Rising Broadway Star Dies Suddenly at 13

Broadway is mourning a rising star who was taken far, far too soon. Laurel Griggs, 13, died on Tuesday of what grandfather David Rivlin says was a "massive asthma attack," USA Today reports. She managed to fit a seven-year Broadway career into her short life: Laurel made her debut at six years old when she played Polly in a revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, appearing alongside stars including Scarlett Johansson. "Laurel was a child that everybody would dream to have," Rivlin tells the New York Times. "She was a brilliant girl, could run a role and never forget a line, and I never heard a complaint. I’m going to miss her."

Laurel starred as Ivanka in a Tony Award-winning production of the musical Once, which ran for 17 months starting in 2013. She also appeared on Saturday Night Live several times. Police say emergency responders were flagged down Tuesday outside a building in Harlem, where Laurel was having trouble breathing. Officers performed CPR on her on the way to Mount Sinai Hospital. "The world lost a real princess who only wanted to make the future happy for all," Rivlin said in a Facebook post Sunday. "Acting was just a childhood dream come true and she had big plans for the future." (More Broadway stories.)