Lois Smith
Acting • Born 1930-11-03
Biography
Lois Arlene Smith (née Humbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film East of Eden, and later played supporting roles in a number of movies, including Five Easy Pieces (1970), Resurrection (1980), Fatal Attraction (1987), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Dead Man Walking, Twister (1996), Minority Report (2002), The Nice Guys (2016) and Lady Bird (2017). In 2017, Smith received critical acclaim for her leading performance in the science-fiction drama film Marjorie Prime, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards and Saturn Award, and well as won Satellite Award. Smith also has had many roles on television, both daytime and prime time. She was regular cast member in the HBO horror drama True Blood, and well as received Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series nomination for The Americans. Smith also is 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. Smith is an ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lois Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
135 credits
Minority Report
Movie • 2002
Dr. Iris Hineman
East of Eden
Movie • 1955
Anne
Hollywoodland
Movie • 2006
Helen Bessolo
Twister
Movie • 1996
Aunt Meg
Dead Man Walking
Movie • 1995
Helen's Mother
Holy Matrimony
Movie • 1994
Orna
Sweet Land
Movie • 2005
Inge (as an older woman)
Next Stop, Greenwich Village
Movie • 1976
Anita Cunningham
How to Make an American Quilt
Movie • 1995
Sophia
P.S.
Movie • 2004
Ellie Silverstein
Five Easy Pieces
Movie • 1970
Partita Dupea
A Dog Year
Movie • 2009
Lois Blair
Turn the River
Movie • 2008
Abby
Skylark
Movie • 1993
Lou Wheaton
The Uninvited
Movie • 2025
Helen
Iron Jawed Angels
Movie • 2004
Reverend Anna Howard Shaw
Black Widow
Movie • 1987
Sara
The Odd Life of Timothy Green
Movie • 2012
Aunt Mel
The Eternal
Movie • 1998
Mrs. Ferriter
Little Fugitive
Movie • 2006
Elizabeth
The Best Thief in the World
Movie • 2004
Helen
Roadie
Movie • 2012
Mom
Strange Lady in Town
Movie • 1955
Spurs O'Brien
Twisted
Movie • 1985
Helen Giles
The Donner Party
Movie • 1992
voice
The Execution of Raymond Graham
Movie • 1985
Mary Neal
Doubletake
Movie • 1985
Sarah
Fried Green Tomatoes
Movie • 1991
Mama Threadgoode
Showing Up
Movie • 2014
Self
Dragon Country
Movie • 1970
Woman (segment "Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen")
Red Betsy
Movie • 2003
Helen Rounds
Hello Actors Studio
Movie • 1988
Self
Little Fugitive
Movie • 2006
Social Worker
Coney Island
Movie • 1991
(voice)
Falling Down
Movie • 1993
D-Fens' Mother
The Steel Harp
Movie
Hanna
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Movie • 1967
Evelyn
The Laramie Project
Movie • 2002
Lucy Thompson
Please Give
Movie • 2010
Mrs. Portman
James Dean: Sense Memories
Movie • 2005
Self
Run All Night
Movie • 2015
Margaret Conlon
The House of Mirth
Movie • 1981
Bertha Dorset
Green Card
Movie • 1990
Brontë's Mother
Powder Keg
Movie • 2001
Mother
Fatal Attraction
Movie • 1987
Martha
Larger Than Life
Movie • 1996
Luluna
The Nice Guys
Movie • 2016
Mrs. Glenn
Griffin & Phoenix
Movie • 2006
Dr. Imberman
Resurrection
Movie • 1980
Kathy
Marjorie Prime
Movie • 2017
Marjorie
Particular Men
Movie • 1972
The Comedian
Movie • 2016
Miriam
The Man Who Came Out Only at Night
