Lee Grant
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Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, 1925) is an American actress and director. She made her film debut in 1951 as a young shoplifter in William Wyler's Detective Story, co-starring Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker. This role earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Best Actress Award at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. In 1952 she was blacklisted from most acting jobs for the next 12 years. She was able to find only occasional work onstage or as a teacher during this period. It also contributed to her divorce. She was removed from the blacklist in 1962 and rebuilt her acting career. She starred in 71 TV episodes of Peyton Place (1965–1966), followed by lead roles in films such as Valley of the Dolls, In the Heat of the Night (both 1967), and Shampoo (1975), for the last of which she won an Oscar. In 1964, she won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her performance in The Maids. During her career she was nominated for the Emmy Award seven times between 1966 and 1993, winning twice. In 1986 she directed Down and Out in America which tied for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and in the same year she also won a Directors Guild of America Award for Nobody's Child.
Known for
Credits
Mulholland Drive (2001)
as Louise
Poor Liza (2000)
as Countess Ekaterina
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
as Mrs. Leslie Colbert
Damien - Omen II (1978)
as Ann Thorn
Little Miss Marker (1980)
as The Judge
Voyage of the Damned (1976)
as Lili Rosen
Defending Your Life (1991)
as Lena Foster
Airport '77 (1977)
as Karen Wallace
Dr. T & the Women (2000)
as Dr. Harper
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
as Miriam Polar
Why Me? (1974)
as Narrator/Self
There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
as Mrs. Bullard
Visiting Hours (1982)
as Deborah Ballin
The Swarm (1978)
as Anne MacGregor
Middle of the Night (1959)
as Marilyn
Divorce American Style (1967)
as Dede Murphy
The Mafu Cage (1978)
as Ellen
Shampoo (1975)
as Felicia Karpf
The Internecine Project (1974)
as Jean Robertson
Tell Me a Riddle (1980)
as Flight Attendant (voice)
The Big Town (1987)
as Ferguson Edwards
Detective Story (1951)
as Shoplifter
Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1997)
as Self
Marooned (1969)
as Celia Pruett
It's My Party (1996)
as Amalia Stark
Teachers (1984)
as Dr. Donna Burke
The Substance of Fire (1996)
as Cora Cahn
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968)
as Fritzie Braddock
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)
as Mrs. Sylvia Lupowitz
The Landlord (1970)
as Joyce Enders
Lieutenant Schuster's Wife (1972)
as Ellie Schuster
Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story (1992)
as Carol Gertz
Earth and the American Dream (1992)
as Reader (voice)
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light (2000)
as Narrator
She Said No (1990)
as D.A. Doris Cantore
Under Heat (1994)
as Jane
Hello Actors Studio (1988)
as Self
The Big Bounce (1969)
as Joanne
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (2021)
as Self
The Spell (1977)
as Marion Matchett
The John Garfield Story (2003)
as Self
Citizen Cohn (1992)
as Dora Cohn
The Balcony (1963)
as Carmen
In My Daughter's Name (1992)
as Maureen Leeds
Ransom for a Dead Man (1972)
as Leslie Williams
Going Shopping (2005)
as Winnie
A Billion for Boris (1984)
as Sascha Harris
The Amati Girls (2001)
as Aunt Spendora
Plaza Suite (1982)
as Norma Hubley / Muriel Tate / Karen Nash
The Million Dollar Face (1981)
as Evalyna
Storm Fear (1955)
as Edna
Plaza Suite (1971)
as Norma Hubley
Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret (1990)
as Self
Hal (2019)
as Self
The Good Doctor (1978)
as Various Roles
TVTV Looks at the Oscars (1976)
as Self
Portnoy's Complaint (1972)
as Sophie Portnoy
The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer (1992)
as Narrator
You Can't Go Home Again (1979)
as Esther Jack
The World of Sholom Aleichem (1959)
as The Goatseller / Avenging Angel
For Ladies Only (1981)
as Anne Holt
Down and Out in America (1986)
as Narrator (voice)
Tribute To Burgess Meredith (2006)
as Self (voice)
Partners in Crime (1973)
as Judge Meredith Leland
Say It, Fight It, Cure It (1997)
as Narrator/Host
The Seagull (1975)
as Irina Arkadina
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1979)
as Clarisse Ethridge
Calling the Shots (1988)
as Self
The Omen Legacy (2001)
as Self
Actresses Turned Producer/Directors (2014)
Actor
Truth and Lies: The Family Manson (2017)
Actor
Night Slaves (1970)
as Marjorie Howard
Will There Really Be a Morning? (1983)
as Lillian Farmer
The Neon Ceiling (1971)
as Carrie Miller
The Love Song of Barney Kempinski (1968)
as Laura
Three Plays by Tennessee Williams (1958)
as Jane (Segment "Moony's Kid Don't Cry")
Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women (2014)
as Self
An Affair of the Skin (1963)
as Katherine McCleod
The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro (1989)
as Marilyn Klinghoffer
What Sex Am I? (1985)
as Self
Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor (2018)
as Narrator (voice)
Thou Shalt Not Kill (1982)
as Maxine Lochman
Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval (1995)
as Narrator
Pie in the Sky (1964)
as Suzy
What Are Best Friends For? (1973)
as Adele Ross
When Women Kill (1983)
as Herself
Killian & the Comeback Kids (2020)
as Ms. Hunter (voice)
Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls' (2006)
as Miriam (archive footage)
Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America (1999)
as Narrator
Women on Trial (1992)
as Narrator
Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood (2023)
as Self
Seeing is Believing: Women Direct (2017)
as Self
Perilous Voyage (1976)
as Virginia Monroe
A Crime to Fit the Punishment (1982)
as Narrator
Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties (2001)
as Self
Deadlock (1967)
as Virginia Cloyd
The Willmar 8 (1981)
as Narrator
Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist: None Without Sin (2003)
as Self
Battered (1989)
as Narrator
Dangerous Citizen: The Life and Times of Abraham Polonsky (2026)
as self