NEW YORK - Marilyn Cooper, a Broadway character actress best known for her Tony-winning performance in the musical "Woman of the Year," died Wednesday. She was 74.

Cooper died after a long illness at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, N.J., said Virginia Seidel, a family friend.

Cooper was a chorus member in the original Broadway casts of such classic musicals as "West Side Story" (1957) and "Gypsy" (1959). She made her Broadway debut in the 1956 Sammy Davis Jr. musical "Mr. Wonderful" and also appeared in such shows as "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" (1962), "Hallelujah, Baby!" (1967), "Golden Rainbow" (1968), "Two by Two" (1970) and "Ballroom" (1978).

But it was a duet with Lauren Bacall in the Kander and Ebb musical "Woman of the Year" (1981) that won Cooper a featured actress-musical Tony Award _ and stopped the show. She also appeared in several Neil Simon comedies including the female version of "The Odd Couple" (1985) and "Broadway Bound" (1986).