Lois Maureen Stapleton (June 21, 1925 – March 13, 2006) was an American actress.[1] She received numerous accolades becoming one of the few actors to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting winning an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Tony Awards.[2] She has also received a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.
Maureen Stapleton | |
---|---|
Born | Lois Maureen Stapleton June 21, 1925 Troy, New York, U.S. |
Died | March 13, 2006 Lenox, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged 80)
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1946–2003 |
Spouses | |
Children | 2 |
Stapleton started her career in theatre making her Broadway debut in The Playboy of the Western World (1946). She went on to receive two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Rose Tattoo (1951) and for Best Actress in a Play for The Gingerbread Lady (1971).[3] She was Tony-nominated for her roles in The Cold Wind And The Warm (1959), Toys in the Attic (1960), Plaza Suite (1971), and The Little Foxes (1981).
For her portrayal of Emma Goldman in the historical epic film Reds (1981) she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was also Oscar-nominated for her roles in Lonelyhearts (1958), Airport (1970), and Interiors (1978). During her career Stapleton acted in films such as Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Plaza Suite (1971), The Fan (1981), Cocoon (1985), The Money Pit (1986), and Nuts (1987).
On television, Stapleton played a variety of roles including in the television film Among the Paths to Eden (1967) for which she won the Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama.[4] She was Emmy-nominated for her roles in Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975), The Gathering (1977), B.L. Stryker (1989), Miss Rose White (1992), and Road to Avonlea (1995). She received a Grammy Award nomination for narrating To Kill a Mockingbird in 1975. For her life achievement she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.
Early life
editStapleton was born in Troy, New York, the daughter of John P. Stapleton and Irene (née Walsh), and grew up in a strict Irish American Catholic family.[5][6] Her father was an alcoholic and her parents separated during her childhood.[7][8]
Career
editStapleton moved to New York City at the age of 18, and worked as a salesgirl, hotel clerk, and modeled to pay the bills, including for artist Raphael Soyer.[9] She once said that it was her infatuation with the handsome Hollywood actor Joel McCrea which led her into acting. She made her Broadway debut in the production featuring Burgess Meredith of The Playboy of the Western World in 1946. That same year, she played the role of "Iras" in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in a touring production by actress and producer Katharine Cornell.[10] Stepping in because Anna Magnani refused the role due to her limited English, Stapleton won a Tony Award for her role in Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo in 1951 (Magnani's English improved, however, and she was able to play the role in the film version, winning an Oscar).[citation needed]
Stapleton played in other Williams' productions, including Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton and Orpheus Descending (and its film adaptation, The Fugitive Kind, co-starring her friend Marlon Brando), as well as in The Cold Wind and the Warm (Tony nomination, 1959) and Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic (1960), for which she received another Tony Award nomination. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Neil Simon's Plaza Suite in 1968 and won a second Tony Award for Simon's The Gingerbread Lady, which was written especially for her, in 1971. Later Broadway roles included a Tony-nominated turn as "Birdie" in The Little Foxes, opposite Elizabeth Taylor, and as a replacement for Jessica Tandy in The Gin Game.[citation needed]
Stapleton's film career, though limited, brought her immediate success, with her debut in Lonelyhearts (1958) earning nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe Award.[11] She appeared in the 1963 film version of Bye Bye Birdie, in the role of Mama Mae Peterson, with Dick Van Dyke, Janet Leigh, Paul Lynde, and Ann-Margret. Stapleton played the role of Dick Van Dyke's mother, even though she was only five months and 22 days older than Van Dyke. She was nominated again for an Oscar for Airport (Golden Globe Award nomination, 1970[11]) and Woody Allen's Interiors (Golden Globe Award nomination, 1978[11]). She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Reds (1981), directed by Warren Beatty, in which she portrayed the Lithuanian-born anarchist, Emma Goldman. In her acceptance speech, she stated, "I would like to thank everyone I've ever met in my entire life."[12] Her later appearances included Johnny Dangerously (1984), Cocoon (1985), and its sequel Cocoon: The Return (1988).
Stapleton won a 1968 Emmy Award for her performance in Among the Paths of Eden and was nominated for six more, for Avonlea (1996), Miss Rose White (1992), B.L. Stryker (1989), the television version of All the King's Men (1959), Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975), and The Gathering (1977), and Kraft Theatre (1959).[4] She also appeared opposite Laurence Olivier and Natalie Wood in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976).
