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Beatrice Straight

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Beatrice Straight
Straight in the period drama series Beacon Hill, 1975
Born
Beatrice Whitney Straight

(1914-08-02)August 2, 1914
Old Westbury, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 7, 2001(2001-04-07) (aged 86)
Northridge, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeWilliam Henry Lee Memorial Cemetery
OccupationActress
Years active1939–1991
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1942; div. 1949)​
​
​
(m. 1949; died 1990)​
Children3
Parent(s)Willard Dickerman Straight
Dorothy Payne Whitney
RelativesWhitney W. Straight (brother)
Michael W. Straight (brother)

Beatrice Whitney Straight (August 2, 1914 – April 7, 2001) was an American theatre, film, television and radio actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She was both an Academy Award and Tony Award winner, as well as a Primetime Emmy Award nominee.[1]

Straight made her Broadway debut in The Possessed (1939). Her other Broadway roles included Viola in Twelfth Night (1941), Catherine Sloper in The Heiress (1947) and Lady Macduff in Macbeth (1948). For her role as Elizabeth Proctor in the production of The Crucible (1953), she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. For the satirical film Network (1976), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her performance is the shortest ever to win an Academy Award for acting (at five minutes and two seconds of screen time). She also received an Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the miniseries The Dain Curse (1978). Straight also appeared as Mother Christophe in The Nun's Story (1959) and Dr. Martha Lesh in Poltergeist (1982).

Early life

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Beatrice Whitney Straight was born in Old Westbury, New York, the daughter of Dorothy Payne Whitney of the Whitney family, and Willard Dickerman Straight, an investment banker, diplomat, and career U.S. Army officer.[1] Her maternal grandfather was political leader and financier William Collins Whitney. In 1918, when Straight was four years old, her father died in France of influenza during the great epidemic while serving with the United States Army during World War I. Following her mother's remarriage to British agronomist Leonard K. Elmhirst in 1925, the family moved to Devon, England. It was there that Straight was educated at Dartington Hall and began acting in amateur theater productions. In the 1930s, she attended the Cornish School in Seattle where many of her teachers at Dartington Hall were from and to which both she and her mother became major benefactors.[2]

Career

[edit]
Straight in Patterns (1956)

Straight returned to the United States and made her Broadway debut in the play The Possessed (1939). Most of her theater work was in the classics, including Twelfth Night (1941), Macbeth (1948) and The Crucible (1953), for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

From its inception, Straight was a member of the Actors Studio, attending the class conducted three times weekly by founding member Robert Lewis; her classmates included Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Jerome Robbins, Sidney Lumet, and about 20 others.[3]

Straight was active in the early days of television, appearing in anthology series such as Armstrong Circle Theatre, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Kraft Television Theatre, Studio One, Suspense, The United States Steel Hour, Playhouse 90, and dramatic series such as Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, The Defenders, Route 66, Mission: Impossible and St. Elsewhere. Further television performances included the likes of turns in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as her role as Hippolyta in the Wonder Woman series.

Straight worked infrequently in film and is perhaps remembered best for her role as a devastated wife confronting husband William Holden's infidelity in Network (1976). Despite her character only appearing briefly onscreen, Straight was highly praised for her performance, earning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[4] Another widely seen film appearance was the role of the paranormal investigator Dr. Martha Lesh in the horror film Poltergeist (1982).

Personal life

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On February 22, 1942, Straight married Louis Dolivet, Free French Leader, in Polk County, Iowa. At the time, Dolivet was a speaker at the National Farm Institute and Straight was in the middle of the midwest road show of Twelfth Night.[5] Her mother Dorothy Elmhirst and stepfather Leonard K. Elmhirst attended the wedding with her brother Michael Straight and his wife Belinda Crompton. Dolivet was in the French Air Force until June 1940 and was the co-editor of The Free World, a magazine published by the International Free World Association, of which he was secretary general. At the time of the wedding, her elder brother, Whitney Straight, had been missing since August 1941, when his plane was shot down on the French coast.[5]

Straight obtained a divorce from Dolivet in Reno, Nevada, on May 24, 1949. Together the couple had one child:[6]

  • Willard Whitney Straight Dolivet (1945–1952)[7]

In 1948, while starring in the Broadway production of The Heiress,[8] an adaptation of Henry James's Washington Square, she met Peter Cookson. They married in 1949 and remained married until Cookson's death in 1990. Peter had two children from his previous marriage, Peter W. Cookson Jr. and Jane Coopland (née Cookson).[1] Together, Straight and Cookson had two children:[1]

