Stapleton, Maureen 1925–2006

PERSONAL

Full name, Lois Maureen Stapleton; born June 21, 1925, in Troy, NY; died of Chronic pulmonary disease, March 13, 2006, in Lenox, MA. Actress. Awardwinning, respected actress Stapleton began her long career on the stage, making her Broadway debut in 1946 in a production of The Playboy of the Western World. She won her first Antoinette Perry Award in 1951 for her portrayal of Serafina Delle Rose in Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo. Stapleton made her film debut in the United Artists' film Lonelyhearts in 1959, and her performance gained her an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. She tirelessly worked in theatre and films as well as television throughout her long career. Among her best-known films are Airport, Woody Allen's Interiors, Warren Beatty's Reds, and Cocoon. She received Academy Award nominations for best supporting actress for her work in Airport and Interiors and finally won the award in 1982 with her performance in Reds. On stage Stapleton appeared in several other Tennessee Williams' plays, including Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton and Orpheus Descending. Over the years she also worked with Neil Simon, and she won an Antoinette Perry Award for The Gingerbread Lady in a role written for her. Stapleton's television appearances ranged from episodic guest roles to lead roles in movies, such as Beatrice Asher in Queen of the Stardust Ballroom and Kate Thornton in The Gathering.

PERIODICALS

Entertainment Weekly, March 24, 2006.

Time, March 27, 2006.

Variety, March 20, 2006.

Stapleton, (Lois) Maureen (1925– ), American Method actress of great power and subtlety, excelling in character roles. She made her New York début in Synge's The Playboy of the Western World in 1946, but achieved stardom as the tempestuous Serafina in Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo in 1951. She then appeared in revivals (Lady Anne in Richard III in 1953, Masha in Chekhov's The Seagull in 1954) before starring in two more plays by Williams—as Flora in Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton (1955) and Lady Torrance in Orpheus Descending (1957). Her Ida in S. N. Behrman's The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958) and Carrie in Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic (1960) were followed in 1965 by another Williams role, Amanda Wingfield in a revival of The Glass Menagerie, while in 1966 she played Serafina again. She was seen to advantage in two plays by Neil Simon: in three separate roles in Plaza Suite (1968) and as the alcoholic heroine of The Gingerbread Lady (1970). In 1972 she was an effective Georgie Elgin opposite Jason Robards in a revival of Odets's The Country Girl. In 1975 she again played Amanda, and in 1981 was Birdie Hubbard to Elizabeth Taylor's Regina in a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.

Stapleton, [Lois] Maureen (b. 1925), actress. Described by Vogue as having “big show‐girl eyes, a small mouth, the skill of a Japanese tumbler, a radiance, and a voice that combines harridan and chamber music with layers of cello and violin,” she was born in Troy, New York, and studied acting with Herbert Berghof. She made her New York debut in 1946 in The Playboy of the Western World but rose to stardom as the emotional widow Serafina in The Rose Tattoo (1951). Subsequent notable roles included the sex‐starved storekeeper Lady Torrance in Orpheus Descending (1957), the possessive sister Carrie Berniers in Toys in the Attic (1960), three different worried New Yorkers in Plaza Suite (1968), and the alcoholic singer Eva Mears in The Gingerbread Lady (1970). Stapleton also shone in several revivals, among them Lady Anne in Richard III (1953), Masha in The Seagull (1954), Amanda in The Glass Menagerie (1965 and 1975), and Birdie in The Little Foxes (1981). She has made many television and film appearances as well.

Maureen Stapleton 1925–, American actress, b. Troy, N.Y. Stapleton's first major stage success was in The Rose Tattoo (1951). Best-known for intelligent character roles, she has appeared on Broadway in Orpheus Descending (1957), Toys in the Attic (1960), The Gingerbread Lady (1970), and The Country Girl (1973). Her films include A View from the Bridge (1962), Plaza Suite (1972), Reds (1982), Cocoon (1985), and Nuts (1988).