Anita Morris; Actress in Musicals, Film Comedies

Anita Morris, an actress best known for show-stopping performance in the Broadway musical “Nine” and as a femme fatale in the film “A Sinful Life,” has died. She was 50.

Miss Morris died Wednesday of cancer at her home in Los Angeles.

Growing up in Durham, N.C., Miss Morris quickly became known for her voluptuous figure, acrobatic dancing and flair for comedy.

She made her Broadway debut in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” where she met her husband, director and choreographer Grover Dale. She went on to success in the musical comedies “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “Sugar Babies,” “Seesaw,” “The Magic Show” and “Rachel Lily Rosenbloom.”

She won stellar notice as she was approaching the age of 40 in Tommy Tune’s “Nine,” contorting in a sheer black lace body stocking to the humorously seductive song, “Call to the Vatican.” Censors excised the act from the 1982 Tony Awards telecast, but “Nine” still won the Tony for best musical and the number still won Miss Morris television and movie roles.

In his critique of “A Sinful Life” in 1989, Times reviewer Michael Wilmington said: “Dancer-actress Anita Morris, with her torrid red mane and outrageously voluptuous torso, comes close to being the human equivalent of Roger Rabbit’s Jessica. She can turn herself into an incarnation of all-American pneumatic sex.

“In ‘A Sinful Life,’ ” he wrote, “Morris has exactly the right kind of role. She plays a sexy, soused, self-parodying dream-goddess of chintzy lust.”

Last year Miss Morris played the Contessa Laetita Gabetti in the NBC miniseries “Trade Winds.”

Miss Morris’ screen credits also include “The Happy Hooker” in 1975, “The Hotel New Hampshire” in 1984, “Ruthless People” in 1986 and the yet-to-be released “Radioland Murders.”

In addition to her husband, Miss Morris is survived by their son, James.