  • Gary Cookson
  • Anthony "Tony" Cookson

In 1952, her 7-year-old son, Willard, from her first marriage, accidentally drowned in a pond on their farm in Armonk while playing in a small rowboat tied to the dock. The boy was found by Cookson.[7] The boy's father, Dolivet, who was living in Paris at the time, was refused a visa and, therefore, unable to fly to the United States to attend the funeral because of his alleged pro-communist activities, which he denied.[9]

Straight reportedly had Alzheimer's disease in her last years. In 2001, she died from pneumonia in Northridge, Los Angeles, at the age of 86.[1] Her interment was at William Henry Lee Memorial Cemetery in New Marlborough, Massachusetts.[citation needed]

Filmography

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Film

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Title Year Role Notes
Phone Call from a Stranger 1952 Claire Fortness
Patterns 1956 Nancy Staples
The Silken Affair 1956 Theora
The Nun's Story 1959 Mother Christophe (Sanatorium)
The Young Lovers 1964 Mrs. Burns
The Garden Party 1973 Mrs. Sheridan Short film
Network 1976 Louise Schumacher Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
The Promise 1979 Marion Hillyard
Bloodline 1979 Kate Erling
The Formula 1980 Kay Neeley
Endless Love 1981 Rose Axelrod
Poltergeist 1982 Dr. Martha Lesh
Two of a Kind 1983 Ruth
Power 1986 Claire Hastings Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress
Deceived 1991 Adrienne's Mother Final film role
From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff 2002 Self
They Are Here: The Real World of the Poltergeists 2007 Dr. Martha Lesh (uncredited) Archive footage from Poltergeist

