Maureen Stapleton
Birthday: Born in 1925-06-21 in Troy, New York, United States
Deathday: 2006-03-12
Lois Maureen Stapleton (June 21, 1925 – March 13, 2006) was an American actress. She was the recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Tony Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, and is one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
TV Credits
Naked City
Character: Abilene Hutchinson Bick
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”....
Studio One
Character: Rachel Jackson
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
The Equalizer
Character: Emmy Rutherford
Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them....
General Electric Theater
Character: Ethel
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations....
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Tanta Perla
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, ...
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character: Daughter
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956....
Saturday Night Live
Character: Self - Host
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
Naked City
Character: Ruth Callan
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”....
Laurence Olivier Presents
Character: Big Mama
Laurence Olivier Presents is a British television series made by Granada Television which ran from 1976 to 1978. The plays, with the exception of Hindle Wakes, all starred Laurence Olivier. Some of the plays were based on productions staged at the National Theatre during the period when Olivier was Artistic Director. In addition to distinguished English actors, the casts assembled for these productions included several Hollywood stars, such as Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward and Ma...
B.L. Stryker
Character: Auntie Sue
B.L. Stryker is an American detective drama that aired on ABC from February 13, 1989 to May 5, 1990 as part of the ABC Mystery Movie along with Gideon Oliver, Columbo and Kojak. The series was executive produced by Tom Selleck....
Little Gloria... Happy at Last
Character: Nurse Emma Kieslich
The story deals with Gloria Vanderbilt's difficult coming-of-age when, at eleven, she was a pawn in a custody battle between her sybaritic mother and her aunt....
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
Playhouse 90
Character: Pilar
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were usually hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of hour-and-a-half dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Playhouse 90 began as a pitch by Frank Stanton—the formidable, forward-thinki...
NOVA
Character: Narrator (voice)
PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits....
Tony Awards
Character: Self - Nominee
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre....
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character: Mrs. Johnson
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956....
The Dick Cavett Show
Character: Self - Guest
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks....
The Mike Douglas Show
Character: Self
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia....
Great Performances
Character: White Queen
The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries....
Movie Credits
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Character: Pilar
During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge....
Addicted to Love
Character: Nana
Good-natured astronomer Sam is devastated when the love of his life leaves him for a suave Frenchman. He therefore does what every other normal dumpee would do — go to New York and set up home in the abandoned building opposite his ex-girlfriend's apartment, wait until she decides to leave her current lover, and then win her back....
Cocoon
Character: Mary Luckett
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor....
Airport
Character: Inez Guerrero
Melodrama about a bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved....
The Money Pit
Character: Estelle
After being evicted from their Manhattan apartment, a couple buy what looks like the home of their dreams—only to find themselves saddled with a bank-account-draining nightmare. Struggling to keep their relationship together as their rambling mansion falls to pieces around them, the two watch in hilarious horror as everything—including the kitchen sink—disappears into the Money Pit....
Cocoon: The Return
Character: Mary Luckett
The reinvigorated elderly group that left Earth comes back to visit their relatives. Will they all decide to go back to the planet where no one grows old, or will they be tempted to remain on Earth?...
Bye Bye Birdie
Character: Mama Mae Peterson
A singer goes to a small town for a performance before he is drafted....
Main Street to Broadway
Character: Self (uncredited)
In New York, a surly, down-on-his-heels playwright meets a country girl who's giving up trying to act and returning home. He goes with her for inspiration when his agent convinces a stage star to take his next effort. When he returns to Broadway, his girl stays behind and starts seeing a local businessman....
Heartburn
Character: Vera
Rachel is a food writer at a New York magazine who meets Washington columnist Mark at a wedding and ends up falling in love with him despite her reservations about marriage. They buy a house, have a daughter, and Rachel thinks they are living happily ever after until she discovers that Mark is having an affair while she is waddling around with a second pregnancy....
Nuts
Character: Rose Kirk
A high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent....
Trading Mom
Character: Mrs. Cavour, the Gardener
The Martin kids learn of a magic spell that will take them to the 'mommy market' so they can get a more user friendly model. After giving a few other moms a try, they want their own back. But that is not so easy....