She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.[13] She was an alumna of the famous Actors Studio in New York City, led by Lee Strasberg, where she became friends with Marilyn Monroe, who was only one year younger than Stapleton. She was impressed with Monroe's talent, and always thought it was a shame that Monroe was rarely allowed to play roles beyond the ditzy blonde. By comparison, Stapleton thought herself lucky: "I never had that problem. People looked at me on stage and said, 'Jesus, that broad better be able to act.'" One of the most famously remembered scenes at the studio was when Stapleton and Monroe acted in Anna Christie together.
Despite her association with Strasberg, Stapleton cited Mira Rostova as her most influential acting teacher.[14] She appeared with Rostova and another of Rostova's pupils, Montgomery Clift, Off-Broadway in The Sea Gull (1954).[15] Additionally, in his book Sanford Meisner on Acting, Meisner cites Stapleton as being "a wonderful actress." The pair starred together on Broadway in The Cold Wind and the Warm.[16]
She was nominated for a 1975 Grammy Award for the spoken word recording of To Kill a Mockingbird.[17]
She hosted the 19th episode of Season 4 of NBC's Saturday Night Live in 1979.
Personal life and death
editStapleton's first husband was Max Allentuck, general manager to the producer Kermit Bloomgarden, and her second was playwright David Rayfiel, from whom she divorced in 1966.[18] She had a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Katherine, by her first husband.[19] Her daughter, Katherine Allentuck, played a single movie role, that of "Aggie" in Summer of '42 (Stapleton herself also had a minor, uncredited role in the film as the protagonist's mother, though only her voice is heard; she does not appear on camera). Her son, Daniel Allentuck, is a documentary filmmaker.[citation needed]
Stapleton suffered from anxiety and alcoholism for many years, and once told an interviewer, "The curtain came down, and I went into the vodka."[9] She also said that her unhappy childhood contributed to her insecurities, which included a fear of flying, airplanes, and elevators.[20] A lifelong heavy smoker, Stapleton died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2006 at her home in Lenox, Massachusetts.[9]
In 1981 Hudson Valley Community College in Stapleton's childhood city of Troy, New York, dedicated a theater in her name.[21]
She was not related to All In the Family star Jean Stapleton.[citation needed]
Acting credits
editFilm
editYear | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1955 | Main Street to Broadway | Maureen Stapleton - First Nighter | Uncredited |
1958 | Lonelyhearts | Fay Doyle | |
1960 | The Fugitive Kind | Vee Talbot | |
1961 | A View from the Bridge | Beatrice Carbone | |
1963 | Bye Bye Birdie | Mama Mae Peterson | |
1969 | Trilogy | Mary O'Meaghan | Segment: "Among the Paths to Eden" |
1970 | Airport | Inez Guerrero | |
1971 | Summer of '42 | Hermie's mother | Voice, Uncredited |
Plaza Suite | Karen Nash | ||
1978 | Interiors | Pearl | |
1979 | Lost and Found | Jemmy | |
The Runner Stumbles | Mrs. Shandig | ||
1981 | On the Right Track | Mary the Bag Lady | |
The Fan | Belle Goldman | ||
Reds | Emma Goldman | ||
1984 | Johnny Dangerously | Ma Kelly | |
1985 | Cocoon | Marilyn Luckett | |
1986 | The Money Pit | Estelle | |
The Cosmic Eye | Mother Earth | Voice | |
Heartburn | Vera | ||
1987 | Sweet Lorraine | Lillian Garber | [22] |
Made in Heaven | Aunt Lisa | ||
Nuts | Rose Kirk | ||
1988 | Cocoon: The Return | Marilyn 'Mary' Luckett | |
Doin' Time on Planet Earth | Helium Balloon Saleslady | ||
1992 | Passed Away | Mary Scanlan | |
1994 | The Last Good Time | Ida Cutler | |
Trading Mom | Mrs. Cavour | ||
1997 | Addicted to Love | Nana | |
1998 | Wilbur Falls | Wilbur Falls High Secretary | |
2003 | Living and Dining | Mrs. Lundt | Final film role |
Television
editYear | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1954 | Medic | Evelyn Strauss | Episode: "Day 10" |
The Philco Television Playhouse | Daughter | Episode: "The Mother" | |
1955 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Mrs. Johnson | Episode: "Incident in July" |
1956 | Armstrong Circle Theatre | Mrs. Elizabeth Steigerwald | Episode: "H.R. 8438: The Story of a Lost Boy" |
The Alcoa Hour | Vi Miller | Episode: "No License to Kill (II)" | |
Studio One in Hollywood | Rachel Johnson | Episode: "Rachel" | |
1958 | Kraft Theatre | Sadie Burke | Episode: "All the King's Men" |
