Lee Grant
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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.
Known for
Credits
Mulholland Drive (2001)
as Louise
Damien - Omen II (1978)
as Ann Thorn
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
as Mrs. Leslie Colbert
Voyage of the Damned (1976)
as Lili Rosen
Defending Your Life (1991)
as Lena Foster
Shampoo (1975)
as Felicia Karpf
The Swarm (1978)
as Anne MacGregor
Airport '77 (1977)
as Karen Wallace
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
as Miriam Polar
Dr. T & the Women (2000)
as Dr. Harper
Visiting Hours (1982)
as Deborah Ballin
There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
as Mrs. Bullard
The Big Town (1987)
as Ferguson Edwards
Detective Story (1951)
as Shoplifter
Marooned (1969)
as Celia Pruett
Middle of the Night (1959)
as Marilyn
The Internecine Project (1974)
as Jean Robertson
The Landlord (1970)
as Joyce Enders
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (2021)
as Self
The Mafu Cage (1978)
as Ellen
Divorce American Style (1967)
as Dede Murphy
Teachers (1984)
as Dr. Donna Burke
Poor Liza (2000)
as Countess Ekaterina
Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret (1990)
as Self
Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story (1992)
as Carol Gertz
Under Heat (1994)
as Jane
Hello Actors Studio (1988)
as Self
Earth and the American Dream (1992)
as Reader (voice)
Little Miss Marker (1980)
as The Judge
It's My Party (1996)
as Amalia Stark
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968)
as Fritzie Braddock
Who Is Henry Jaglom? (1997)
as Self
Plaza Suite (1971)
as Norma Hubley
The John Garfield Story (2003)
as Self
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)
as Mrs. Sylvia Lupowitz
Storm Fear (1955)
as Edna
Citizen Cohn (1992)
as Dora Cohn
The Omen Legacy (2001)
as Self
Will There Really Be a Morning? (1983)
as Lillian Farmer
Hal (2019)
as Self
She Said No (1990)
as D.A. Doris Cantore
Ransom for a Dead Man (1972)
as Leslie Williams
The Substance of Fire (1996)
as Cora Cahn
Dangerous Citizen: The Life and Times of Abraham Polonsky (2026)
as self
For Ladies Only (1981)
as Anne Holt
Lieutenant Schuster's Wife (1972)
as Ellie Schuster
Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood (2023)
as Self
The Million Dollar Face (1981)
as Evalyna
You Can't Go Home Again (1979)
as Esther Jack
The Amati Girls (2001)
as Aunt Spendora
The Seagull (1975)
as Irina Arkadina
Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women (2014)
as Self
TVTV Looks at the Oscars (1976)
as Self
The Balcony (1963)
as Carmen
The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro (1989)
as Marilyn Klinghoffer
A Billion for Boris (1984)
as Sascha Harris
Actresses Turned Producer/Directors (2014)
Actor
The Neon Ceiling (1971)
as Carrie Miller
Perilous Voyage (1976)
as Virginia Monroe
Thou Shalt Not Kill (1982)
as Maxine Lochman
Partners in Crime (1973)
as Judge Meredith Leland
Calling the Shots (1988)
as Self
Portnoy's Complaint (1972)
as Sophie Portnoy
Plaza Suite (1982)
as Norma Hubley / Muriel Tate / Karen Nash
The Love Song of Barney Kempinski (1968)
as Laura
The Big Bounce (1969)
as Joanne
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light (2000)
as Narrator
Three Plays by Tennessee Williams (1958)
as Jane (Segment "Moony's Kid Don't Cry")
In My Daughter's Name (1992)
as Maureen Leeds
The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer (1992)
as Narrator
Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties (2001)
as Self
The Spell (1977)
as Marion Matchett
Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor (2018)
as Narrator (voice)
When Women Kill (1983)
as Herself
Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls' (2006)
as Miriam (archive footage)
Battered (1989)
as Narrator
Night Slaves (1970)
as Marjorie Howard
Why Me? (1974)
as Narrator/Self
What Are Best Friends For? (1973)
as Adele Ross
Deadlock (1967)
as Virginia Cloyd
The Good Doctor (1978)
as Various Roles
Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America (1999)
as Narrator
Tell Me a Riddle (1980)
as Flight Attendant (voice)
Pie in the Sky (1964)
as Suzy
Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval (1995)
as Narrator
Seeing is Believing: Women Direct (2017)
as Self
The World of Sholom Aleichem (1959)
as The Goatseller / Avenging Angel
An Affair of the Skin (1963)
as Katherine McCleod
Down and Out in America (1986)
as Narrator (voice)
Tribute To Burgess Meredith (2006)
as Self (voice)
What Sex Am I? (1985)
as Self
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (1979)
as Clarisse Ethridge
Going Shopping (2005)
as Winnie
Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist: None Without Sin (2003)
as Self
Truth and Lies: The Family Manson (2017)
Actor
The Willmar 8 (1981)
as Narrator
A Crime to Fit the Punishment (1982)
as Narrator
Killian & the Comeback Kids (2020)
as Ms. Hunter (voice)
Women on Trial (1992)
as Narrator
Say It, Fight It, Cure It (1997)
as Narrator/Host