Charlotte Rae

Charlotte Rae married music composer John Strauss in 1951. The marriage lasted for 25 years and the couple divorced in 1976 after John came out as a bisexual. The couple had two children, Larry and Andrew Strauss.

In 2017, Rae announced to the world that she has been detected with bone cancer at the age of 91. She had already been detected with pancreatic cancer seven years ago, which was treated through chemotherapy.

She died on August 5, 2018, at the age of 92, in Los Angeles, California.

Charlotte Rae was born on April 22, 1926, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Esther and Meyer Lubotsky. Her father had a retail tire business. Rae was second of her parent’s three children. She had an elder sister named Beverly and younger sister named Miriam

After spending her first 10 years in Milwaukee, Rae moved with her parents to Shorewood, Wisconsin. She attended Shorewood high school while doing radio work and working for Wauwatosa Children’s theatre. She graduated from Shorewood high school in 1944

Thereafter, she attended Northwestern University, Chicago. However, she didn’t complete her studies and moved to New York in 1948 where she performed in nightclubs and theatre

Charlotte Rae’s first break came in the year 1952, when she got a chance to work in a Broadway musical comedy called ‘Three Wishes for Jamie’. Her Broadway journey continued with projects like ‘Threepenny Opera’ and ‘Lil' Abner’

In 1955, Rae released her first album of satirical songs called ‘Songs I Taught My Mother’. The lyrics were written by her college friend and lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, and the music was composed by her husband John Strauss

Though she had been appearing on television through her guest appearances in many famous TV show, her first regular TV show was ‘Car 54, Where Are You?’. However, success still eluded her, so she went back to the Broadway and was soon nominated for Tony Award for best actress for her performance in ‘Pickwick’ in 1965

Rae got her biggest break in 1978 when she was cast to play the role of “Edna Garrett” in a new series called ‘Diff'rent Strokes’. Her character became so popular among the audience that NBC decided to give her own TV show which ultimately became the most successful series of Rae’s career, the series was called ‘The Facts of Life’ and she played the character of “Edna Garrett” for six seasons (1979-1986) until she had to leave the show due to health concerns

Rae’s favorite stage experience came in 1990, when she got a chance to play the character of “Winnie” in Samuel Beckett’s play, ‘Happy Days’. Rae had always dreamed to be a dramatic actress and this role helped her in making it a reality.

‘The Facts of Life’ was the most successful work of Rae’s career and it made her a household name. The show revolved around “Edna Garrett” who works as a housemother at the fictional Eastland School which is an all-female boarding school. The show dealt with important social issues of 1980s like depression, drugs, alcohol, peer pressure etc.

’The Facts of Life’ was ranked as one of the top 10 shows for teenagers in 1988 by ‘USA Today’, an American daily newspaper.