Movie • 2013
The Youngest Daughter (later)
Hard Promises
Movie • 1992
Mrs. Bell
Lady Bird
Movie • 2017
Sister Sarah Joan
Reuben, Reuben
Movie • 1983
Mare Spofford
Foxes
Movie • 1980
Mrs. Axman
Truman
Movie • 1995
Madge Wallace Gates
Up the Sandbox
Movie • 1972
Elinore
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
Movie • 2021
Upshur 'Maw' Clampette
Tumbleweeds
Movie • 1999
Ginger
The Pledge
Movie • 2001
Helen Jackson
The Gettysburg Address
Movie • 2025
Elizabeth Crawford (voice)
The Master Builder
Movie • 1960
Hilda
Uncle Frank
Movie • 2020
Aunt Butch
Midnight Run
Movie • 1988
Mrs. Nelson, Mardukas's Friend
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Movie • 1980
Cornelia
Deadly Matrimony
Movie • 1992
Tesla
Movie • 2020
The Grande Dame
Four Friends
Movie • 1981
Mrs. Carnahan
White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd
Movie • 1991
Alice Todd
The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America
Movie • 2020
Harper Pitt
The Grapes of Wrath
Movie • 1991
Ma Joad
Mack & Rita
Movie • 2022
Betty
Reckless
Movie • 1984
Mrs. Prescott
The Way We Live Now
Movie • 1970
Jane Aldridge
Keep the Change
Movie • 1992
Lureen
Hudson River Blues
Movie • 1997
Diminished Capacity
Movie • 2008
Belle
Lightning Bug
Movie • 2025
Lydia
On the End
Movie • 2025
Trudie Ferreira
Spenser: For Hire
TV • 1985
thirtysomething
TV • 1987
Touched by an Angel
TV • 1994
Mildred Mancini
Cold Case
TV • 2003
Fannie
Route 66
TV • 1960
Tales of the Unexpected
TV • 1979
Sara
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV • 1999
Rebecca Tolliver
Naked City
TV • 1958
Dawn Garrison
Frasier
TV • 1993
Moira
LAX
TV • 2004
Rose Sinclair
Studio One
TV • 1948
Lisa Molloy
The Equalizer
TV • 1985
Marie Ganucci
Just Shoot Me!
TV • 1997
Libby
ER
TV • 1994
Gracie
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
TV • 2001
Betty Bennett
True Blood
TV • 2008
Adele Stackhouse
Matinee Theater
TV • 1955
Law & Order
TV • 1990
Eunice Varick
CBS Playhouse
TV • 1966
Robert Montgomery Presents
TV • 1950
Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961
Libby Clayton
The Defenders
TV • 1961
Esther Terranova
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Jenny Musgrave
Startime
TV • 1959
Younger
TV • 2015
Belinda Lacroix
Mom
TV • 2013
Claire
Grey's Anatomy
TV • 2005
Mrs. Dickerson
The Hire
TV • 2001
Mother
Rage of Angels
TV • 1983
Clara
9JKL
TV • 2017
Wrong Nana
A Will of their Own
TV • 1998
Miss Maude
American Experience
TV • 1988
(voice)
Impulse
TV • 2018
Deirdre 'Dippy' Jones
Route 66
TV • 1960
Dana
The United States Steel Hour
TV • 1953
Jeannie
Ruth & Erica
TV • 2012
Ruth
Gossip Girl
TV • 2021
Iris Lefferts
Law & Order: Organized Crime
TV • 2021
Doris 'Mama' Boone
On Becoming a God in Central Florida
TV • 2019
Mimi Waldenstock
Ray Donovan
TV • 2013
Dolores
The Blacklist
TV • 2013
Lucy Game
Grace and Frankie
TV • 2015
Mrs. Hanson
Desperate Housewives
TV • 2004
Allison Scavo
Route 66
TV • 1960
Lucy Brown
Sneaky Pete
TV • 2015
Reverend Ethel Landry
The Equalizer
TV • 1985
Dorothy Hermes
Good Sports
TV • 1991
The Americans
TV • 2013
Betty Turner
This Fool
TV • 2022
Beverly
The Practice
TV • 1997
Mary Beth Berluti
Army Wives
TV • 2007
Elsie
Switched at Birth
TV • 1991
Margaret
Elsbeth
TV • 2024
Delores Feinn
The Affair
TV • 2014
Mrs. Gunther