Television

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Title Year Role Notes
With This Ring 1951 Self Season 1, Episode 4: "#1.4" ; Season 1, Episode 5: "#1.5"
Somerset Maugham TV Theatre 1951 Season 1, Episode 12: "The Treasure"
Lights Out 1951 Charlotte Season 3, Episode 36: "Grey Reminder"
Cosmopolitan Theatre 1951 Season 1, Episode 4: "Reward, One Million"
Hallmark Hall of Fame 1952 (2) Elizabeth Barrett / Louisa May Alcott Season 1, Episode 3: "Love Story"; Season 1, Episode 21: "The Magnificent Failure"
The Web 1952 Season 2, Episode 24: "Hear Footsteps"
Armstrong Circle Theatre 1952 (2) Season 2, Episode 21: "Image"; Season 3, Episode 3: "Betrayal"
Kraft Theatre 1952 (2), 1953 Season 5, Episode 42: "Thorn in the Flesh"; Season 6, Episode 10: "The Iron Gate"; Season 7, Episode 13: "Gavin"
Love Story 1954 (2) Season 1, Episode 3: "The Matchmaker"; Season 1, Episode 7: "The Yo-Yo People"
Suspense 1952, 1954 Claire Trent / Mrs. de Spain Season 4, Episode 19: "The Red Signal"; Season 6, Episode 47: "Barn Burning"
Inner Sanctum 1954 Louise Season 1, Episode 34: "Pattern of Fear"
Omnibus 1953, 1954 Goneril / ** Season 2, Episode 3: "King Lear"; Season 3, Episode 6: "Antigone"
You Are There 1954, 1955 Anne Boleyn / ** Season 2, Episode 42: "The Crisis of Anne Boleyn"; Season 3, Episode 19: "The Torment of Beethoven"
Danger 1955 Season 5, Episode 22: "The Dark Curtain"
Lamp Unto My Feet 1956 Episode aired Oct 28: "Page From a Family Album"
Studio One in Hollywood 1951 (2), 1957 Kay / ** / Pamela Baxter / Deborah Season 3, Episode 24: "The Target"; Season 3, Episode 29: "A Chill on the Wind"; Season 10, Episode 6: "Act of Mercy"; Season 10, Episode 8; "Bend in the Road"
The United States Steel Hour 1955, 1958 Daisy Jackson / Katherine Grant Season 2, Episode 17: "The Roads to Home"; Season 5, Episode 15: "Top Secret Mission"
Look Up and Live 1957 Self / Narrator Episode aired April 21: "The Way of the Cross"
The Investigator 1958 The Widow Season 1, Episode 7: "#1.7"
Playhouse 90 1958 Grace Season 3, Episode 5: "Shadows Tremble"
Play of the Week 1959 Mlle. de St. Euverte Season 1, Episode 6: "The Waltz of the Toreadors"
Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1959, 1960 Cynthia Fortnam / Ida Blythe Season 5, Episode 10: "Special Delivery"; Season 5, Episode 27: "The Cuckoo Clock"
Diagnosis: Unknown 1960 Rhoda Clarence Season 1, Episode 4: "Final Performance"
Route 66 1961, 1962, 1963 Kitty Chamberlain / Mother Teresa / Elena De Amundo Season, 1 Episode 24: "Most Vanquished, Most Victorious"; Season 2, Episode 26: "Kiss the Maiden All Forlorn"; Season 3, Episode 22; "The Cage Around Maria"
Dr. Kildare 1961 Pamela Rainey Season 1, Episode 10: "For the Living"
Naked City 1962 Ann Johns Season 3, Episode 32: "Memory of a Trolley Car"
The Doctors and the Nurses 1962 Ruth Martin Season 1, Episode 10: "The Lady Made of Stone"
The Eleventh Hour 1963 Veronica Filmore Season 1, Episode 14: "Where Have You Been, Lord Randall, My Son?"
Ben Casey 1963 Edith Bauer Season 2, Episode 2: "Rigadoon for Three Pianos"
The Defenders 1965 Mrs. Campbell Season 4, Episode 15: "Eyewitness"
Mission: Impossible 1966 Dr. Martha Richards Zubrovnik Season 1, Episode 11: "Zubrovnik's Ghost"
Felony Squad 1967 Victoria Cahill Season 2, Episode 10: "Who'll Take Care of Joey?"
Love of Life 1970 Vinnie Phillips Season 13, various episodes
Matt Lincoln 1970 Barbara Miller Season 1, Episode 8: "Doc"
The Wide World of Mystery 1973 Mother Season 1, Episode 12: "The Haunting of Rosalind"
The Borrowers 1973 Mrs. Crampfurl TV film
Beacon Hill 1975 Mrs. Hacker Season 1, Episode 1: "The Pilot"; Season 1, Episode 2: "The Colonel and the Fawn"; Season 1, Episode 3: "The Marblehead Club"; Season 1, Episode 4: "The Poor Little Thing"; Season 1, Episode 5: "The Soldiers"; Season 1, Episode 6: "The Shining Example"; Season 1, Episode 7: "The Speakeasy"; Season 1, Episode:8 "The Million Dollar Gate"; Season 1, Episode 9: "The Suitors"; Season 1, Episode 10 "The Test"; Season 1, Episode 11: "The Pretenders"
Bicentennial Minutes 1976 Self / Narrator Season 1, Episode 575: "Episode #1.575"
Straight Talk 1977 Self / Guest Episode aired March 1: "Episode dated 1 March 1977"
The Andros Targets 1977 Mrs. Bendeson Season 1, Episode 6: "Requiem for a Stolen Child, Part I"
The 49th Annual Academy Awards 1977 Self / Winner TV special
The World of Darkness 1977 Joanna Sanford TV film
Wonder Woman 1977 Hippolyta Season 2, Episode 1: "The Return of Wonder Woman"; Season 2, Episode 4: "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis"
The Mike Douglas Show 1977 Self / Guest Season 16, Episode 157: "Episode #16.157"
Killer on Board 1977 Beatrice Richmond TV film
The 50th Annual Academy Awards 1978 Self / Past Winner TV special
The Dain Curse 1978 Alice Dain Leggett miniseries;
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series
King's Crossing 1982 Louisa Beauchamp Season 1, Episode 1: "Keepers of the Ring"; Season 1, Episode 2: "Friday's Child"; Season 1, Episode 3: "Ghosts"; Season 1, Episode 4: "Triangle"; Season 1, Episode 5: "Long Ago Tomorrow"; Season 1, Episode 6: "Confusion by Cupid"; Season 1, Episode 7: "The Home Front"; Season 1, Episode 8: "Family Reunion"; Season 1, Episode 9: "One Afternoon"; Season 1, Episode 10: "Strangers"
All-Star Family Feud Special: Heroes vs. Villains 1982 Self / Celebrity Contestant TV special
Night of 100 Stars 1982 Self TV special
The Making of "Poltergeist" 1982 Self (uncredited) TV short film
Faerie Tale Theatre 1984 Queen Veronica / Woman in Museum Season 3, Episode 2: "The Princess and the Pea"
Robert Kennedy and His Times 1985 Rose Kennedy miniseries
Chiller 1985 Marion Creighton TV film
Under Siege 1986 Margaret Sloan TV film
Jack and Mike 1987 Mike's Mother Season 1, Episode 18: "Spirits in the Night"
St. Elsewhere 1988 Marjorie Andrews Season 6, Episode 18: "The Naked Civil Surgeon"; Season 6, Episode 19: "Requiem for a Heavyweight"; Season 6, Episode 20: "Split Decision"
Run Til You Fall 1988 Margaret TV film
People Like Us 1990 Maisie Verdurin TV film
8th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards 2002 Self • In Memoriam (archive footage) TV special
The 74th Annual Academy Awards 2002 Self • Memorial Tribute (archive footage) TV special
Shakespeare Uncovered 2015 Goneril (uncredited - archive footage from King Lear) Season 2, Episode 2: "King Lear with Christopher Plummer"

