Stephanie Lawrence; London Musical Actress Starred in ‘Evita,’ ‘Marilyn!’

Stephanie Lawrence, the toast of London’s West End as the heroine of a string of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals and memorable for her take on Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe, has died at the age of 50.

Lawrence, star of Britain’s 1983 “Marilyn! The Musical,” was found dead Saturday at her southwest London home. Although the exact cause of death was not known, authorities said, it was not being treated as suspicious. London newspapers reported that Lawrence had been suffering from exhaustion, depression and alcoholism.

The singer and actress, long a presence in West End theaters, rocketed to fame on the musical stage in 1982 when she took over the role of Webber’s “Evita” from Elaine Page.

Two years after that, she was asked to become a British Marilyn when American film producer Elliott Kastner, librettist Jacques Wilson and his musical collaborator Mort Garson undertook the musical about the child-woman who began as Norma Jean Baker.

“I’m not trying to mimic Marilyn. I can’t be her. I’m trying to portray her essence,” Lawrence told The Times while readying the role.

Lawrence, a lithe dancer and marathon runner, had to wear padded bras and heavy makeup to effect “Marilyn,” singing the musical’s 20 songs and dashing through about two dozen costume changes. Critics raved over her efforts.

“The best thing in the evening is Stephanie Lawrence’s Monroe,” said the Manchester Guardian. “She has the wiggle, the walk, the breathiness, the curious carmined innocence of Marilyn; and she belts out Mr. Garson’s curiously forgettable songs as if her life depended on it.”

The London Daily Mirror called the show “a glittering triumph for Miss Lawrence.” Even critics who belittled the musical made such comments as: “In spite of considerable weaknesses, the show must be credited for the performance of Stephanie Lawrence.”

After her long run as Marilyn, Lawrence became something of an expert on the American star.

“I’ve read every book ever written about her,” Lawrence told the London Sunday Mail in 1996, the year she recorded an album, “Marilyn--the Legend.”

“Whenever I sing her songs, I feel Marilyn is watching me,” she said. “Somehow, I sense she approves of what I am doing.”

Lawrence also re-created a stage version of actress Marlene Dietrich and, for Webber, portrayed his Evita in more than 1,800 performances in London and elsewhere and sang major roles in his “Starlight Express” and “Cats.” She also had a role in a 1989 film version of his “Phantom of the Opera.”

In recent years, she was known for her portrayal of Mrs. Johnson, a disaffected Liverpool housewife in Willy Russell’s musical “Blood Brothers,” which she brought to Broadway in 1993.

Lawrence grew up on Hayling Island, Hampshire, England, the daughter of dancer Gladys Kent and bandleader-pianist George Kent. She made her first public performance at age 2 and studied classical dance, intending to become a ballerina. At 12, she danced in “The Nutcracker” with the Royal Festival Ballet. A bout of pneumonia at 15 cost her a year’s training and short-circuited the ballet career.

At 16, Lawrence made her West End debut as a tap-dancing roller-skater in “Forget Me Not Lane.” She later recorded songs from that show with Johnny Mathis, and the story of her first big role followed her throughout her career.

“The funniest audition I ever had was when I had to audition for Andrew Lloyd Webber,” she told the Toronto Star in 1993, “tap-dancing on skates while singing ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.’ Why? Because he wanted to see if I could.”

In addition to the 1989 “Phantom,” Lawrence was cast in two other British films, the 1976 “The Likely Lads” and the 1988 “Buster.”

The actress, who once said she would never marry because her career came before total commitment, had been married for two months.