Eileen Heckart
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- March 29, 1919
- Died
- December 31, 2001 (aged 82)
- Birthplace
- Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
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.
Known For
Filmography
The First Wives Club
Movie · as Catherine MacDuggan
Murder One
TV · 6 eps
Cybill
TV · as Marge · 3 eps
Breathing Lessons
Movie · as Mabel
Ultimate Betrayal
Movie · as Sarah McNeil
The 5 Mrs. Buchanans
TV · as Mother Emma Buchanan · 17 eps
Ellen
TV · as Grandma · 1 ep
Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story
Movie · as Shelly, Shelley
Golden Tales
Movie · as Rose Pennywell
Love & War
TV · 2 eps
Home Improvement
TV · as Elaine Jenkins · 1 ep
Stuck with Each Other
Movie · as Fay Cass
Annie McGuire
TV · 11 eps
Heartbreak Ridge
Movie · as Little Mary Jackson
The Cosby Show
TV · as Mrs. Hickson · 1 ep
Highway to Heaven
TV · as Helen Spencer · 1 ep
Tales from the Darkside
TV · as Rose Pennywell · 1 ep
Partners in Crime
TV · as Jeanine · 13 eps
Trauma Center
TV · as Amy Decker · 13 eps
Games Mother Never Taught You
Movie · as Martha Brewster
Table Settings
Movie
9 to 5
TV · 1 ep
Joe Dancer: The Big Black Pill
Movie · as Sister Clara
White Mama
Movie · as Three Bag Lady
F.D.R.: The Last Year
Movie · as Eleanor Roosevelt
The Sorrows of Gin
Movie · as Rosemary
Trapper John, M.D.
TV · 1 ep
Backstairs at the White House
TV · as Eleanor Roosevelt · 4 eps
Out of the Blue
TV · as The Boss Angel · 16 eps
Suddenly, Love
Movie · as Mrs. Malloy
The Honeymooners Christmas Special
Movie · as Mildred
Flying High
TV · 1 ep
Sunshine Christmas
Movie · as Bertha Hayden
Lou Grant
TV · 1 ep
Burnt Offerings
Movie · as Roz Allardyce
Alice
TV · 2 eps
The Hiding Place
Movie · as Katje
Switch
TV · as Annie Warren · 1 ep
Zandy's Bride
Movie · as Ma Allan
Wedding Band
Movie · as Herman's Mother
The F.B.I. Story: The FBI Versus Alvin Karpis, Public Enemy Number One
Movie · as Ma Barker
Rhoda
TV · as Aunt Lillian Fiedler · 1 ep
Little House on the Prairie
TV · as Amanda Cooper · 1 ep
Barnaby Jones
TV · as Virginia Lennox / Steele · 1 ep
Butterflies Are Free
Movie · as Mrs. Florence Baker
The Victim
Movie · as Mrs. Hawkes
The Streets of San Francisco
TV · as Stella 'Stell' Charnovski · 1 ep
Banyon
TV · as Mrs. Shaw · 1 ep
All the Way Home
Movie · as Aunt Hannah Lynch
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
TV · as Flo Meredith · 1 ep
The Tree
Movie · as Sally Dunning
Hawaii Five-O
TV · as Agatha Henderson · 1 ep
No Way to Treat a Lady
Movie · as Mrs. Brummel
Up the Down Staircase
Movie · as Henrietta Pastorfield
Felony Squad
TV · 1 ep
CBS Playhouse
TV · as Janet Ferguson · 1 ep
The F.B.I.
TV · as Mrs. Creighton · 1 ep
My Six Loves
Movie · as Ethel
The Fugitive
TV · as Sister Veronica · 3 eps
Ben Casey
TV · 1 ep
The New Breed
TV · as Harriet Dawson · 1 ep
Dr. Kildare
TV · as Nurse Jenny Freesmith · 1 ep
The Mike Douglas Show
TV · as Self · 2 eps
Heller in Pink Tights
Movie · as Lorna Hathaway
A Doll's House
Movie · as Kristine
Play of the Week
TV · as Myrtle · 1 ep
Hot Spell
Movie · as Fan
Naked City
TV · as Mildred Pepper, Virginia Cort · 1 ep
Bus Stop
Movie · as Vera
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Movie · as Ma Barbella
The Bad Seed
Movie · as Hortense Daigle
Miracle in the Rain
Movie · as Grace Ullman
The Little Foxes
Movie · as Birdie
Tony Awards
TV · as Self - Nominee, Self - Winner · 1 ep
Gunsmoke
TV · as Hattie Silks, Athena Partridge Royce · 1 ep
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV · as Lucy Baldwin · 1 ep
The Trip to Bountiful
Movie · as Jessie Mae Watts
Kraft Television Theatre
TV · 1 ep
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV · as Birdie, Mabel, Kristine Linde, Aunt Hannah Lynch · 1 ep
Lux Video Theatre
TV · as Florie, Miss Green · 1 ep
Suspense
TV · as Mollie, Margaret Quartermain, Mrs. Haskell · 1 ep
Studio One
TV · as Evie Jackson · 1 ep
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV · as Jessie Mae, Ruthie · 3 eps
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Ford Theatre Hour
TV · as Carrie · 1 ep