1959 | Playhouse 90 | Pilar | Episode: "For Whom the Bell Tolls" |
1960 | CBS Repertoire Workshop | Tessie | Episode: "Tessie Malfitano and Anton Waldek" |
1961 | Car 54, Where Are You? | Gypsy Woman | Episode: "The Gypsy Curse" |
Naked City | Abbey Bick | Episode: "Ooftus Goofus" | |
1962 | Naked City | Ruth Cullan | Episode: "Kill Me While I'm Young So I Can Die Happy!" |
The DuPont Show of the Week | Professor Gretchen Anna Thaelman | Episode: "The Betrayal" | |
1964 | East Side/West Side | Molly Cavanaugh | Episode: "One Drink at a Time" |
1967 | Among the Paths to Eden | Mary O'Meaghan | Television movie |
1969 | Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall | Ruthie Maxwell | Television movie |
1974 | Tell Me Where It Hurts | Connie | Television movie |
1975 | Queen of the Stardust Ballroom | Bea Asher | Television movie |
1976 | The Lively Arts | Amanda Wingfield | Episode: "Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie" |
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Big Mama | Television movie | |
1977 | The Gathering | Kate | Television movie |
1979 | Letters from Frank | Betty Miller | Television movie |
The Gathering, Part II | Kate Thornton | Television movie | |
Saturday Night Live | Herself (host) | Episode: "Maureen Stapleton/Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow" | |
1982 | The Electric Grandmother | Grandmother | Television movie |
Little Gloria... Happy at Last | Nurse Emma Kieslich | Television movie | |
1983 | Great Performances | White Queen | Episode: "Alice in Wonderland" |
1984 | Sentimental Journey | Ruthie | Television movie |
Family Secrets | Maggie Lukauer | Television movie | |
1985 | Private Sessions | Dr. Liz Bolger | Television movie |
1988 | The Thorns | Peggy / Mrs. Hamilton | 2 episodes: "The Other Maid" / "The Maid" |
Liberace: Behind the Music | Frances Liberace | Television movie | |
1989 | B.L. Stryker | Auntie Sue | Episode: "Auntie Sue" |
The Equalizer | Emily Rutherford | Episode: "The Caper" | |
1992 | Last Wish | Ida Rollin | Television movie |
Miss Rose White | Tanta Perla | Television movie | |
Lincoln | Sarah Bush Lincoln | Voice; Television movie | |
1995 | Road to Avonlea | Maggie MacPhee | Episode: "What a Tangled Web We Weave" |
Theatre
editYear | Title | Role | Venue | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1946–1947 | The Playboy of the Western World | Sara Tansey / Pegeen Mike (replacement) | Booth Theatre, Broadway | [23] |
1947–1948 | Antony and Cleopatra | Iras | Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway | [24] |
1949–1950 | Detective Story | Miss Hatch | Hudson Theatre, Broadway | [25] |
1950 | The Bird Cage | Emily Williams | Coronet Theatre, Broadway | [26] |
1951 | The Rose Tattoo | Serafina Delle Rose | Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway | [27] |
1953 | The Crucible | Elizabeth Proctoer (replacement) | Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway | [28] |
1953 | The Emperor's Clothes | Bella | Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway | [29] |
1953 | Richard III | Lady Anne | New York City Center, Broadway | [30] |
1955 | 27 Wagons Full of Cotton | Flora Meighan | Playhouse Theatre | [31] |
1957 | Orpheus Descending | Lady Torrance | Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway | [32] |
1958–1959 | The Cold Wind And The Warm | Aunt Ida | Morosco Theatre, Broadway | [33] |
1960–1961 | Toys in the Attic | Carrie Berniers | Hudson Theatre, Broadway | [34] |
1965 | The Glass Menagerie | The Mother | Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway | [35] |
1966 | The Rose Tattoo | Serafina Delle Rose | Billy Rose Theatre, Broadway | |
1968–1970 | Plaza Suite | Karen Nash / Muriel Tate / Norma Hubley | Plymouth Theatre, Broadway | |
1970 | Norman, Is That You? | Beatrice Chambers | Lyceum Theatre, Broadway | |
1970–1971 | The Gingerbread Lady | Evy Meara | Plymouth Theatre, Broadway | |
1972 | The Country Girl | Georgie Elgin | Billy Rose Theatre, Broadway | |
1972 | The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild | Mildred Wild | Ambassador Theatre, Broadway | |
1975–1976 | The Glass Menagerie | The Mother | Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway | |
1977–1978 | The Gin Game | Fonisa Dorsey (replacement) | John Golden Theatre, Broadway | |
1981 | The Little Foxes | Birdie Hubbard | Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway |
Awards and nominations
editNotes
edit- ^ Tied with Rohini Hattangadi for Gandhi.
