VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[audio'connell]

I came across this rather tragic obit from the Washington Post , 12/20/06:

Actress, Voice-Over Artist Kate Fleming, 41; Drowned in Studio During Seattle Flooding
By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; Page B07

Kate Fleming, 41, an award-winning voice-over artist and Alexandria native who drowned Dec. 14 when a torrent of rainwater trapped her in the basement studio of her Seattle home, was a born entertainer.

An actress and singer, she started putting on shows at age 2, an older sister recalled.

She was Dolly in a T.C. Williams High School production of "Hello Dolly" and appeared in numerous productions in the Washington area and in Seattle. But she had found her niche away from the spotlight in recent years, carving out a successful career as a narrator of audiobooks.

Reveling in the quiet and the intimacy of recorded storytelling, she was the voice in the listener's ear for more than 250 audiobooks, including novels about Native Americans by Louise Erdrich and the Ruth Ozeki novel "All Over Creation," for which Ms. Fleming won a 2004 Audie Award for Unabridged Fiction. Co-founder in 2004 of Seattle-based Cedar House Audio, a book recording company, she also produced walking tours with travel guide author Rick Steves, narrated parts of the 9-11 Report and was the narrator for a PBS documentary about the Stealth bomber.

"She loved the anonymity of the [recording] booth," said Charlene Strong, her partner. "She used to tell me, 'In the booth, I can just let my talent fly.' "

Kathryn Ann "Kate" Fleming graduated from T.C. Williams in 1983 and received a bachelor's degree in religious studies from the College of William and Mary in 1987. She studied at the Actors Theatre of Louisville and spent time in New York but didn't particularly like the big city. Moving back to the Washington area, she acted in Woolly Mammoth Theatre productions and in various other venues.

Chris Henley of the Washington Shakespeare Company recalled her Banquo in a 1991-92 production of "Macbeth." "It was just one of those really memorable performances . . . and interesting," he said, "because you're not expecting a woman to play Banquo. It was period costumes, and there she was, swinging the ax along with T.J. Edwards and Jason Adams and all the dudes."

In a 1993 production of "The Tempest," she played the jester Trinculo. As The Washington Post noted, "Kate Fleming does some inspired comic acting."
It wasn't just role-playing, recalled Clare Fleming, her sister. "She always had everybody laughing. She was a remarkably animated person with a lot of quirky and interesting thoughts in her head."

Ms. Fleming was a mesmerizing teller of tales. "Storytelling is such a basic human experience," she told a William and Mary alumni publication recently. "From the ancient campfire to the modern mom reading her kids a book at bedtime, we all love to tell and be told stories."

She moved to Seattle in 1994, drawn by the beauty and sophistication of the city. "She loved the green," Strong said, "and the rain didn't bother her."
In addition to her voice-over work, she continued to take acting roles and to appear in radio and TV ads. In a 1998 review of a collection of short pieces by playwright Carlos Murillo, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer credited Ms. Fleming with being "the undisputed record holder for diverse acting," noting that she played six men in the production.

That versatility, along with a talent for mimicry and a husky alto singing voice, served her well in her career as an audiobooks narrator. She often recorded under the name Anna Fields, a pseudonym she used to honor her great-grandmother, a New York actress known as "the Nightingale" in the early years of the 20th century.

"Anna Fields [Ms. Fleming] is amazing," the St. Paul Pioneer Press noted this year. "One minute she's a young American woman. The next, she's a Vietnamese boy. After that, she's an American man. Then, a Vietnamese police officer. And this is just for her narration of David Bergen's 'The Time in Between.' "

The Pioneer Press pointed out that in an earlier book, Irene Kai's "Golden Mountain," Ms. Fleming's voices ranged from a Chinese grandmother to a Chinese immigrant who had been in the United States for years. "Because of her talent, the books she narrates have a distinct richness the print versions lack."

Ms. Fleming also was deeply involved in her adopted city. She recorded for Seattle's Talking Book and Braille Library, and she and Strong supported Pet Project, a program that helps people with HIV and AIDS care for their pets. They also adopted several rescued animals.
In addition, Ms. Fleming established and donated an audio library at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan who were facing long periods of recovery.

When the storm hit Seattle Dec. 14, Strong was at a friend's house about a mile away. Ms. Fleming called to tell her that water was pouring into their basement and that she was going downstairs to try to save the recording equipment. She called a few minutes later to say she was trapped in the dark, windowless space. Although no one realized it at the time, a rush of water like a river had breached a retaining wall up the hill, and the house -- a tiny green cottage with yellow trim, like something out of a fairy tale -- was directly in its path. The water in the basement was rising quickly.

As Ms. Fleming called 911 on her cellphone, Strong ran through the rain to the house, hurried down the stairs and tried unsuccessfully to remove the door from its hinges. She used a kitchen knife to try to cut through the sheetrock, Ms. Fleming urging her in a calm voice not to panic.
"She was in that dark room, talking to me until the water went over my head," Strong said. "She never screamed."

When firefighters arrived, they cut through the floor, and a scuba diver pulled Ms. Fleming out. It was too late. Despite efforts to revive her, she died at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

In addition to Strong, her companion of nine years, of Seattle, survivors include her mother, Audrey Fleming of Alexandria; six sisters, Maude Ruesch and Clare Fleming, both of Alexandria, Ellen Schubert of Pittsburgh, Paula Fleming of Boston, Vicky Schubert of Reading, Mass., and Bridget Fleming of Sag Harbor, N.Y.; and one brother, Jock Fleming of Montrose, Colo.
_________________
- Peter
audioconnell Voice Over Talent
Your friendly, neighborhood voice over talent

[glittlefield]

Man, that is horrible. The poor woman... At least in this basement, I have a baseball bat and a ground-level window. Plus, there are the basements of four adjoining apartments for spill-over.
_________________
Greg Littlefield
VO-BB Member #59