Lois Smith

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Lois Smith at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017

Lois Smith (born November 3, 1930 in Topeka , Kansas ; actually Lois Arlene Humbert ) is an American actress .

life and career

Lois Smith was born in the US state of Kansas, the youngest of six children. After dropping out of her studies at the University of Washington , she received her acting training in the early 1950s with Lee Strasberg at the renowned New York Actors Studio . She made her debut on Broadway in 1952 in the comedy Time Out for Ginger , and the following year she appeared on television in an episode of the Kraft Television Theater . She got her first film role in 1955 from star director Elia Kazan , who cast Lois Smith as a youthful brothel waitress in his classic film Beyond Eden alongside James Dean .

As a result, she mainly focused on her theater career on Broadway. She played, among other things, in the world premiere of the play Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams . She also took on leading roles in several television adaptations of classic plays such as Baumeister Solness and Miss Julie . She was twice for a Tony Award nomination: 1990 for her role as Ma Joad in the dramatization of The Grapes of Wrath , 1996 for her role in Buried Child by Sam Shepard . Her appearance in a revival of Horton Foote's play A Trip to Bountiful in 2005 was also very successful , for which she received numerous important theater awards such as the Drama Desk Award and the Obie Award . For her life's work at the theater, Smith received another Obie Award and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame . She is a longtime member of the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago.

In addition to her theater work, Smith appeared again in later years as a film and television actress. She received for her role in Five Easy Pieces of Bob Rafelson in 1970 the National Society of Film Critics Award . She also gained great fame with the film Twister (1996), where she played the role of Aunt Meg alongside Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton . Between 2008 and 2011, she played the role of grandmother Adele Hale Stackhouse on the HBO television series True Blood . In the seventh season of Desperate Housewives , she took on the role of Tom Scavo's mother for several episodes. In 2017 she received stellar reviews for her portrayal of a demented woman in Marjorie Prime talking to a robotic version of her deceased husband. She received the award for Best Supporting Actress for Marjorie Prime at the Satellite Awards 2017 . Also in 2017, she played a nun in the five Academy Award-nominated Lady Bird . Despite her advanced age, Smith has been involved in several film and television productions each year in recent years.

Smith was married to teacher Wesley Dale Smith from 1948 until their divorce in 1970 and has one child. She is an ordained priestess.

Filmography (selection)

Awards and nominations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Critic's Notebook: In 'Marjorie Prime,' Lois Smith Gets Her Greatest Screen Role . In: The Hollywood Reporter . ( hollywoodreporter.com [accessed March 5, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Amy Nicholson: Lois Smith On 'Marjorie Prime', A Life Lived On Stage And Screen And Her Limitless Hunger For New Roles . In: Deadline . November 15, 2017 ( deadline.com [accessed March 5, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Entry at filmreference.com
  4. ↑ Lois Smith. Retrieved July 4, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Gordon Cox: 'Get Out' Leads 2017 Gotham Awards Nominations In: Variety, October 19, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Lois
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Humbert, Lois Arlene (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Topeka , Kansas , United States