Lee Grant
Born: 1925-10-31 in New York City, New York, USA
Known For: Acting
Biography
Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, 1925) is an American actress and director. She made her film debut in 1951 as a young shoplifter in William Wyler's Detective Story, co-starring Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker. This role earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Best Actress Award at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. In 1952 she was blacklisted from most acting jobs for the next 12 years. She was able to find only occasional work onstage or as a teacher during this period. It also contributed to her divorce. She was removed from the blacklist in 1962 and rebuilt her acting career. She starred in 71 TV episodes of Peyton Place (1965–1966), followed by lead roles in films such as Valley of the Dolls, In the Heat of the Night (both 1967), and Shampoo (1975), for the last of which she won an Oscar. In 1964, she won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her performance in The Maids. During her career she was nominated for the Emmy Award seven times between 1966 and 1993, winning twice. In 1986 she directed Down and Out in America which tied for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and in the same year she also won a Directors Guild of America Award for Nobody's Child.
Filmography
2023
2021
2020
- Killian & the Comeback Kids as Ms. Hunter (voice)
2019
- Hal as Self
2018
- Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor as Narrator (voice)
2006
- Baghdad ER ... (Executive Producer)
- Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls' as Miriam (archive footage)
- Tribute To Burgess Meredith as Self (voice)
2005
- A Father… A Son… Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ... (Director)
- Going Shopping as Winnie
2003
2001
- Mulholland Drive as Louise
- The Omen Legacy as Self
- The Amati Girls as Aunt Spendora
- Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties as Self
- The Gun Deadlock ... (Director)
2000
- Dr. T & the Women as Dr. Harper
- The Loretta Claiborne Story ... (Director)
- Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light as Narrator
- Poor Liza as Countess Ekaterina
1999
- Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America as Narrator
- Intimate Portrait: Lauren Bacall ... (Director)
1997
- Who Is Henry Jaglom? as Self
- Say It, Fight It, Cure It as Narrator/Host
1996
- It's My Party as Amalia Stark
- The Substance of Fire as Cora Cahn
1995
- Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval as Narrator
1994
- Under Heat as Jane
- Reunion ... (Director)
- Seasons of the Heart ... (Director)
- Inside the Actors Studio as Self
- Following Her Heart ... (Director)
1993
- Intimate Portrait as Self
1992
- Earth and the American Dream as Reader (voice)
- Women on Trial as Narrator
- Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story as Carol Gertz
- The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer as Narrator
- In My Daughter's Name as Maureen Leeds
- Citizen Cohn as Dora Cohn
1991
- Defending Your Life as Lena Foster
1990
- Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret as Self
- She Said No as D.A. Doris Cantore
1989
- Staying Together ... (Director)
- Battered as Narrator
- No Place Like Home ... (Director)
- The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro as Marilyn Klinghoffer
1988
- Empty Nest
- Calling the Shots as Self
- Hello Actors Studio as Self
1987
- The Big Town as Ferguson Edwards
1986
- Down and Out in America as Narrator (voice)
- Nobody's Child ... (Director)
- Wedden, dat..? as Self
1985
- The Ray Bradbury Theater
- Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale ... (Director)
- Mussolini: The Untold Story as Rachele Mussolini
- What Sex Am I? as Self
1984
- Teachers as Dr. Donna Burke
- A Billion for Boris as Sascha Harris
- A Matter of Sex ... (Director)
1983
- Will There Really Be a Morning? as Lillian Farmer
- When Women Kill as Herself
1982
- Plaza Suite as Norma Hubley / Muriel Tate / Karen Nash
- A Crime to Fit the Punishment as Narrator
- Thou Shalt Not Kill as Maxine Lochman
- Visiting Hours as Deborah Ballin
- Bare Essence as Ava Marshall
1981
- The Willmar 8 as Narrator
- The Million Dollar Face as Evalyna
- Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen as Mrs. Sylvia Lupowitz
- For Ladies Only as Anne Holt
1980
- Tell Me a Riddle as Flight Attendant (voice)
- Little Miss Marker as The Judge
1979
- You Can't Go Home Again as Esther Jack
- When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? as Clarisse Ethridge
- Backstairs at the White House as Grace Coolidge
1978
- The Swarm as Anne MacGregor
- Damien - Omen II as Ann Thorn
- The Mafu Cage as Ellen
- The Good Doctor as Various Roles
1977
- Airport '77 as Karen Wallace
- The Spell as Marion Matchett
1976
- Voyage of the Damned as Lili Rosen
- TVTV Looks at the Oscars as Self
- Perilous Voyage as Virginia Monroe
- The Stronger ... (Writer)
1975
- The Seagull as Irina Arkadina
- Shampoo as Felicia Karpf
- For the Use of the Hall ... (Director)
- Fay as Fay Stewart
1974
- Dinah! as Self
- Why Me? as Narrator/Self
- The Internecine Project as Jean Robertson
1973
- What Are Best Friends For? as Adele Ross
- The American Film Institute Salute to ... as Self
- Partners in Crime as Judge Meredith Leland
1972
- ABC Afterschool Special ... (Director)
- Ransom for a Dead Man as Leslie Williams
- Portnoy's Complaint as Sophie Portnoy
- Lieutenant Schuster's Wife as Ellie Schuster
1971
- Great Performances as Irina Arkadina
- Plaza Suite as Norma Hubley
- The Neon Ceiling as Carrie Miller
1970
- Night Slaves as Marjorie Howard
- The Landlord as Joyce Enders
- There Was a Crooked Man... as Mrs. Bullard
1969
- Marooned as Celia Pruett
- The Big Bounce as Joanne
1968
- The Dick Cavett Show as Self - Guest
- The Name of the Game as Edwina Booker
- The Mod Squad
- Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as Self
- Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell as Fritzie Braddock
- The Love Song of Barney Kempinski as Laura
1967
- Ironside as Francesca Kirby
- Deadlock as Virginia Cloyd
- Judd for the Defense
- Valley of the Dolls as Miriam Polar
- In the Heat of the Night as Mrs. Leslie Colbert
- Divorce American Style as Dede Murphy
1966
- Mission: Impossible as Susan Buchanan
- ABC Stage 67 as Laura
1965
- The Big Valley as Rosemary
1964
- Pie in the Sky as Suzy
- Peyton Place as Stella Chernak
1963
- The Fugitive as Millie Hallop
- Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre as Virginia Cloyd
- The Balcony as Carmen
- Festival as Lizzie
- An Affair of the Skin as Katherine McCleod
1962
1961
- The Mike Douglas Show as Self
- Ben Casey
- The Defenders as Norma Burgess
1959
- Middle of the Night as Marilyn
- The World of Sholom Aleichem as The Goatseller / Avenging Angel
1958
- Three Plays by Tennessee Williams as Jane (Segment "Moony's Kid Don't Cry")
1956
- Tony Awards as Self - Presenter
1955
- Playwrights '56
- Storm Fear as Edna
1953
- The Oscars as Self
1951
- Detective Story as Shoplifter
1948
- Studio One as Emily Brooks
- The Philco Television Playhouse