Rose Marie dies at 94: Here's her recent chat with azcentral about her long career, fame and friends
Randy Cordova, The Arizona Republic Randy Cordova
Which Hollywood icon sends Rose Marie baked goods to this day? What's her take on her \
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The Republic | azcentral.com
Rose Marie, best remembered as salty Sally Rogers on TV's "The Dick Van Dyke Show," died Thursday, Dec. 28, at age 94. Her amazingly long career, which began when she was a toddler, was the subject of the recent documentary "Wait for Your Laugh." This month, she agreed to an interview with azcentral to discuss the movie and her career. Originally, she was going to do the interview by phone, but her publicist switched to an email conversation at the last minute. Either way, she sounded warm, enthusiastic and funny, just like the Rose Marie we grew up watching on TV.

Here is the story as it originally ran on Dec. 5, 2017.

At age 94, Rose Marie is suddenly happening again.

She's earning raves for a new documentary, "Wait for Your Laugh" — it opens Friday in Phoenix — that tells the story of her amazing show-biz career, which spans from the vaudeville era to the Twitter age. Oh yes, she boasts more than 125,000 followers on Twitter, including the likes of Mark Ruffalo and D.L. Hughley.

A delightfully brassy personality who could do it all — sing, dance, act and knock out a one-liner — Rose Marie's deep resume includes not just playing feisty working-woman Sally on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," but Broadway, nightclubs, "The Doris Day Show" and 4 Girls 4, a kind of '70s supergroup featuring vintage female performers.

RELATED: Rose Marie's 90+ years in show biz lovingly examined in documentary 'Wait for Your Laugh'

She remembers it all and will tell you about it in a fun email exchange in which she discusses different aspects of her career. She reveals what Hollywood icon sends her baked goods and offers her take on her so-called comeback.

Q: As "Baby Rose Marie," you sounded like a woman even when you were a little girl. Where did that maturity come from?

A: I have no idea. It was just there. This is the voice I've always had, from the time I was 3 years old.

Q: "The Dick Van Dyke Show" is such a classic, it can overshadow other aspects of your career. How do you feel about that?

A: I just think it was one of the biggest things in my career. There were other parts of my career for which I was very grateful and from which I learned a lot. I'm very grateful to Sally and it doesn't upset me because most of the time people either were too young or too old to know the other stuff.

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Q: Did you realize at the time what a breakthrough character Sally was for women?

A: No, not until I got into the part. I couldn't tell from the beginning because there wasn't that much. The part built up little by little until I realized what we were really doing, which was helping women all over the country to be as liberated as I was. I answered to nobody. I just did my job. I forced my way through and didn't take no for an answer. You've got to believe in yourself first. And that's what Sally did for women.

Q: The documentary talks about tension between you and Mary Tyler Moore. Did you ever warm up to each other?

A: I think at the end when we did the (2004) reunion show, we did. We were finally able to get together. We were never that close. We were friendly. We worked well together, everything was fine. There were never any disagreements or arguments or anything like that between us. We just didn't hit it off, but part of that was because she was busy working with Dick, and I was busy with Morey (Amsterdam) and (Richard) Deacon. It was almost as if there were two sides of the show.

Q: Are any parts of the documentary difficult for you to watch?

A: Of course. Everything about my husband. The wonderful time I had with my husband, how happy I was with him, and how devastated I was when he passed away.

Q: Tell us about your friendship with Doris Day.

A: Well, she had just lost her husband. I had just lost mine, and I thought, "Well that's a good thing to begin a new show — we've both lost our husbands. We've got something in common." And so I met her and I must say she's the sweetest person God ever created. He gave her everything. She's sweet. She's adorable. She's friendly. She wouldn't hurt a fly. She's exactly as you see her and I love her very, very much. We got along absolutely fantastic. We had fun together. We're still friends. She calls me once in a while and I call her. I send her my spaghetti sauce. She sends me baked goods. We're just very, very good friends. And it was such a great honor to work with her.

Q: Your husband filmed the wonderful backstage footage and home movies of you that are included in the film. Why was he documenting so much?

A: It was the rage at that time to have a home movie camera. We shot everything.

Q: People talk about the scrapbooks you have on your career: How many do you have and where do you keep them?

A: All the scrapbooks I have... I made a scrapbook on each year for a long time. My director (Jason Wise) would tell you there's hundreds, but I'm not really sure how many. I just know there's a lot. And everything was kept here in the house in the back room. It became like a storage room. I kept everything.

Q: Regarding 4 Girls 4: In the film, you talk about Rosemary Clooney and Helen O'Connell. What were your experiences like with Margaret Whiting?

A: Well, Margaret was wonderful. I used to call her Miss Show Business because she wouldn't let anything stop her from putting on a good show. She would be just wonderful, and always there and ready to help to do anything. When we got to a town, Margaret would be the first one to go looking around the town to find out where we could eat and where the best shopping was. Then she'd come back and give us all the run down. She was just wonderful. She was our advance man. We remained close until she died (in 2011).

Q: You've worked with so many greats. Is there anyone you wanted to work with and never did?

A: I would have loved to have done "Columbo" and I would have loved to have done "Murder, She Wrote." I would have loved to have worked with Angela Lansbury, and I would have loved to work with Peter Falk.

Q: When did you quit smoking?

A: I think it was about 25 years ago when I quit, maybe more. Jack Klugman did a commercial about smoking and he said something about it being bad for you, it was this, it was that. He said you're putting fire in your mouth or something like that, and I heard that and for some reason or another that set me off and I said, "that's it, no more," and I quit cold turkey and I've never looked back.

Q: What do you watch on TV these days?

A: "Columbo," "Murder, She Wrote," the news, "Boston Legal." And if I can find a good old movie, like one with Bette Davis or something like that, I'll watch it.

Q: With the success of the documentary, some people are talking about this as a comeback for you.

A: A comeback? Are you serious? I would love to come back if I could. I think I can still work, except I can't stand and I have to be in a wheelchair, but I figure if it's good for Lionel Barrymore, it's good for me!