Kitty Carlisle Hart, a Broadway actress, singer, arts patron, and the widow of noted writer and director Moss Hart, died from heart failure at the age of 96, according to media reports Thursday.

Hart died peacefully Tuesday night and had been in and out of the hospital since contracting pneumonia over the Christmas holidays, according to her son, Christopher.

"Kitty Carlisle Hart was a tireless champion of the arts in New York state and nationally and a vital member of the Broadway family," Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the league, said in a news release. "This great woman of the theatre touched so many lives through her work. We will miss her."

Hart was born Catherine Conn on Sept. 3, 1910, in New Orleans, to parents of German-Jewish heritage. Her father died when she was 10, and her mother soon took her abroad in the hopes of marrying her to European royalty. Though she did not get married there, Hart received an education, attending the Sorbonne in Paris, the London School of Economics, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also in London. She returned to the States in 1932.

The versatile Hart began her career on Broadway, acted in films and opera, and was singing on stage as recently as last fall.

In 1933, Hart took the first of what would be seven Broadway roles -- playing Prince Orlofsky in the operetta Champagne, Sec, which was loosely based on Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus. Other notable stage roles included Alice Walters in Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields' Anniversary Waltz, which was directed by her husband.

The couple were often at the center of New York's theatrical community until his death in 1961. She kept up with her appearances on To Tell the Truth and on New Year's Eve, 1966, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Die Fledermaus, again in the role of Prince Orlofsky. She performed at the Met until 1973.

In 1984, Hart returned to Broadway as a replacement in the George Abbott-directed revival of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's On Your Toes, taking over for Dina Merrill in the role of Peggy Porterfield. She continued to tour up until last year, including performances at Feinstein's at the Regency in Manhattan.

Editor: Donald