Lee Grant
Acting • Born 1925-10-31
Biography
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.
Filmography
136 credits
Mulholland Drive
Movie • 2001
Louise
Valley of the Dolls
Movie • 1967
Miriam Polar
In the Heat of the Night
Movie • 1967
Mrs. Leslie Colbert
Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood
Movie • 2023
Self
Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval
Movie • 1995
Narrator
Dr. T & the Women
Movie • 2000
Dr. Harper
Damien - Omen II
Movie • 1978
Ann Thorn
Detective Story
Movie • 1951
Shoplifter
Shampoo
Movie • 1975
Felicia Karpf
Teachers
Movie • 1984
Dr. Donna Burke
Airport '77
Movie • 1977
Karen Wallace
Defending Your Life
Movie • 1991
Lena Foster
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
Movie • 1968
Fritzie Braddock
There Was a Crooked Man...
Movie • 1970
Mrs. Bullard
Actresses Turned Producer/Directors
Movie • 2014
Marooned
Movie • 1969
Celia Pruett
Poor Liza
Movie • 2000
Countess Ekaterina
TVTV Looks at the Oscars
Movie • 1976
Self
Plaza Suite
Movie • 1971
Norma Hubley
The Landlord
Movie • 1970
Joyce Enders
Little Miss Marker
Movie • 1980
The Judge
The Swarm
Movie • 1978
Anne MacGregor
Visiting Hours
Movie • 1982
Deborah Ballin
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
Movie • 1981
Mrs. Sylvia Lupowitz
The Spell
Movie • 1977
Marion Matchett
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
Movie • 1979
Clarisse Ethridge
Storm Fear
Movie • 1955
Edna
Voyage of the Damned
Movie • 1976
Lili Rosen
The Internecine Project
Movie • 1974
Jean Robertson
Why Me?
Movie • 1974
Narrator/Self
Middle of the Night
Movie • 1959
Marilyn
The Big Bounce
Movie • 1969
Joanne
The Balcony
Movie • 1963
Carmen
The Substance of Fire
Movie • 1996
Cora Cahn
The Amati Girls
Movie • 2001
Aunt Spendora
You Can't Go Home Again
Movie • 1979
Esther Jack
Night Slaves
Movie • 1970
Marjorie Howard
The Love Song of Barney Kempinski
Movie • 1968
Laura
Will There Really Be a Morning?
Movie • 1983
Lillian Farmer
What Are Best Friends For?
Movie • 1973
Adele Ross
Lieutenant Schuster's Wife
Movie • 1972
Ellie Schuster
Hello Actors Studio
Movie • 1988
Self
Portnoy's Complaint
Movie • 1972
Sophie Portnoy
Deadlock
Movie • 1967
Virginia Cloyd
Three Plays by Tennessee Williams
Movie • 1958
Jane (Segment "Moony's Kid Don't Cry")
The Neon Ceiling
Movie • 1971
Carrie Miller
Calling the Shots
Movie • 1988
Self
Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America
Movie • 1999
Narrator
Say It, Fight It, Cure It
Movie • 1997
Narrator/Host
Tell Me a Riddle
Movie • 1980
Flight Attendant (voice)
The Mafu Cage
Movie • 1978
Ellen
The Big Town
Movie • 1987
Ferguson Edwards
The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer
Movie • 1992
Narrator
Seeing is Believing: Women Direct
Movie • 2017
Self
Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret
Movie • 1990
Self
A Billion for Boris
Movie • 1984
Sascha Harris
For Ladies Only
Movie • 1981
Anne Holt
Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties
Movie • 2001
Self
A Crime to Fit the Punishment
Movie • 1982
Narrator
The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro
Movie • 1989
Marilyn Klinghoffer
She Said No
Movie • 1990
D.A. Doris Cantore
Tribute To Burgess Meredith
Movie • 2006
Self (voice)
It's My Party
Movie • 1996
Amalia Stark
Hal
Movie • 2019
Self
Pie in the Sky
Movie • 1964
Suzy
Going Shopping
Movie • 2005
Winnie
Ransom for a Dead Man
Movie • 1972
Leslie Williams
Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story
Movie • 1992
Carol Gertz
Perilous Voyage
Movie • 1976
Virginia Monroe
The Willmar 8
Movie • 1981
Narrator
Plaza Suite
Movie • 1982
Norma Hubley / Muriel Tate / Karen Nash
When Women Kill
Movie • 1983
Herself
What Sex Am I?
Movie • 1985
Self
Citizen Cohn
Movie • 1992
Dora Cohn
Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor
Movie • 2018
Narrator (voice)
Women on Trial
Movie • 1992
Narrator
An Affair of the Skin
Movie • 1963
Katherine McCleod
Earth and the American Dream
Movie • 1992
Reader (voice)
In My Daughter's Name
Movie • 1992
Maureen Leeds
The John Garfield Story
Movie • 2003
Self
Divorce American Style
Movie • 1967
Dede Murphy
Thou Shalt Not Kill
Movie • 1982
Maxine Lochman
Partners in Crime
Movie • 1973
Judge Meredith Leland
The Million Dollar Face
Movie • 1981
Evalyna
Killian & the Comeback Kids
Movie • 2020
Ms. Hunter (voice)
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light
Movie • 2000
Narrator
The Seagull
Movie • 1975
Irina Arkadina
Battered
Movie • 1989
Narrator
Down and Out in America
Movie • 1986
Narrator (voice)
Under Heat
Movie • 1994
Jane
The Good Doctor
Movie • 1978
Various Roles
Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
Movie • 2014
Self
Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist: None Without Sin
Movie • 2003
Self
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
Movie • 1997
Self
The World of Sholom Aleichem
Movie • 1959
The Goatseller / Avenging Angel
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster
Movie • 2021
Self
Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls'
Movie • 2006
Miriam (archive footage)
The Omen Legacy
Movie • 2001
Self
Truth and Lies: The Family Manson
Movie • 2017
Inside the Actors Studio
TV • 1994
Self
Empty Nest
TV • 1988
The Mod Squad
TV • 1968
Studio One
TV • 1948
Emily Brooks
Mission: Impossible
TV • 1966
Susan Buchanan
The Ray Bradbury Theater
TV • 1985
Backstairs at the White House
TV • 1979
Grace Coolidge
The Fugitive
TV • 1963
Millie Hallop
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
TV • 1963
Virginia Cloyd
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Rosemary
Judd for the Defense
TV • 1967
Peyton Place
TV • 1964
Stella Chernak
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
ABC Stage 67
TV • 1966
Laura
Ben Casey
TV • 1961
Fay
TV • 1975
Fay Stewart
Playwrights '56
TV • 1955
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
TV • 1973
Self
The Defenders
TV • 1961
Norma Burgess
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
The Defenders
TV • 1961
Maria Edwards
Intimate Portrait
TV • 1993
Self
Mussolini: The Untold Story
TV • 1985
Rachele Mussolini
ABC Stage 67
TV • 1966
Ruth
The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968
Self - Guest
The Name of the Game
TV • 1968
Edwina Booker
Bare Essence
TV • 1982
Ava Marshall
Wedden, dat..?
TV • 1986
Self
Dinah!
TV • 1974
Self
Great Performances
TV • 1971
Irina Arkadina
Great Performances
TV • 1971
Ironside
TV • 1967
Francesca Kirby
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self
Festival
TV • 1963
Lizzie
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
People's Choice Awards
TV • 1975
Self
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
TV • 1968
Self