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)
- Tribute To Burgess Meredith as Self (voice)
- Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls' as Miriam (archive footage)
2005
- Going Shopping as Winnie
- A Father… A Son… Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ... (Director)
2003
2001
- Mulholland Drive as Louise
- The Omen Legacy as Self
- The Amati Girls as Aunt Spendora
- The Gun Deadlock ... (Director)
- Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties as Self
2000
- Dr. T & the Women as Dr. Harper
- Poor Liza as Countess Ekaterina
- Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light as Narrator
- The Loretta Claiborne Story ... (Director)
1999
- Intimate Portrait: Lauren Bacall ... (Director)
- Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America as Narrator
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
- Inside the Actors Studio as Self
- Under Heat as Jane
- Seasons of the Heart ... (Director)
- Following Her Heart ... (Director)
- Reunion ... (Director)
1993
- Intimate Portrait as Self
1992
- Citizen Cohn as Dora Cohn
- Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story as Carol Gertz
- Earth and the American Dream as Reader (voice)
- In My Daughter's Name as Maureen Leeds
- The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer as Narrator
- Women on Trial as Narrator
1991
- Defending Your Life as Lena Foster
1990
- She Said No as D.A. Doris Cantore
- Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret as Self
1989
- Staying Together ... (Director)
- No Place Like Home ... (Director)
- The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro as Marilyn Klinghoffer
- Battered as Narrator
1988
- Empty Nest
- Hello Actors Studio as Self
- Calling the Shots as Self
1987
- The Big Town as Ferguson Edwards
1986
- Wedden, dat..? as Self
- Nobody's Child ... (Director)
- Down and Out in America as Narrator (voice)
1985
- The Ray Bradbury Theater
- Mussolini: The Untold Story as Rachele Mussolini
- What Sex Am I? as Self
- Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale ... (Director)
1984
- Teachers as Dr. Donna Burke
- A Matter of Sex ... (Director)
- A Billion for Boris as Sascha Harris
1983
- Will There Really Be a Morning? as Lillian Farmer
- When Women Kill as Herself
1982
- American Playhouse ... (Director)
- Bare Essence as Ava Marshall
- Visiting Hours as Deborah Ballin
- Plaza Suite as Norma Hubley / Muriel Tate / Karen Nash
- Thou Shalt Not Kill as Maxine Lochman
- A Crime to Fit the Punishment as Narrator
1981
- For Ladies Only as Anne Holt
- Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen as Mrs. Sylvia Lupowitz
- The Million Dollar Face as Evalyna
- The Willmar 8 as Narrator
1980
- Little Miss Marker as The Judge
- Tell Me a Riddle as Flight Attendant (voice)
1979
- Backstairs at the White House as Grace Coolidge
- You Can't Go Home Again as Esther Jack
- When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? as Clarisse Ethridge
1978
- Damien - Omen II as Ann Thorn
- The Mafu Cage as Ellen
- The Swarm as Anne MacGregor
- 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
- Perilous Voyage as Virginia Monroe
- The Stronger ... (Writer)
- TVTV Looks at the Oscars as Self
1975
- People's Choice Awards as Self
- Shampoo as Felicia Karpf
- Fay as Fay Stewart
- The Seagull as Irina Arkadina
- For the Use of the Hall ... (Director)
1974
- Dinah! as Self
- Why Me? as Narrator/Self
- The Internecine Project as Jean Robertson
1973
- The American Film Institute Salute to ... as Self
- Partners in Crime as Judge Meredith Leland
- What Are Best Friends For? as Adele Ross
1972
- ABC Afterschool Special ... (Director)
- Ransom for a Dead Man as Leslie Williams
- Lieutenant Schuster's Wife as Ellie Schuster
- Portnoy's Complaint as Sophie Portnoy
1971
- Great Performances as Irina Arkadina
- Film '72 as Self
- Plaza Suite as Norma Hubley
- The Neon Ceiling as Carrie Miller
1970
- The Landlord as Joyce Enders
- There Was a Crooked Man... as Mrs. Bullard
- Night Slaves as Marjorie Howard
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
- Judd, for the Defense
- In the Heat of the Night as Mrs. Leslie Colbert
- Valley of the Dolls as Miriam Polar
- Divorce American Style as Dede Murphy
- Deadlock as Virginia Cloyd
1966
- Mission: Impossible as Susan Buchanan
- ABC Stage 67 as Laura
1965
- The Big Valley as Rosemary
1964
- Peyton Place as Stella Chernak
- Pie in the Sky as Suzy
1963
- The Fugitive as Millie Hallop
- Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre as Virginia Cloyd
- Festival as Lizzie
- The Balcony as Carmen
- 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
- The Philco Television Playhouse
- Studio One as Emily Brooks