Nancy Dussault (born June 30, 1936)[1] is an American actress and singer.
She is best known for playing Muriel Rush in the sitcom Too Close for Comfort (1980–1987). In a career spanning over half a century, Dussault received two Tony Award nominations.
Broadway
In 1962, Dussault stepped into the role of Maria in the Broadway production of The Sound of Music. She received a Tony Award nomination in 1961 for Best Featured Actress (Musical) for Do Re Mi and was nominated for her performance in Bajour (1965). Of her performance in Do Re Mi and later career, Bloom and Vlastnik wrote: "Confidently clowning alongside such pros as Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker...she never faded into the scenery. Equally comfortable as a pure soprano or a rangy high belter, her versatility was well captured on the...cast album...Well cast as a situation comedy wife, she spent much of the 1970s and 80s in California."[2] Other stage shows included Quality Street in 1965 at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania.[3] In 1978 she played the title role in Peter Pan at the Meldoy Top Theatre in Wisconsin and Sacramento Music Circus. She also appeared in the City Center Gilbert & SullivanNYC Company, directed by Dorothy Raedler, with such opera singers as Nico Castel, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, and Frank Porretta, Sr. Dussault took over as the Witch in Into the Woods on Broadway (1987–1989). She had appeared twelve years earlier in the revue Side by Side by Sondheim on Broadway. More recently she has appeared at The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco as Mrs Peachum in "Threepenny Opera" (1999) and as Toinette in Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" (2007)[citation needed]
Dussault played the pivotal character in the 1975 "The Courtesans" episode of Barney Miller (S1 E5), when creator/producer Danny Arnold threatened to quit his own show if network censors removed a risque line. The resulting publicity over the x-rated episode ensured the series ratings survival, according to Hal Linden.[4]
