full-figured yet, she moved effortlessly, gracefully, across the stage. Suffice it to say, I was in awe at seeing this woman dance as if she were as light as a feather. Nell Carter certainly left an impression; I thought she was ahhh-mazing!
Nell Carter was born Nell Ruth Hardy on September 13, 1948 in Birmingham, Alabama to parents Horace and Edna Mae. She was the fifth of nine children. Nell showed an early love for music and began singing at age 11 years old in her hometown, where she was on a weekly radio show, The Y Teens. She grew up listening to Dinah Washington, Johnny Mathis, Dakota Staton, and Gloria Lynne on the kitchen radio.
Sadly, Nell’s father was accidentally electrocuted after stepping on a power line when she was a child. Even more tragically, Nell was raped at gunpoint at age 15. The rape resulted in a daughter, whom she named Tracey. The child would eventually be raised by Nell’s sister, Willie, who was 12 years older, married, and who had a real home to offer the child.
Upon graduating high school, Nell decided to take on New York City where she immediately found work singing in a nightclub and performing in the cabaret circuit. It was around this time that she changed her last name to Carter. Nell performed at such popular New York City hotspots as The Village Gate and Reno Sweeney. She also studied at The School of Drama established by basketball-great-turned-actor, Bill Russell. Nell’s Broadway big break came at age 22 in the play, Soon, with co-stars Richard Gere and Barry Bostwick. The play flopped. She also earned a small role on the popular 70s ABC-TV soap opera, Ryan’s Hope. Nell eventually decided to hone her craft across the pond in London.
In 1978, Nell returned to New York City where she was cast in the hit Broadway play, Ain’t Misbehavin’. The play was a tribute to the Harlem Renaissance featuring songs by renowned Jazz Age composer Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller. Standing at only 4’11”, Nell took command of the stage with her nasally voice and strutting, bosomy presence. The play garnered Nell a Tony Award for Best Actress in a musical in 1978. During a People Magazine interview, Nell admitted how the night she won the Tony was also the first time she experimented with cocaine. The experimentation spiraled into heavy drug addiction which led to alcoholism.
In 1979, Nell was exposed to a whole new audience with a turn as a police sergeant on the television series The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo and a part in Milos Forman’s film version of the Broadway musical, Hair. Sensing her appeal, network executives offered her the lead role in the sitcom Gimme a Break! in 1982. Nell won an Emmy Award for her performance and earned two more during her six seasons as the sassy housekeeper on Gimme A Break!.
Reportedly, the actress was also difficult to work with and focused much of her anger on a Gimme a Break! cast mate. After Nell’s passing, the show’s co-star, Telma Hopkins, was asked to pay tribute to the celebrity, and she had this to say, “You had to brace yourself in order to stay standing when Nell Carter went past. She was a force to be reckoned with. She did what she wanted, and you just had to get on board with that.”
Nell’s personal life was chaotic compared to her professional one. In 1982, she married mathematician and lumber company executive Georg Krynicki and converted to Judaism. Krynicki would leave Nell 18 months later because of her drug addiction. At the height of the diminutive performer’s addiction, she could spend upwards of $2,000 a day on drugs. In 1985, Nell even attempted suicide before entering Minnesota’s Hazelden Betty Ford treatment facility. Liza Minnelli is credited for actually putting her friend, Nell, on a plane to the rehab center. Upon her release, Nell had lost 90 pounds and managed to kick her drug and alcohol habits.
Nell suffered from diabetes and other medical problems resulting from her obesity. Despite her illnesses, she adopted two infant boys, Joshua and Daniel, in 1989 and 1990, respectively. Two years later, however, she divorced Krynicki, and married Canadian record producer Roger Larocque.
Not long after the wedding, Nell’s beloved grandmother died. While she was still reeling from that blow, her marriage dissolved a year later. And as she was wrangling with the divorce paperwork and aftermath, she began developing headaches and odd sensory symptoms. A trip to the hospital in agonizing pain led to surgery for two brain aneurysms. Nell came through the surgery and made a full recovery.
Tragedy struck Nell in 1989 when Nell lost her brother and best friend, Dr. Bernard Taylor, a lawyer and educator, to AIDS, when he was only 44. The actress was devastated, distraught. The death caused her to move from New York City back to Los Angeles.
The 90s brought several new roles to Nell’s career that included two seasons on the hit sitcom, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, a role in the movie The Grass Harp, and a turn as Miss Hannigan in the Broadway hit show Annie. Nell also secured guest spots on the sitcom, Reba, and other popular TV shows. Nell’s health battles had left her in a fragile state. She became an advocate for those who suffered from diabetes. Nell also declared bankruptcy in 1995 and again, in 2002; she had always been plagued by financial woes in her life.
In 2003, Nell was looking forward to the release of a new movie, Swing, and an upcoming stage role in the musical, Raisin (based on the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry). Sadly, on January 23, 2003, Nell was found dead by her son Joshua. The cause of death was heart disease as a result of her battles with diabetes. She was only 54.
Nell had gone through two tumultuous marriages, and a traumatic childhood. Though her career was strong at the time of her death, money issues still plagued her and she had just $200 to her name. After Nell’s passing, friends and family were surprised to discover that she had been living as a closeted lesbian, and that custody of her children had been left to her domestic partner, Ann Kaser.