Tall, luminous and leonine, the legendary Colleen Dewhurst must go down as one of the theater's finest contemporary tragediennes of the late 1900s. With trademark dusky tones and a majestically careworn appearance, she possessed an inimitable down-to-earth fierceness that not only earned her the title "Queen of Off-Broadway" but allowed her to put a fiery and formidable stamp on a number of 'Eugene O'Neill , finally arrived in bookstores in 1997.
Died just two days prior to winning the fourth Emmy of her career, this one for her guest appearance as "Murphy Brown" s mother.
From 1985-1991, she served as the president of Actors Equity.
Married George C. Scott twice.
Won four Emmys total - two of them for the same character on TVs "Murphy Brown" , as well as winning two of them at the 1989 awards show.
Her autobiography was published posthumously in 1997, completed by Tom Viola.
Her father, Fred, played for the CFLs Ottawa Roughriders and was instrumental in bringing amateur hockey to Ottawa.
An only child.
Was captain of her seventh-grade girls baseball team.
Studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.
Won two Obie Awards and two Tony Awards.
In June 1988, she played Mary Tyrone in "Long Days Journey into Night" on Broadway opposite her son, Campbell Scott , as Edmund Tyrone.
20 October 2001, the Northern Westchester Center of the Arts Theater (Mt. Kisco, NY) was re-dedicated the Colleen Dewhurst Theater.
She was raised in the U.S. from the age of 13, although it is unclear if she ever took U.S. citizenship.
Won two Tony Awards: in 1961, as Best Supporting or Featured Actress for "All the Way Home" and in 1974, as Best Actress for "A Moon for the Misbegotten." She also received six other Tony nominations: as Best Actress , in 1962 for "Great Day in the Morning," in 1964 for "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe," in 1968 for "More Stately Mansions," in 1972 for "All Over," and in 1973 for "Mourning Becomes Electra," and as Best Actress (Play), in 1977 for "Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".
Ex-stepmother of Devon Scott.
In order to explain her death of her reoccurring character, Marilla Cuthbert, on "Road to Avonlea" , clips of her death scene from the TV movie Lantern Hill were used. The Avonlea episode was dedicated to her.
She was nominated for a 1973 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Guest Artist for her performance in the play, "A Moon for the Misbegotten" at the Academy Festival Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1990, as president of Equity, she became embroiled in the unions dispute with the producer Cameron Mackintosh over whether actor Jonathan Pryce should be allowed to perform the role of a Eurasian pimp that he created in the London production of "Miss Saigon" when the show opened on Broadway. The union first barred Mr. Pryce and then reversed its decision, and he went on to win the Tony Award as best actor in a musical. In announcing the ban on Mr. Pryce and her support for the unions declaration that it was inappropriate in 1990 for a Caucasian actor to portray a Eurasian, she was widely criticized for her statement and her stand.
Her companion for nearly twenty years was Ken Marsolais, an independent producer who mounted such shows as "Ned and Jack" (which Dewhurst directed both off and on Broadway). He and Dewhurst met when he was brought in as assistant stage manager on "A Moon for the Misbegotten" in 1973.
Was on the executive boards of the Actors Fund of America and Save the Theatres, a movement to keep existing Broadway houses from being destroyed.
Gave birth to her 1st child at age 36, a son Alexander Robert Scott in August 1960. Childs father is her 2nd ex-husband, George C. Scott.
Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 37, a son Campbell Scott on July 19, 1961. Childs father is her 2nd ex-husband, George C. Scott.
She was awarded the 1974 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Performance for her role in the play, "A Moon for the Misbegotten," at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
We should try to bring to any power what we have as women. We will destroy it all if we try to imitate that absolutely unfeeling driving ambition that we have seen coming at us across the desk. .