Made in Heaven
Character: Aunt Lisa
Deceased drifter Mike arrives in Heaven and quickly falls for newborn soul Annie, soon to start her assignment on Earth. When Annie leaves, Mike follows....
Plaza Suite
Character: Karen Nash
Film version of the Neil Simon play has three separate acts set in the same hotel suite in New York's Plaza Hotel with Walter Matthau in a triple role. In the first, Karen Nash tries to get her inattentive husband Sam's attention to spruce up their failing marriage. In the second, brash film producer Jesse Kiplinger tries to get his former one-time flame Muriel to see him for what he stands for. In the third, Roy Hubley and his wife Norma try and try to get their uncertain-of-herself daughter ou...
Interiors
Character: Pearl
When Eve, an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur, the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment, Renata, a successful writer; Joey, a woman crippled by indecision; and Flyn, a budding actress; struggle to communicate for the sake of their shattered mother. But when their father unexpectedly falls for another woman, his decision to remarry sets in motion a terrible twist of fate…...
Johnny Dangerously
Character: Ma Kelly
An honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills....
Private Sessions
Character: Dr. Liz Bolger
A therapist goes outside his office and into his patients' personal lives to help them. He is treating a man who is hearing sounds but apparently there is nothing wrong with him psychologically. And a woman who despite being in a healthy relationship goes around picking up guys and having sex with them. She decides to seek help and what the doctor learns is that the problem goes back to her childhood and her family....
The Fugitive Kind
Character: Vee Talbot
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family....
Reds
Character: Emma Goldman
An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed, who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant....
On the Right Track
Character: Mary the Bag Lady
Lester is a homeless shoeshine boy living in a railway station. He's got this funny knack for picking the winning horses' names out of the paper while shining shoes. When word gets around, though, everyone wants a piece of the action....
The Fan
Character: Belle Goldman
A record store clerk is an obsessed fan of an actress of stage and screen. However, when faced with rejection, the fan strikes out in increasingly violent ways....
The Electric Grandmother
Character: Grandmother
To a family whose children are traumatized by the death of their mother, help comes in a most bizarre way. They receive three pieces, that when joined together, give a recording for an offer for an electric grandmother. They go to a bizarre factory, where they customize their new grandmother, and within a short time, she arrives. The android is equipped with everything needed as a parent and the boys are charmed. The daughter, however, still misses her mother and she bears no welcome for this in...
Lonelyhearts
Character: Fay Doyle
Burdened by a family secret, Adam White lands a job as a newspaper advice columnist. Little does he realize that it's all part of a nasty desire by cynical editor William Shrike to crush the souls of his underlings. Adam feels his readers' pain, and eventually, he takes an assignment to meet with Faye Doyle, who is exasperated by her crippled husband. When Faye tries to seduce Adam, he must choose between his job and his girl....
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Character: Self
Broadway: The Golden Age is the most important, ambitious and comprehensive film ever made about America's most celebrated indigenous art form. Award-winning filmmaker Rick McKay filmed over 100 of the greatest stars ever to work on Broadway or in Hollywood. He soon learned that great films can be restored, fine literature can be kept in print - but historic Broadway performances of the past are the most endangered. They leave only memories that, while more vivid, are more difficult to preser...
Dig: A Journey Into Earth
Character: Mother (voice)
A boy and his dog take a wondrous trip under the earth's crust and through the geological eras of time, introducing children to geology in the form of a musical fantasy....
The Last Good Time
Character: Ida Cutler
A reclusive aging widower struggling with tax problems has a complete change in his views of life as he has a chance encounter with a young woman who moves in with him briefly....
The Runner Stumbles
Character: Mrs. Shandig
Dick Van Dyke stars as a priest accused of murdering a nun. Directed by Stanley Kramer, this 1979 drama also features Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Ray Bolger, Beau Bridges and Tammy Grimes....
