Obituary: Mary Bialock / Vocal talent from Butler called 'undiscovered gem'
Share with others:
Theatergoers around Pittsburgh might have seen Mary Alice Nicholas Bialock in any number of productions from the 1940s to 1980s, ranging from the serious drama of Tennessee Williams to the frothier musical entertainment of the Civic Light Opera.
The lively, quick-witted Butler native with a gifted soprano voice was a frequent performer with local theater companies, both large and small. It started after high school, continued through raising five children and lasted well into her 50s.
While never a major star, Ms. Bialock was "an undiscovered gem," said veteran stage performer Bingo O'Malley. "She gave performances that on Broadway would have won her a Tony."
Ms. Bialock died Sunday of natural causes at Canterbury Place in Lawrenceville. She was 85 and had lived there since 2008. She spent most of her life in Butler, where she indulged a passion for gardening, but also lived in later years in Aspinwall and Edgewood.
Although she did not attend college after graduating from Butler High School, Ms. Bialock took lessons in diction and drama from noted Carnegie Mellon University professor Edith Skinner. Those helped earn her roles starting in the late 1940s in the Pittsburgh CLO, including one appearance alongside Jackie Gleason.
Her daughter, Lisa Nicholas Konesni of Butler, said Ms. Bialock had one New York role in the 1940s, an off-Broadway part, but returned to Pittsburgh to marry and raise a family. Sometimes she had to give up a part in order to have one of her children.
She became a frequent performer at Butler's Little Theatre and Musical Theatre Guild, the Odd Chair Playhouse in Bethel Park, the Red Barn Theater in Hampton and other venues in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Oakland and elsewhere.
Mr. O'Malley listed Ms. Bialock in a 1993 interview -- although she was retired by then -- as one of his favorite performers with whom he shared the stage. They portrayed husband and wife in an early 1980s Pittsburgh Laboratory Theater performance of the very serious "The Subject was Roses."
"All of a sudden one night she came out with an Italian accent, and it sent me reeling for a few minutes," he recalled. "She was spontaneous and such a joy -- she kept you on your toes with her interpretations and her own personality on the stage, as well as off."
During her career, Ms. Bialock played leads in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Mame" and many other productions. She was also hired as a guest vocalist for special occasions for many years.
For her children, she used her voice for lullabies that they have long remembered and passed down to their own children. She was also known to cite from the poetry she loved throughout her life.
In addition to her daughter Lisa, Ms. Bialock is survived by three sons, Ralph A. "Hap" Nicholas III of Butler, Christopher R. Nicholas of Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Joshua Scott Nicholas of Point Breeze; another daughter, Rebecca Lila Mulligan of Sellersburg, Ind.; 12 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
The funeral is private, with burial in North Side Cemetery in Butler. Arrangements are by Thompson-Miller Funeral Home Inc. in Butler.
First Published February 14, 2012 12:00 am
