Stritch made her Broadway debut in the 1946 comedy Loco and went on to receive four Tony Award nominations: for the William Inge play Bus Stop (1956); the Noël Coward musical Sail Away (1962); the Stephen Sondheim musical Company (1970), which included her performance of the song "The Ladies Who Lunch"; and for the revival of the Edward Albee play A Delicate Balance (1996).

Stritch relocated to London in the 1970s and starred in several West End productions, including Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings (1973) and Neil Simon's The Gingerbread Lady (1974).

She won an Emmy Award in 1993 for her guest role on Law & Order and another for the 2004 television documentary of her one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty.

[7] She trained at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School for Social Research in New York City under Erwin Piscator,[8] alongside Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, and Harry Belafonte.

Her later Broadway debut was in Loco in 1946, directed by Jed Harris,[10] followed soon after by Made in Heaven (as a replacement),[11] and then Angel in the Wings (1947), a revue in which she performed comedy sketches and the song "Civilization".

[12] Stritch understudied Ethel Merman for Call Me Madam, and, at the same time, appeared in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey, singing "Zip".

[12] Stritch later starred in the national tour of Call Me Madam, and appeared in a supporting role in the original Broadway production of William Inge's play Bus Stop.

Stritch started in the show in a "relatively minor role and was only promoted over the title and given virtually all the best songs when it was reckoned that the leading lady...although excellent, was rather too operatic for a musical comedy".

The reconstructed 'Sail Away' opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 3, 1961",[14] with Stritch giving what Howard Taubman of The New York Times said "must be the performance of her career.

"[15] In 1966, she played Ruth Sherwood in the musical Wonderful Town at New York's City Center, and appeared in an Off Broadway revival of Private Lives in 1968.

After over a decade of successful runs in shows in New York, Stritch moved in 1972 to London, where she starred in the West End production of Company.

The one-season series aired opposite Hawaiian Eye on ABC and Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall on NBC.

[20] In 1979, both Stritch and Sinden were nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Two's Company, in the category "Best Light Entertainment Performance", losing out to Ronnie Barker.

After returning to the United States, she appeared on The Edge of Night as vinegary nanny Mrs. DeGroot, then was cast as a regular on the short-lived The Ellen Burstyn Show in 1986.

On April 26, 2007, she began guest appearances on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock as Colleen, the fearsome mother of Alec Baldwin's lead character, Jack Donaghy.

People magazine called her performance "acclaimed" and wrote "Though the movie has received mixed reviews, Stritch's roaring presence, like Godzilla in a stalled elevator, can't be ignored.

[37] Stritch had a rare co-starring role in the comedy Screwed (2000), playing Miss Crock, who becomes the intended victim of a kidnapping by her disgruntled butler (Norm Macdonald).

[39] In 1982, Stritch appeared on an edition of the long-running BBC Radio comedy series Just a Minute alongside Kenneth Williams, Clement Freud and Barry Cryer.

In 1996 she played Claire in a revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, with Variety writing: "Equally marvelous is Stritch, with a meatier role than her recent foray as Parthy in 'Show Boat.'

To watch her succumb to the vast amounts of alcohol Claire ingests, folding and refolding her legs, slipping – no, oozing – onto the floor, her face crumpling like a paper bag, is to witness a different but equally winning kind of thespian expertise.

"[43] Her one-woman show Elaine Stritch at Liberty, a summation of her life and career, premiered at New York's Public Theater, running from November 7 to December 30, 2001.

[20][45] Newsweek noted: Now we see how At Liberty, the amazing one-woman show Stritch is moving to Broadway from the Public Theater this week, acquired the credit, "Constructed by John Lahr.

A British writer recently called Stritch "Broadway's last first lady", and when you see her performing her signature numbers from Company and Pal Joey and hear her tell tales of working with Merman, Coward, Gloria Swanson and the rest, it's hard to argue.

The AP reviewer of the musical (with the two new leads) wrote "Devotees of Stritch, who earned her Sondheim stripes singing, memorably, 'The Ladies Who Lunch' in Company 40 years ago, will revel in how the actress, who earned a huge ovation before her first line at a recent preview, brings her famously salty, acerbic style to the role of Madame Armfeldt.

"[49] The theatre critic for The Toronto Star wrote: Stritch offers a sophisticated gloss on her by now patented, plain-talking woman who reveals all the home truths everyone ever wanted (or didn't) to hear about themselves.

Interpreting stark, talk-sing versions of Rodgers and Hart's "He Was Too Good to Me", "Fifty Percent" from the musical Ballroom, and Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash's "That's Him", she comes into her own as a dramatic ballad singer.

[51]Between musical numbers, Stritch told stories from the world of stage and screen, tales from her everyday life and personal glimpses of her private tragedies and triumphs.

Her drinking worsened after Bay's death, and she sought help after experiencing problems with the effects of alcoholism, including the onset of diabetes.

[83] On The Big Gay Sketch Show in 2007, she was spoofed (portrayed by Nicol Paone) as a Wal-Mart greeter who is still a theater gal at heart.