- ^ Tied with Karen Black for Five Easy Pieces.
- ^ Tied with Mona Washbourne for Stevie.
References
edit- ^ Bernstein, Adam (March 14, 2006). "Maureen Stapleton; Esteemed Actress Of Stage, Film, TV". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
- ^ "Maureen Stapleton: Almost an EGOT". Legacy. March 13, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ "Maureen Stapleton Tony Awards Info". www.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ a b "Maureen Stapleton". Television Academy. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ Sean O'Driscol (March 2006). "Stapleton, Oscar Winner, Dies at 80". Irish Abroad. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Tom Vallance (March 15, 2006). "Maureen Stapleton". The Independent. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Famed Actress Maureen Stapleton Dies". CBS News. The Associated Press. March 13, 2006. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Robert Berkvist (March 19, 2006). "Maureen Stapleton; actress collected Oscar, Tonys, Emmy". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ a b c Berkvist, Robert (March 13, 2006). "Maureen Stapleton, Oscar-Winning Actress, Is Dead at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
- ^ Mosel, "Leading Lady: The World and Theatre of Katharine Cornell
- ^ a b c "Maureen Stapleton". www.goldenglobes.com. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ The Oscar Acceptance Speech: By and Large, It's a Lost Art Washington Post. March 21, 1999.
- ^ "26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame." The New York Times, March 3, 1981.
- ^ Stapleton, Maureen; Scovell, Jane (1995). A Hell of a Life: An Autobiography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-81092-8.
- ^ "The Seagull". www.iobdb.com. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ Hultman, Jon B. (February 5, 1997). "Sanford Meisner". Variety. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
- ^ "Maureen Stapleton". GRAMMY.com. May 19, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ Daniel McEneny (June 2009). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: David Rayfiel House". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ Berkvist, Robert (March 13, 2006). "Maureen Stapleton, Oscar-Winning Actress, Is Dead at 80". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
- ^ Haun, Harry (September 20, 2006). "Friends and Colleagues Remember Maureen Stapleton at Memorial". Playbill. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ "College to Call Theater The Maureen Stapleton". The New York Times. November 30, 1981. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
- ^ "Overnight fire destroys Heiden Hotel of Sweet Lorraine fame". Times Herald-Record. Middletown, New York. May 18, 2008. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
- ^ "The Playboy of the Western World (Broadway, 1946)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Antony and Cleopatra (Broadway, 1947)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Detective Story (Broadway, 1949)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Bird Cage (Broadway, 1950)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Rose Tattoo (Broadway, 1951)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Crucible (Broadway, 1953)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Emperor's Clothes (Broadway, 1953)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Richard III (Broadway, 1953)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "27 Wagons Full of Cotton (Broadway, 1955)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Orpheus Descending (Broadway, 1957)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Cold Wind and the Warm (Broadway, 1958)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Toys in the Attic (Broadway, 1960)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Glass Menagerie (Broadway, 1965)". Playbill. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The 31st Academy Awards (1959) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 19, 2024. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The 43rd Academy Awards (1971) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 4, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The 51st Academy Awards (1978) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. October 5, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The 54th Academy Awards (1982) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1971". British Academy Film Awards. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1983". British Academy Film Awards. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "CableACE Nominations Are Dominated by HBO". Los Angeles Times. September 11, 1996. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "1971 Awards – Drama Desk". Drama Desk Awards. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Maureen Stapleton". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Maureen Stapleton". Grammy Awards. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The 4th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The 7th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. December 19, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "10th Annual New York Emmy® Awards" (PDF). New York Emmy Awards. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Maureen Stapleton". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "Past Honorees". Theatre World Awards. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Tony Award Nominations 1951". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Tony Award Nominations 1959". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Tony Award Nominations 1960". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Tony Award Nominations 1968". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Tony Award Nominations 1971". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
- ^ "The Tony Award Nominations 1981". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
External links
edit- Maureen Stapleton at IMDb
- Maureen Stapleton at the Internet Broadway Database
- Maureen Stapleton at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Maureen Stapleton at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Maureen Stapleton at the TCM Movie Database
- Maureen Stapleton at Find a Grave
- Maureen Stapleton at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection
- Maureen Stapleton Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.