The Gathering
Character: Kate
When Adam Thornton learns that he only has a little time left, he decides that he wants to make peace with his family. Only problem is that most of his family are not exactly fond of him because he walked out on his wife and of his stubborn nature and he hasn't spoken to his youngest son after having an argument with him which he was in the wrong but only realize after his son left and has not been heard from since. But he goes to her to help him find him. But when his doctor says that it won't ...
Voyage to Next
Character: Mother Earth (voice)
Mother Earth and Father Time converse about the choices humans make. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010....
A View from the Bridge
Character: Beatrice Carbone
Eddie Carbone, a Brooklyn longshoreman is unhappily married to Beatrice and unconsciously in love with Catherine, the niece that they have raised from childhood. Into his house come two brothers, illegal immigrants, Marco and Rodolpho. Catherine falls in love with Rudolpho; and Eddie, tormented but unable to admit even to himself his quasi-incestuous love, reports the illegal immigrants to the authorities....
All the King's Men
Character:
The life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political creature loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana, based upon the Robert Penn Warren-novel....
Lost and Found
Character: Jemmy
While visiting Switzerland, an American college professor, Adam, keeps running into a divorced British secretary, Patricia, wherever they go. First their cars collide. Then they smash into one another on a ski slope, each breaking a leg. In between numerous quarrels, the two develop lust and love. They hastily marry, but the disagreements continue. Patricia decides to leave, so Adam decides to fake a suicide. They lose and find each other, again and again....
Liberace: Behind the Music
Character: Frances Liberace
A gifted classical pianist, fueled by poverty, Wladiziu Valentino Liberace was already playing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of 17. Through a variety of his highs and lows, chaptered in TV-style format, Liberace's life from his early years through his death are chronicled....
Trilogy
Character: Mary O'Meaghan
Trilogy is an anthology film of three adaptations of Truman Capote short stories: Miriam, Among the Paths to Eden and A Christmas Memory. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France....
Tennessee Williams' South
Character:
The brutes and the belles. The gadflies and the good ol' boys. The taboos and the profound truths. They're all part of a tennessee state of mind -- a realm of places, personalities and ideas. Williams is front and center for this exploration, reading from his works, placing them in the context of his life, and serving as guide in visits to his career-shaping refuge in New Orleans and his later-day writing quarters in Key West. Also, dramatizations by distinguished actors -- including Jessica Tan...
Hello Actors Studio
Character: Self
After Lee Strasberg’s death in 1982, the most prestigious talents from the Actors Studio assumed the leadership of this exceptional organization. For the first time ever, filmmakers have been allowed to film their work....
Miss Rose White
Character: Tanta Perla
Two sisters, one a Polish concentration camp survivor, the other safely relocated to America with her father, are reunited in New York in 1947....
Queen of the Stardust Ballroom
Character: Bea Asher
A middle-aged woman finds herself simply a widow, a grandmother and a person when a friend takes her to the Stardust Ballroom, a dance hall which recreates the music and atmosphere of the 1940s. There she encounters a most unlikely Prince Charming, a middle-aged mailman. With this encounter, life takes on a new meaning for the film's heroine....
The Cosmic Eye
Character: Mother Earth (voice)
Earth is visited by a race of aliens, who issue an ultimatum: either peace or complete destruction....
Alice in Wonderland
Character: White Queen
From the elaborate Broadway revival of the 1932 Eva Le Gallienne/Florida Friebus production comes a whimsical retelling of the Lewis Carroll classic....
Sweet Lorraine
Character: Lillian Garber
Serio-comic look at the residents and staff of a Catskill Mountains resort during its final days....
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Character: Big Mama
An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son....
Last Wish
Character: Ida Rollin
A woman with cancer seeks the assistance of her daughter in fulfilling her last wish - a wish to die with dignity....
Passed Away
Character: Mary Scanlan
Thrown for a loop by the unexpected news that Dad has suddenly gone to his reward, the grieving eccentric Scanian clan are drawn together in a test of familial endurance that soon has them at each other's throats....
Night of 100 Stars II
Character: Self
This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited from a seven-hour live entertainment marathon that was taped February 17, 1985, at New York's Radio City Music Hall, this sequel to the 1982 "Night of 100 Stars" special features 288 celebrities....
