Veteran Actress Sylvia Meredith, 77, Dies

Veteran actress Sylvia Meredith, whose career spanned 67 years years and extended from Broadway to television and finally to many Los Angeles stages, has died in her sleep in her Hollywood home. She was 77.

She was an actress whose skills ranged from comedy to heavy drama. She was also a nurse, serving during World War II and later helping juvenile offenders. She last appeared on stage locally in 1983 in “Skirmishes” at the Matrix Theatre.

In it she appeared in bed throughout the drama, uttering but a single line as her two daughters railed at one another over her impending death. The play ran on alternate nights with “Coming to See the Elephant,” in which she starred at the De Lacey Street Theatre in Pasadena. The latter role earned her a best-acting nomination from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Assn.

Miss Meredith made her stage debut at 10 in “Daddy Longlegs” and went to New York nine years later to seek work as an actress. But her first job came instead with the Sue Hastings Marionette Troupe, and for the next several years she toured both as a voice for the puppets and later as a puppeteer.

Many TV Appearances

She then formed her own marionette company, and she and her puppets were seen on “Howdy Doody,” the “Today Show,” “Captain Kangaroo” and in many commercials.

After World War II she finally got to Broadway as an actress, appearing with Walter Matthau in “Season in the Sun.” Over the years and with various companies, she was on stage with Bert Lahr, Zero Mostel, Jack Carson, Beatrice Lillie and Sylvia Sidney.

She moved to the West Coast in 1962 and was seen in the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Assn. production of “Jollyanna.”

The following year she accepted a nursing position at a boys’ probation camp and then became a supervising nurse at Los Angeles Juvenile Hall. She retired from nursing in 1978 and returned full time to the theater in her own “Days of the Life of Queen Victoria,” which played at the Mayfair Music Hall and on local college stages.

Miss Meredith, who died April 21, is survived by two sisters, Rose Lewis and Lee Steiner.