NEW YORK — Actress Rebecca Luker, who starred in Broadway revivals of “Show Boat,” “The Music Man,” “Mary Poppins,” and “The Sound of Music,” died Wednesday in New York City. She was 59.
Luker’s death was confirmed by her agent, Sarah Fargo, The New York Times reported. The actress died in a Manhattan hospital after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, the newspaper reported.
An operatic soprano, Luker played the role of Magnolia, the daughter who marries a sleazy riverboat gambler, in “Show Boat,” which opened on Broadway in 1994, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She also played the librarian Marian in “The Music Man”, which began in 2001; Maria, the rebellious nun turned governess in “The Sound of Music”; and Winifred Banks in “Mary Poppins.” from 2006 to 2010.
Rebecca Joan Luker was born on April 17, 1961, in Birmingham, Alabama,, and grew up in Helena, the Times reported. She sang in her church choir and was a member of the Thompson High School marching band, the newspaper reported.
Luker entered a beauty pageant while in high school, according to the Times. Singing “Much More,” from “The Fantasticks,” she won a college scholarship as first runner-up to Alabama’s Junior Miss.
Luker attended the University of Montevallo, earning her degree in 1984, AL.com reported. She joined the Michigan Opera Theater, where she met a New York agent who led her to a Broadway career in 1989 with “The Phantom of the Opera,” the website reported.
Luker was nominated for Tony Awards for her roles in “Show Boat,” “The Music Man” and “Mary Poppins.”
Despite her success in musicals, Luker said she did not identify as a show-tunes actress.
“I am so not a musical theater person,” she told Playbill in 2003. “I love rock music and jazz. I love the ’70s stuff I grew up with.”
Luker is survived by her second husband, Danny Burstein, along with two stepsons, Zachary Burstein and Alexander Burstein; a brother, Roger Luker; a sister, Suzanne Luker; her mother, Martha Hales; and her stepfather, Lamar Hales, according to The Hollywood Reporter.