Grimes was born and raised in Massachusetts, and graduated from Missouri's Stephens College, which she chose for its drama program, according to The New York Times in its Monday remembrance.
She was acting in New York for five years, both on and off-Broadway, before landing the starring role of Molly Brown. Her character in that comedic production, who survived the Titanic's sinking, was loosely based on a real woman, Margaret "Maggie" Brown.
But Grimes was no one-hit wonder. She received her second Tony just a few years later, for a revival of Noel Coward's "Private Lives," a romantic comedy, and she continued to appear on Broadway until the late '80s.
Her dozens of film and TV credits include "Play It as It Lays"; the animated cult classic "The Last Unicorn," in which she voiced Molly Grue; and "The Borrowers."
Grimes is survived by her daughter, Amanda; brother Nick; nephew Duncan; and first husband, actor Christopher Plummer.
She was predeceased by her second and third husbands, TV actor Jeremy Slate and Richard Bell, who was a musician and composer.
Read the New York Times remembrance here.
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