Barbara Cook dead: Broadway actress best known for Music Man dies aged 89

The acclaimed actress, who was seen as an all-American type of actress, had struggled with addiction before reinventing herself

Ms Cook was a legend on the Broadway scene (Getty)

Legendary Broadway actress Barbara Cook has died at the age of 89.

Ms Cook was known for her parts in Broadway musicals like "The Music Man," "She Loves Me," and "Candide."

Her cause of death was reportedly respiratory failure, her son confirmed.

The famed singer was known for her crystalline and heartfelt soprano during a career that started in Broadway musicals and led her to international cabarets. Her best-known roles were performed during her 20s and 30s, according to Playbill.

Ms Cook, during her time on the stage, became well known as an actress who seemed to embody the whimsical all-American ideal of a simpler and classic America.

"I've heard a hundred versions of 'Ice Cream' but none touches Barbara cook's. It must be that the music and lyrics are absorbed by her characters to such an extent they preempt their authorship," Harold Prince, who directed "She Loves Me", once said of another role Ms Cook shone in.

Ms Cook was born in Georgia in 1927, and moved to New York City in 1948. She fell in love with the opera as a young girl listening to the family radio.

"We were so poor we didn't have a record player of any kind whatsoever," she later said. "The radio was my lifeline, that and films. I just don't know where that came from. I didn't even know anybody who liked opera or classical music. I don't even remember a friend who particularly liked classical music."

Ms Cook's career really took of in the 1950s, when she became one of the best celebrated actresses on the stage. She went on to win various awards, including a Tony Award in 1957.

But, her career ended in the early 1970s when she struggled with alcoholism, depression, and weight gain. Those experiences led her to withdraw from show business.

She later got sober in the 1980s and reinvented herself, returning to the stage and to singing. Her career as a concert singer took off, and she ultimately released several acclaimed records. Those included "Barbara Cook's Broadway," "Barbara Cook at the Met," and "Mostly Sondheim: Live at Carnegie Hall."

The last thing she ate, according to her son, was vanilla ice cream