“Forgotten Hollywood”- Great Lady of Theatre is Gone…

Posted on October 7, 2014 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here… 415px-Marian_Seldes

   A Tony-winner and premier actress of the live stage has died. Marian Seldes was a Broadway, film, radio, and television star, whose career spanned six decades. She was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1995.  MARIAN SELDES —>

   Seldes made her theatre debut in 1948 in a production of Medea. She went on to an illustrious career in which she earned five Tony Awards nominations, winning her first time out in 1967 for A Delicate Balance. She also starred in Equus, and in every one of the 1,809 Broadway performances of Ira Levin’s production of Deathtrap, a feat that earned her a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records as most durable actress. The performer was the fitting recipient of Tony’s 2010 Antoinette Perry Lifetime Achievement Award.

   She began acting on the small screen in 1952 in a Hallmark Hall of Fame production that marked the first of many guest star roles in episodic television. She appeared in Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman, Murphy BrownNurse Jackie, Sex and the City, Cosby, and Frasier.  Between 1974 and 1982, she appeared in 179 episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. In motion pictures, she appeared in The Greatest Story Ever Told, Affliction, and Mona Lisa Smile.

   Seldes was a member of the drama faculty of the Juilliard School from 1967 to 1991. Her students included Christopher Reeve, Robin Williams, Kelsey Grammer, Kevin Kline, William Hurt, and Patti LuPone. In 2002, Marian Seldes began teaching at Fordham University, Lincoln Center.

   She was married to screenwriter / playwright Garson Kanin from 1990 until his death. In December 2008, for their annual birthday celebration, The Noel Coward Society invited her as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward’s statue at New York’s Gershwin Theatre, thereby commemorating the 109th birthday of Sir Noel.

   A total class act, Marian Seldes was 86.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 12:30 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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