Eileen Heckart
Acting • Born 1919-03-29 – Died 2001-12-31
Biography
Eileen Heckart was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. Born Anna Eileen Herbert, her career spanned nearly 60 years. She first became known for her role as schoolteacher Rosemary Sydney in the original 1953 cast of William Inge's play Picnic on Broadway. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the overprotective mother of a blind adult son in Butterflies Are Free, a role she originated on Broadway before playing it in the film. She often played mothers, including Rocky Graziano's mother in Somebody Up There Likes Me; the mother of a murdered child in The Bad Seed; the elderly mother of an estranged son in the PBS production of the one-act play Save Me a Place at Forest Law; the overbearing mother of the detective portrayed by George Segal in No Way to Treat a Lady; the mother of reporter Jack Stein on the 1990s television sitcom Love & War; the mother of two separate characters on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live in the 1980s and 1990s; and the meddling mother of a jilted wife (played by Diane Keaton) in The First Wives Club, her last film role. She also had a recurring role on the 1970s sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, as Mary's Aunt Flo Meredith, a famous woman reporter, which she repeated on the subsequent spin-off series, Lou Grant. In addition to her Academy Award, she also won two Emmy Awards for Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn and Love & War, and a Golden Globe Award for The Bad Seed. She also received a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 2000, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She made her final acting appearance in 2000 at age 80 in an off-Broadway production, The Waverly Gallery, in which she played the leading role of an elderly grandmother with Alzheimer's disease. Description above from the Wikipedia article Eileen Heckart, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
93 credits
Heartbreak Ridge
Movie • 1986
Little Mary Jackson
The First Wives Club
Movie • 1996
Catherine MacDuggan
Suddenly, Love
Movie • 1978
Mrs. Malloy
Bus Stop
Movie • 1956
Vera
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Movie • 1956
Ma Barbella
Burnt Offerings
Movie • 1976
Roz Allardyce
The Bad Seed
Movie • 1956
Hortense Daigle
No Way to Treat a Lady
Movie • 1968
Mrs. Brummel
Up the Down Staircase
Movie • 1967
Henrietta Pastorfield
Heller in Pink Tights
Movie • 1960
Lorna Hathaway
The Hiding Place
Movie • 1975
Katje
Butterflies Are Free
Movie • 1972
Mrs. Florence Baker
Zandy's Bride
Movie • 1974
Ma Allan
Miracle in the Rain
Movie • 1956
Grace Ullman
The Victim
Movie • 1972
Mrs. Hawkes
Hot Spell
Movie • 1958
Fan
Breathing Lessons
Movie • 1994
Mabel
My Six Loves
Movie • 1963
Ethel
White Mama
Movie • 1980
Three Bag Lady
F.D.R.: The Last Year
Movie • 1980
Eleanor Roosevelt
Stuck with Each Other
Movie • 1989
Fay Cass
Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story
Movie • 1993
Shelly
Games Mother Never Taught You
Movie • 1982
Martha Brewster
Ultimate Betrayal
Movie • 1994
Sarah McNeil
Joe Dancer: The Big Black Pill
Movie • 1981
Sister Clara
The Tree
Movie • 1969
Sally Dunning
All the Way Home
Movie • 1971
Aunt Hannah Lynch
The Sorrows of Gin
Movie • 1979
Rosemary
Wedding Band
Movie • 1974
Herman's Mother
Sunshine Christmas
Movie • 1977
Bertha Hayden
Stephen King's Golden Tales
Movie • 1993
Rose Pennywell
The Little Foxes
Movie • 1956
Birdie
A Doll's House
Movie • 1959
Kristine
The Trip to Bountiful
Movie • 1953
Jessie Mae Watts
The F.B.I. Story: The FBI Versus Alvin Karpis, Public Enemy Number One
Movie • 1974
Ma Barker
The Honeymooners Christmas Special
Movie • 1978
Mildred
Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story
Movie • 1993
Shelley
Lou Grant
TV • 1977
Alice
TV • 1976
Trapper John, M.D.
TV • 1979
Home Improvement
TV • 1991
Elaine Jenkins
The F.B.I.
TV • 1965
Mrs. Creighton
The 5 Mrs. Buchanans
TV • 1994
Mother Emma Buchanan
Hawaii Five-O
TV • 1968
Agatha Henderson
The Cosby Show
TV • 1984
Mrs. Hickson
Highway to Heaven
TV • 1984
Helen Spencer
Murder One
TV • 1995
Naked City
TV • 1958
Mildred Pepper
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Hattie Silks
Studio One
TV • 1948
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Birdie
Backstairs at the White House
TV • 1979
Eleanor Roosevelt
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Lucy Baldwin
Tales from the Darkside
TV • 1984
Rose Pennywell
Felony Squad
TV • 1966
Love & War
TV • 1992
The Fugitive
TV • 1963
Sister Veronica
Out of the Blue
TV • 1979
The Boss Angel
Switch
TV • 1975
Annie Warren
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Florie
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Ben Casey
TV • 1961
The New Breed
TV • 1961
Harriet Dawson
Suspense
TV • 1949
Mollie
CBS Playhouse
TV • 1966
Trauma Center
TV • 1983
Amy Decker
Flying High
TV • 1978
Annie McGuire
TV • 1988
Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961
Nurse Jenny Freesmith
Partners in Crime
TV • 1984
Jeanine
Naked City
TV • 1958
Virginia Cort
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Athena Partridge Royce
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Miss Green
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
The Streets of San Francisco
TV • 1972
Stella 'Stell' Charnovski
Studio One
TV • 1948
Evie Jackson
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Mabel
Ellen
TV • 1994
Grandma
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Kristine Linde
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Aunt Hannah Lynch
Play of the Week
TV • 1959
Myrtle
Suspense
TV • 1949
Margaret Quartermain
Suspense
TV • 1949
Mrs. Haskell
Suspense
TV • 1949
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Jessie Mae
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Ruthie
Barnaby Jones
TV • 1973
Virginia Lennox / Steele
Rhoda
TV • 1974
Aunt Lillian Fiedler
Kraft Television Theatre
TV • 1953
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self
Banyon
TV • 1972
Mrs. Shaw
The Ford Theatre Hour
TV • 1948
Carrie
Cybill
TV • 1995
Marge