Selected theatre credits

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Broadway

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Title Date of Production Role Notes
Bitter Oleander Feb. 11, 1935 – Mar. 02, 1935 Spinning Girl Lyceum Theatre
The Possessed Oct. 24, 1939 – Nov. 4, 1939 Lisa Lyceum Theatre
Twelfth Night Dec. 2, 1941 – Dec. 13, 1941 Viola Little Theatre
A Happy Ending c. 1942 -/- Barbizon-Plaza Concert Hall
Land of Fame Sep. 21, 1943 – Sep. 25, 1943 Angela Belasco Theatre
Pygmalion c. 1945 as producer Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Playboy of the Western World c. 1946 as producer Booth Theatre
The Wanhope Building Feb. 9, 1947 – Feb. 16, 1947 Felina Princess Theatre
The Heiress Sep. 29, 1947 – Sep. 18, 1948 Catherine Sloper Biltmore Theatre;
Casting replacement
Eastward in Eden Nov. 18, 1947 – Nov. 29, 1947 Emily Dickinson Royale Theatre
Macbeth Mar. 31, 1948 – Apr. 24, 1948 Lady Macduff National Theatre
The Innocents Feb. 1, 1950 – Jun. 3, 1950 Miss Giddens Playhouse Theatre
The Grand Tour Dec. 10, 1951 – Dec. 15, 1951 Nell Valentine Martin Beck Theatre
The Crucible Jan. 22, 1953 – Jul. 11, 1953 Elizabeth Proctor Martin Beck Theatre;
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
Everything in the Garden Nov. 29, 1967 – Feb. 10, 1968 Mrs. Toothe Plymouth Theatre
Who Am I? 1971-1973 as director Young World Foundation Theatre Company

Off-Broadway

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Title Date of Production Role Notes
Henry IV, Part I c. 1946 as producer Century Theatre (also produced in the U.K.)
Henry IV, Part II c. 1946 as producer Century Theatre (also produced in the U.K.)
Uncle Vanya c. 1946 as producer Century Theatre (also produced in the U.K.)
Oedipus c. 1946 as producer Century Theatre (also produced in the U.K.)
The Critic c. 1946 as producer Century Theatre (also produced in the U.K.)
Sing Me No Lullaby c. 1954 -/- Phoenix Theatre
The River Line Jan. 2, 1957 - Jan. 13, 1957 Marie Chassaigne Carnegie Hall Playhouse
Phedre Feb. 10, 1966 - May 8, 1966 Phedre Greenwich Mews Theatre
Ghosts Mar. 13, 1973 - May 27, 1973 Mrs. Helene Alving Roundabout Stage II
All My Sons Sep. 27, 1974 - Nov. 17, 1974 Kate Keller Roundabout Stage (23rd Street Theatre)
Hamlet Dec. 12, 1979 - Feb. 10, 1980 Gertrude Circle Theatre

