M'el Dowd
Mary Ellen Dowd (February 2, 1933 – September 26, 2012) was an American stage, musical theatre and film actress, and singer, whose career spanned half a century. Beginning in Shakespeare roles and films in the 1950s, Dowd continued to perform on stage, film and television into the 21st century. A frequent performer on Broadway in the 1960s, Dowd originated the role of Morgan le Fay in the musical "Camelot". Early life and marriage. Mary Ellen Dowd was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of John J. Dowd and Catherine (née O'Conner) Dowd. She moved to Boone, Iowa, with her  family in 1945 and attended junior high school and high school there, where she acquired the nickname "Mel", which an agent later turned into M'el. After high school, she studied at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago before moving to New York City. In 1962, she married Henri G. Eudes, a native of France and restaurateur by vocation. The couple had one son, Richard. Career. Dowd made her professional debut Off-Broadway in the 1950s and soon appeared on Broadway, most notably originating the role of Morgan le Fay in the long-running musical "Camelot". Other Broadway appearances included "Back to  Methuselah" (1958), "Everything in the Garden" (1967–68), "Tiger at the Gates" (1968), "Dear World" (1969), "Not Now, Darling" (1970) and "Ambassador" (1972), among others. She also played in regional theatre and in more Off-Broadway roles, winning acclaim as Katherine of Aragon in "The Royal Gambit". From 1956 (in "The Wrong Man" with Henry Fonda) to 2005, she appeared in films, TV movies and guest spots on TV episodes, including "Man on Fire" with Bing Crosby in 1957, the 1986 film "F/X" as Joyce Lehman, and in the 1977 TV movie "The Prince of Homburg", starring Frank Langella. Dowd  also helped her husband in the restaurant business and continued to act until at least 2005, when she appeared in a guest role on the TV show "Law & Order". The "New York Daily News" wrote in 2001 that she played Mme. Armfeldt in "A Little Night Music" "deliciously". In Goodspeed Musicals' 2003 production of "Me and My Girl", according to "Variety", "Dowd ... is the cement that holds this production together." Death. She died on September 26, 2012 at her home in Tarrytown, New York, aged 79.