Rose Marie (born August 15, 1923) is an American actress who had a successful singing career as Baby Rose Marie, but is perhaps best known for her adult role as Sally Rogers on CBS's The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Rose Marie Mazetta was born on August 15, 1923, in New York City, New York to Italian-American Frank Mazzetta and Polish-American Stella Gluszcak. At the age of three, she starting performing under the name "Baby Rose Marie". At the age of five, Marie became a radio star on NBC and made a series of films. As a teenager she became a nightclub performer before becoming a comedian. She was known then as "The Darling of the Airwaves". According to her autobiography, Hold the Roses, she was assisted in her career by many members of the Mafia, including Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel. She performed at the opening night of the Flamingo Hotel which, at the time, was run by Siegel.
At her height of fame as a child singer (late 1929-1934), she had her own radio show, made numerous records, and was featured in a number of Paramount films and shorts. In 1929, the 5- or 6-year old singer made a Vitaphone short titled "Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder," available restored with the Warner Brothers DVD of The Jazz Singer. The sound short, thought lost, preserves what must have been part of her stage act of the time.
In the 1960-1961 season, Rose Marie costarred with Elaine Stritch and Stubby Kaye in the CBS sitcom My Sister Eileen. After appearing for many years on The Dick Van Dyke Show (in the role originally played by Sylvia Miles in the pilot episode), Rose Marie co-starred on The Doris Day Show, and later had a semi-regular seat in the upper center square on the original version of Hollywood Squares, along with her friend and former co-star Morey Amsterdam.
In the early 1990s, she had a recurring role as Frank Fontana's mother on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown. She also played Roy Biggins's mother in the TV series Wings.
Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam guest-starred together in a February 1996 episode of the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City, shortly before Amsterdam's death in October of that same year. She appeared with the surviving Dick Van Dyke Show cast members in a 2004 reunion special. Rose was especially close to actor Richard Deacon from that show, and offered him the suits left behind when her husband, musician Bobby Guy died in 1966, as the two men were of similar height and build. Internet Movie Database reports she was married to Bobby Guy from 1946 until his death in 1966.
From 1977-81, she costarred with Rosemary Clooney, Helen O'Connell and Margaret Whiting in the musical revue 4 Girls 4, which toured the U.S. and appeared on television several times. As of 2007, she continues to perform.
From Hollywood Squares:
Q. Did the great psychoanalyst Carl Jung believe that there were extreme differences between men and women?
Rose Marie: No, that's why he always went around with one black eye.
Q. If a door-to-door salesman won't leave your home, what should you do?
Rose Marie: Propose.
Q. According to Cosmopolitan, if you meet a stranger at a party and you think that he is attractive, is it okay to come out and ask him if he's married?
Rose Marie: No. Wait until morning.
Q. As you grow older, do you tend to gesture more or less with your hands while talking?
Rose Marie: You ask me one more growing old question Peter, and I'll give you a gesture you'll never forget.
Q. In bowling, what's a perfect score?
Rose Marie: Ralph, the pin boy.
Q. During a tornado, are you safer in the bedroom or in the closet?
Rose Marie: Unfortunately, Peter, I'm always safe in the bedroom.
