Actor Charlotte Rae dead at 92

By Meredith Blake, LA Times

Actress-singer-comedienne Charlotte Rae, posing in her New York apartment in 2006. "We all need to laugh. Sometimes I get all these laughs inside of me and there's no place to let 'em out," said Rae, who played den mother Mrs. Garrett on "The Facts of Life." (Paul Hawthorner / Associated Press)

Charlotte Rae, the actress best known for her role as Mrs. Garrett, den mother to a group of rambunctious teenage girls on the long-running 1980s sitcom “The Facts of Life,” has died at 92.

Spokesman Harlan Boll said Rae died Sunday at her Los Angeles home. A cause of death was not immediately provided, but she was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2017.

"She was a dear, dear friend for many years, one of a kind, and it was such a joy to be able to work with her," says Alan Mandell, who directed and co-starred with Rae in the May production of "Endgame" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. It was Rae's last performance.

Charlotte Rae Lubotsky was born in Milwaukee, the middle of three daughters raised by first-generation Russian and Polish Jews. Rae’s mother was a childhood friend of future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and was active in the early Zionist movement. Her father ran a successful appliance business.

--more at LATimes.com