The Ineffable Sadness of Nell Carter

While at work my friend sent me a link containing the large, jolly and always sassy Nell Carter. Now, she's one of those celebrities of whom I have no recollection of how or from what I know her but her presence is strong, coming somewhere from the muddy memories of my childhood. So being the inquisitive soul that I am I decided to wikipeida her ass. When I read her life story dictated in the brutally truncated style that is Wikipedia it seemed the sort of tale that could only spring from the darkest recesses of Chekhov's mind.


Born Nell Ruth Hardy to Horace and Edna Mae Hardy in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, Carter, who was one of nine children, overcame adversity and hardships before finding success as an actress. Her father, Horace, died in an accident with a power line. She was raped at age 16 and became pregnant from the attack, giving birth to a daughter, Tracy.

She attempted suicide in the early 1980s, and entered a drug detoxification facility around 1985. Her brother, Bernard, died of AIDS in 1989.

Carter had three children: a daughter Tracy and two sons Daniel and Joshua. She adopted both her sons as newborns over a four month period. She attempted to adopt twice more but both adoptions fell through. In one case she brought home a child, Mary, but the birth parents demanded money before they would sign the adoption papers. In her final attempt, she allowed a young pregnant woman to move into her house with the plan to adopt the child but the mother decided to parent her child.

In 1992, she had surgery to remove aneurysms. She had divorced Krynicki and married Roger Larocque that same year. In 1993 she divorced Larocque. She declared bankruptcy in 1995 (and again in 2002). She also endured three miscarriages.

Appearing emotional and tearful on an episode of the Sally Jessy Raphael Show, Carter explained how she went to a Liza Minnelli concert during a very turbulent time of her life. Carter told Raphael how Minnelli, seeing Carter in an agonized state, ran offstage to tell her sister, Lorna Luft, to go out and take Carter backstage so that she could get some help. Minnelli and Luft helped get Carter into rehab for her cocaine problems which she conquered. [ Okay i have to interject, um, this paragraph contains Sally Jessey, Lisa Minelli, Nell Carter and cocaine. Its obvious this jewel of information was contributed by a gay man]

In the mid 1990s, Carter appeared on Broadway in a revival of Annie as Miss Hannigan. She was very upset when commercials promoting the show used a different actress, Marcia Lewis, who is white, as Miss Hannigan. The producers claimed that the commercials, which were made during an earlier production, were too costly to reshoot. Carter was later replaced by Sally Struthers.

Carter died from heart disease complicated by diabetes and obesity on January 23, 2003. She was 54 years old. Carter had previously declared bankruptcy and owed $1.1 million in back taxes, and was later discovered to have barely $200 in her bank account. She is survived by her two sons (Joshua and Daniel), a daughter (Tracy), and her partner Ann Kaser. Her bisexuality and relationship with Kaser did not become public knowledge until after her death.


The story of a successful hard partying bisexual black entertainer plagued with addiction and sadness sounds like some ripe biopic material. Nell, if I could... I would... give you a break.