CAROLE Cook, a Hollywood star known for her performance in the movie Sixteen Candles, has died.
The Lucille Ball acolyte died of heart failure in Beverly Hills on Sunday, her husband Tom Troupe announced. She was 98.
Her death came just three days before her birthday, her husband told The Hollywood Reporter.
Cook is most known for her appearances on the show I Love Lucy where she played Thelma Green in 18 episodes from 1963-68.
The titular star of the show actually took Cook under her wing and gave the then ingenue her stage name Carole.
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The actress, who was actually born Mildred Frances Cook, also wore flashy red hair just like Lucy's.
She also played Don Knotts' expectant wife in The Incredible Mr. Limpet in 1964 and was the goofy Grandma Helen in the iconic 1984 film Sixteen Candles.
Cook's skills weren't limited to the silver screen as she was the second actress to play Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! in a 1965 Australia leg of the show.
She also worked on Broadway in the shows Romantic Comedy and 42nd Street in 1979 and 1980.
The actress feared no criticism in her older age, and actually faced some trouble in 2018 when she suggested that President Donald Trump should be assassinated.
"Where is John Wilkes Booth when you need him, right?" she told TMZ.
The comment warranted a visit by the Secret Service who she later said "couldn't have been nicer."
"I said, 'I can't go to prison, the stripes are horizontal, they don't look good on me."
Born in a small Texas town, she said that she got her start as an actress inside a church basement.
“Abilene isn’t exactly the hub of Broadway — you’re up to your ass in mesquite trees — but I saw my first show when I was four, knew I wanted to do that, and I never deviated,” she said last July.
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“I started out in the basement of the First Baptist Church and worked my way up to Broadway, to movies.”
She married fellow actor Tom Troupe in 1964 where Ball was the matron of honor.
The two acted together in several plays and raised money for those living with HIV/AIDS.
Cook is survived by her husband, her stepson Christopher and his wife Becky, her sister Regina, and nieces and nephews.