The Gathering, Part II
Character: Kate Thornton
Two Christmases have passed and widow Kate Thornton has taken over Thornton Industries and is wooed by a courtly financier....
Snow Cat
Character: Grandma (voice)
A grandmother tells her young grandchild the moving tale of a lonely girl and an unforgettable magical cat in this animated short narrated by Oscar®, Emmy and Tony award winner Maureen Stapleton. The film is based on a short story written by Dayal Kaur Khalsa and adapted by two-time Governor General's award recipient Tim Wynne-Jones....
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
Character: Self
A study of Tennessee Williams's life and work as a whole, ranging from his youth in Mississippi and in St. Louis to success and acclaim, followed by the final difficult years. Includes some of the most celebrated scenes from film adaptations of Williams' work, among them extracts of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951),Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Night of the Iguana, The (1964), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1993) (TV). Contains footage of Williams being interviewed, including conversations with David...
Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman
Character: Self
Jack Lemmon made over 60 films and received numerous awards, including eight Academy Award Nominations and two Oscars. Later in life, his achievement was enriched by new challenges in which he exposed the vulnerability and emotion of the later years as few had dared. He reveled in his ongoing screen partnerships with directors like Billy Wilder and stars like Walter Matthau. Narrated on-camera by Jack Lemmon, this documentary includes interviews with Lemmon's son, the actor Chris Lemmon. Also ap...
Letters from Frank
Character: Betty Miller
When aging newspaper Editor Frank Miller is fired after decades of service and replaced by a computer, he cannot take this fate quietly. Frank becomes enraged and starts writing letters to his son, Richard, expressing his fury....
Sentimental Journey
Character: Ruthie
A precocious child has a profound effect on the lives of a successful Broadway producer and her husband....
Family Secrets
Character: Maggie Lukauer
Three generations of women spend an emotional weekend that will change them forever....
A Sunday Dinner
Character:
A homeless man and woman prepare for and enjoy a special Sunday dinner...
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Character: Self
Kermit the Frog throws a glamorous party at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub to celebrate the premiere of the Muppets' first feature film, The Muppet Movie. Hosts Dick van Dyke and Rita Moreno interview the wide array of celebrities and Muppets who attend the event. Gary Owens serves as off-camera announcer, and appears on-screen to introduce Miss Piggy....
Summer of '42
Character: Hermie's Mother (voice) (uncredited)
Over the summer of 1942 on Nantucket Island, three friends -- Hermie, Oscy and Benjie -- are more concerned with getting laid than anything else. Hermie falls in love with the married Dorothy, whose husband is an army pilot recently sent to the battlefront of World War II....
Doin' Time on Planet Earth
Character: Helium Balloon Saleslady
Ryan Richmond is an eccentric teenager living with his mother, father, sister and brother in the Holiday Inn they own in Sunnyvale, Arizona, the prune capital of the world. Is it any wonder that he wants to go to Saudi Arabaia for college and leave Sunnyvale far, far behind? He spends his days at school with his sex-obsessed best friend Dan Forrester and lusts after Lisa Winston, the sexy lounge singer who his parents have hired to perform at the Holiday Inn. Stuck without a date for his brother...
Montgomery Clift
Character: Self
A documentary incorporating footage of Montgomery Clift’s most memorable films; interviews with family and friends, and rare archival material stretching back to his childhood. What develops is the story of an intense young boy who yearned for stardom, achieved notable success in such classic films as From Here to Eternity and I Confess, only to be ruined by alcohol addiction and his inability to face his own fears and homosexual desires. Montgomery Clift, as this film portrays him, may not have...
Night of 100 Stars
Character: Self
The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The event, for which ticket-buyers paid up to $1,000 a seat (tax-deductible as a contribution to the Actors' Fund) was billed as "The Night of 100 Stars" but, actually, around 230 stars took part. And most of the audience of 5,800 had no idea in advance that they were paying to see a TV taping, complete with long waits for set and cost...
Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall
Character: Ruthie Maxwell
A down-on-his-luck writer publishes a best-selling, but lurid novel under a pseudonym and discovers that his fictional personae has suddenly appeared and taken on a life of his own....