Renee Orin Hague, an actress and cabaret singer who was the wife of composer-actor Albert Hague, died Aug. 26 of lymphoma, according to the family.
Ms. Hague, 71, who died at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, CA, was married to Hague for 49 years. Beginning in 1997, the couple performed their own cabaret show, Still Young and Foolish, a collection of reminiscences and songs by Hague, on both coasts. The piece played Carnegie Hall, the Roosevelt Hotel's Cinegrill, the Firebird, Eighty Eights and elsewhere.
Hague, who survives, is the composer of the Broadway musicals, Redhead and Plain and Fancy. As an actor, he is known as Prof. Shorofsky from TV's "Fame."
Ms. Hague was born in Slatington, PA, and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University. Her Broadway credits include Plaza Suite and Tennessee Williams' Slapstick Tragedy. She appeared with Jack Gilford in Fiddler on the Roof and was Gene Kelly's sister in a revival of Take Me Along.
Ms. Hague was also a TV actress when the Hagues relocated to Los Angeles after living in New York City. She appeared opposite her husband in "Fame." She also wrote for such sitcoms as "The Facts of Life." The seeds of Still Young and Foolish were in their earlier act from 20 years ago, when they once billed themselves as Hague & Hague: His Hits and His Mrs.
The pair met in Cleveland in 1947 when Hague was scoring an ill-fated rewrite of Turandot. The show was called The Reluctant Virgin, but producers in Cleveland thought that was too racy, so it was changed to The Reluctant Lady.
In 1998, Ms. Hague told Playbill On-Line about the moment she first met Hague during rehearsals for The Reluctant Virgin: "He was just walking over to the piano. I had just graduated Carnegie Tech, and I knew that if I was coming to New York the most exciting thing that could happen to me would be to meet a composer, somebody who is doing big shows in New York. I happened to be dating my leading man at the time, and here was this tall, skinny, almost cross-eyed European guy who had enough energy for 10 people. I was sunk."
Their cabaret show included anecdotes about their marriage and careers, plus such songs as "Merely Marvelous," "Herbie Fitch's Twitch," "Look Who's in Love" (from 1959's Redhead) and "Young and Foolish" and "It Wonders Me" (from 1955's Plain and Fancy).
"The show is really about our lives," Hague told Playbill On-Line in 1998.
Ms. Hague is also survived by two children, Janet Hague of Portland, OR, and Andrew Hague of New York City.
A memorial service will be held Sept. 1 at noon at Hillside Memorial Chapel in Los Angeles.
-- By Kenneth Jones
