This is heartbreaking. Carol Higgins Clark, the best selling mystery author and actress in many of the films made from her and her mother’s books, has died at age 66 in Los Angeles. She battled cancer of the appendix bravely and even made short PSA films to alert people about its dangers.
Carol’s mother was Mary Higgins Clark, who died three years at age 92. Carol took such good care of Mary the last few years, it’s really cruel that she was hit with this ailment. When I saw her in December at a reunion for Elaine’s customers — Carol was a popular regular for years — she told me about her condition without a hint of self pity. She was a fighter.
On her imdb page, Carol left a mini bio: “Born in New York, Carol Higgins Clark obtained her B.A. from Mt. Holyoke College. She then studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. She starred in “Who Killed Amy Lang?”, a mini-mystery aired on Good Morning America (1975) and performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) in Wendy Wasserstein’s play “Uncommon Women and Others”, produced as part of the 21st Century Playwrights Festival. She was the lead in the film, A Cry in the Night (1992), based on the novel by Mary Higgins Clark. The film was shown at the Cannes TV Festival and the Montreal Film Festival and nationally on U.S. television….Jointly with her mother, novelist Mary Higgins Clark, she received the University of Scranton’s Distinguished Author Award in September 2000.”
Carol was a talented, accomplished writer, of course, but she could never have dreamed up a real life event that marked her: in 2006, New York Yankee Cory Lidle flew his plane into her apartment building on the Upper East Side. The plane hit the apartment above Carol’s, causing untold damage, and of course, Lidle died. It was a catastrophe you thought you’d only read in fiction. But Carol soldiered on with a good sense of humor despite causing her to move out for a long time.
She was prolific, which I think is what endeared to her Elaine Kaufman, our den mother. I count at least 15 of her solo books on Amazon, separate from several written with her famous mother, Carol. It didn’t hurt that she was also a knockout, ready with a smile, and a good story. I will miss her terribly as will everyone of her extended circle of friends.
In recent years, Carol had been dividing her time between New York and L.A. On the West Coast, she’d become a huge supporter of Project Angel Food, which distributes meals to those who are homeless or incapacitated. She was also involved with Catholic Charities, and ACPMP, an appendix cancer research foundation. She recently taped a video about appendix cancer on behalf of ACPMP, which funds doctors who conduct research on this very rare disease. Her family says she was also a loyal supporter of her alma mater Mount Holyoke.
Rest in peace, Carol. Elaine is waiting for you with a lot of our pals. You’re going to be a part of the greatest dinner party ever, but you will be sorely missed here.
