Lois Smith (born November 3, 1930) is an American actress. She has played supporting roles in films including East of Eden, Five Easy Pieces, Resurrection, Fatal Attraction, Fried Green Tomatoes, Dead Man Walking, Tumbleweeds, Twister, and Please Give. In television she has performed on series like True Blood and Desperate Housewives.Smith is also known for her extensive work in the theatre, receiving two Tony Award nominations for originating the role of Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1990) and for the role of Halie in a revival of Buried Child in 1996. She also starred in an acclaimed Off-Broadway revival of The Trip to Bountiful in 2005 for which she received an Obie Award for Best Actress, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a Drama Desk Award. She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007 for her outstanding contributions to the theatre. In 2013 she was given a Lifetime Achievement Obie Award for excellence in Off-Broadway performance. In her career she has also taught, directed, and written for the stage.
Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.
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Currently lives on the Upper West Side of New York City. [April 2012]
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Parents are William Oren and Carrie Davis Humbert.
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Gave birth to her only child at age 27, a daughter Moon Elizabeth Smith on February 8, 1958. Child's father is her ex-husband, Wesley Smith.
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Was the original choice to play Lisa Miller on As the World Turns (1956), but was unavailable due to pregnancy. At the time, she shared the same agent with Eileen Fulton, who sent her, instead. Fulton played the character from 1960 until 2010.
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She was awarded the 2008 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actress in a Principal Role in a Play for "The Trip to Bountiful" at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
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She was nominated for a 1989 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actress in a Principal Role in a Play for "The Grapes of Wrath" at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
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Has twice been nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play): in 1990 for portraying Ma Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath", a part she recreated in the television version of the same title, American Playhouse: The Grapes of Wrath (1991); and in 1996 for Sam Shepard's "Buried Child", which was directed by her "Grapes of Wrath" co-star Gary Sinise.
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Attended and graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.
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Studied acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors' Studio.
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Once taught acting at Juilliard.
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Is an ordained minister and officiated at the wedding of actor Tim Hopper and his wife.
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Is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois.
$1.6 Million
