Dewhurst, Colleen

Dewhurst, Colleen (1926–91), actress. Born in Montreal, she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and with Harold Clurman before making her debut as a neighbor in a 1952 revival of Desire under the Elms. Much of her early work was Off Broadway, including her highly praised performance of the ostentatiously ladylike Laetitia in Children of Darkness (1958) at the Circle in the Square. On Broadway she received Tony Awards for her devout wife Mary Follet in All the Way Home (1960) and as Josie in a 1973 revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten. In the latter she was described by Clive Barnes in the Times as a “virgin earth‐mother, with common sense shining through her eyes like stars, and love clinging to her big red hands.” Dewhurst's other memorable roles include Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (1963), Sara in More Stately Mansions (1967), Shen Te in The Good Woman of Setzuan (1970), Christine Mannon in Mourning Becomes Electra (1972), Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1976), Olga in You Can't Take It with You (1983), Carlotta Monterey O'Neill in My Gene (1987), Essie in Ah, Wilderness! (1988), and Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night (1988).