Other stage credits

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Title Date of Production Role Notes
Henry IV, Part I c. 1946 as producer The Old Vic Theatre - London, U.K. (also produced in the U.S.)
Henry IV, Part II c. 1946 as producer The Old Vic Theatre - London, U.K. (also produced in the U.S.)
Uncle Vanya c. 1946 as producer The Old Vic Theatre - London, U.K. (also produced in the U.S.)
Oedipus c. 1946 as producer The Old Vic Theatre - London, U.K. (also produced in the U.S.)
The Critic c. 1946 as producer The Old Vic Theatre - London, U.K. (also produced in the U.S.)
A Streetcar Named Desire c. 1967, 1969-1970 Blanche du Bois Berkshire Theatre Festival - Stockbridge, MA; various other U.S. cities during the production's tour
The Right Honorable Gentleman c. 1971 Mrs. Lila Rossiter The Cape Playhouse - Dennis, MA; Ogunquit Playhouse - Ogunquit, ME; various other U.S. cities during the production's tour
The Palace at 4 A.M. c. 1972 The Mother John Drew Theatre - Easthampton, NY
Old Times c. 1977 Kate Academy Festival Theatre - Lake Forest, IL

Selected radio credits

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Title Date of Production Role Notes
Great Scenes from Great Plays October 15, 1948 Elizabeth Barrett Program #3: "The Barretts of Wimpole Street"
Lights Out April 30, 1951 Charlotte Season 3, Episode 36: "Grey Reminder"
Suspense January 22, 1952 Claire Trent Season 4, Episode 19: "The Red Signal"
CBS Radio Mystery Theater March 20, 1974 Alice Emery Season 1, Episode 60: "#60 — Ghost at the Gate"
CBS Radio Mystery Theater July 25, 1974 Sybil Carter Season 1, Episode 123: "#123 — My Sister, Death"
CBS Radio Mystery Theater January 20, 1975 Mrs. Vortic Season 2, Episode 15: "#208 — The Precious Killer"
CBS Radio Mystery Theater May 12, 1975 Jesse Craig Season 2, Episode 79: "#272 — For Tomorrow We Die"
CBS Radio Mystery Theater February 26, 1976 Ellen Gardner Season 3, Episode 33: "#438 — The Providential Ghost"

Accolades

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Year Award Category Nominated work Results Ref.
1976 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress Network Won [10]
1986 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Supporting Actress Power Nominated [11]
1978 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series The Dain Curse Nominated [12]
1953 Tony Awards Distinguished Supporting or Featured Dramatic Actress The Crucible Won [13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Gussow, Mel (April 11, 2001). "Beatrice Straight, Versatile Star, Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2015. Beatrice Straight, a graceful and versatile actress who won both an Oscar and a Tony Award, died on Saturday in North Ridge, Calif. She was 86 and lived in Beverly Hills, Calif., for most of the last 10 years. ...
  2. ^ Cornish, Nellie C. Miss Aunt Nellie: the Autobiography of Nellie C. Cornish. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1964: pp 214-17.
  3. ^ Lewis, Robert (1996) [1984]. "Actors Studio, 1947". Slings and Arrows: Theater in My Life. New York City: Applause Books. p. 183. ISBN 1-55783-244-7. At the end of the summer, on Gadget's return from Hollywood, we settled the roster of actors for our two classes in what we called the Actors Studio - using the word 'studio' as we had when we named our workshop in the Group, the Group Theatre Studio... My group, meeting three times a week, consisted of Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock, Jerome Robbins, Herbert Berghof, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Anne Jackson, Sidney Lumet, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Patricia Neal, Beatrice Straight, David Wayne, and - well, I don't want to drop names, so I'll stop there. In all, there were about fifty.
  4. ^ "Beatrice Straight performance length". Serving Cinema. Archived from the original on 2017-08-06. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  5. ^ a b "BEATRICE W. STRAIGHT IS WED IN DES MOINES Sister of Lost R.A.F. Flier the Bride of Louis Dolivet, Editor". The New York Times. February 22, 1942. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  6. ^ "MRS. DOLIVET GETS DECREE As Beatrice Straight of the Stage, She Was Married in '42". The New York Times. May 25, 1949. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b "ACTRESS' SON, 7, DROWNS Willard Dolivet Found in Pool on Westchester Farm". The New York Times. September 8, 1952. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  8. ^ Fluker, Kit. "Beatrice Straight papers 1922-1987 [bulk 1968-1986]". Archives of the New York Public Library. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  9. ^ "$110,000 IN BOYS ESTATE Mother Files Papers in Case of Dolivet Child Who Drowned". The New York Times. September 12, 1952. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  10. ^ "The 49th Academy Awards (1977) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  11. ^ "The 7th Golden Raspberry Awards". Golden Raspberry Awards. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012.
  12. ^ "Beatrice Straight". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  13. ^ "The 7th Tony Awards (1953)". Tony Awards. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
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