Marian Seldes

Marian Seldes
Marian Seldes, as Bertha in Giraudoux's Ondine
Born	August 23, 1928 (1928-08-23) (age 83) New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse	Julian Claman (1953-1961) Garson Kanin (1990-1999)

Marian Hall Seldes (born August 23, 1928) is an American stage, film, radio, and television actress whose career has spanned six decades and who was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Life and career

Seldes was born in New York City, the daughter of Alice "Amanda" Wadhams Hall, a socialite, and Gilbert Seldes, a journalist, author, and editor.^[1] Her uncle was journalist George Seldes. Seldes's paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and her mother was from a "prominent WASP family," the "Episcopalian blue-blooded Halls."^[2][3] Seldes had a brother, Timothy, and grew up in a creative environment, studying acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Her mother's sister, Marian Wells Hall (died 1972), was a prominent American interior decorator.^[4]

Trained for the stage, Seldes made her Broadway theatre debut in 1948 in a production of Medea. She went on to an illustrious career in which she has earned five Tony Award nominations, winning her first time out in 1967 for A Delicate Balance. In addition to performing in live theatre, Seldes began acting in television in 1952 in a Hallmark Hall of Fame production that marked the first of many guest star roles. She also has performed in a number of motion pictures and in radio plays. In the mid-sixties, Seldes recorded five albums for Folkways Records of famous works of literature.^[5] Between 1974 and 1982, she appeared in 179 episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. In 1992 she appeared as Murphy Brown's eccentric Aunt Brooke.

She has a daughter, Katharine, by her first marriage to Julian Claman. They were divorced in 1961. Seldes says that the marriage to Claman was violent. “If I sound a little vague about that marriage, it’s because I don’t understand the person in it. Me. I literally didn’t know that people could be abusive." Seldes left the marriage after her father noticed marks on Seldes' face.^[6] Seldes was married to screenwriter/playwright Garson Kanin from 1990 until his death in 1999.^[7]

At various times, Sanford Meisner, Katherine Cornell and Martha Graham taught Marian Seldes. Actor Laura Linney says, "Marian is our touchstone to those theatrical ancestors. She provides an inspiration that makes you want to reach outside of yourself to something more potent and powerful."^[8] Marian Seldes was a member of the Juilliard School of Performing Arts from 1969 to 1972. Some of Marian Seldes' students include Robin Williams, Kelsey Grammer, Kevin Kline, William Hurt and Patti LuPone.^[9] In 2002 Marian Seldes began teaching at Fordham University, Lincoln Center.

Seldes appeared in every one of the 1,809 Broadway performances of Ira Levin's play Deathtrap - a feat that earned her a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records as "most durable actress."^[10][11] Seldes is also well-known for her readings of short stories in the "Selected Shorts" series hosted by Isaiah Sheffer at New York City's Symphony Space. In December, 2008, for their annual birthday celebration to "The Master", The Noel Coward Society invited Seldes as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward's statue at New York's Gershwin Theatre, thereby commemorating the 109th birthday of Sir Noel. Marian Seldes is the recipient of a 2010 Antoinette Perry ("Tony") Lifetime Achievement Award.^[12]

Partial Listing of Marian Seldes' Work

Theatre

• The Chalk Garden (1955)
• The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1964)
• Tiny Alice (1964)
• A Delicate Balance (1966)
• Mercy Street (1969)
• Equus (1974)
• Deathtrap (1978)
• Painting Churches (1983)
• Three Tall Women (1993)
• Ivanov (1998)
• 45 Seconds from Broadway (2001)
• Dinner at Eight (2003 revival)
• Deuce (2007)
• La fille du régiment (2008)

Television

Played Mary K. Davis in Perry Mason (Case of the screaming woman). Guest Starred on Sex and the City season 1 as Mr Big's Mother. Played Christie Smith in Season 1, Episode 6 (The Bride), and Episode 27 (The Teacher) of Have Gun Will Travel. Played Betty, Ronee's mother (Wendy Malick), in one episode of Frasier, titled "Miss Right Now".

Films

• The Light in the Forest (1958)
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
• Fingers (1978)
• The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992)
• Truman (1995)
• Tom and Huck (1995)
• Affliction (1997)
• Home Alone 3 (1997)
• Digging to China (1998)
• The Haunting (1999)
• If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000)
• Duets (2000)
• Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
• Ballets Russes (2005), narrator
• August Rush (2007)
• Leatherheads (2008)
• The Visitor (2008)

Discography

• The Roan Stallion by Robinson Jeffers (1963)
• The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein (1963

Theodore Bikel: "Songs of Songs" and other Biblical Prophecies" featuring Marian Seldes as Shulamite. (1964))

• Tower Beyond Tragedy by Robinson Jeffers (1964)
• Phèdre by Jean Racine (1964)
• Prayers from the Ark: French and English Poems (1964)

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play – A Delicate Balance
• 1971 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance – Father's Day
• 1983 Outer Circle Critics Award for Best Actress in a Play - Painting Churches
• 2010 Tony Lifetime Achievement Award

Nominations

• 1971 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play – Father's Day
• 1978 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play – Deathtrap
• 1998 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play – Ivanov
• 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play – Ring Round the Moon
• 1999 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play – Ring Round the Moon
• 2001 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play – The Butterfly Collection
• 2001 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play – The Play About the Baby
• 2003 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play – Dinner at Eight
• 2006 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play – Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams

References

1. ^ Marian Seldes Biography (1928-)
2. ^ Marian Seldes to headline her latest stage return
3. ^ Marian Seldes Biography - Yahoo! Movies
4. ^ "Marian Wells Hall, Decorator, Was 76", The New York Times, 2 March 1972
5. ^ Seldes Discography at Smithsonian Folkways
6. ^ Witchel, Alex (June 14, 2010). "The 60-Year Stage Life of Marian Seldes". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/magazine/13seldes-t.html?pagewanted=3&hpw. 
7. ^ "The 60- Year Stage Life of Marian Seldes"
8. ^ "The 60-Year Stage Life of Marian Seldes
9. ^ "The 60-Year Stage Life of Marian Seldes
10. ^ "Ira Levin, Author of Hit Mystery Play Deathtrap, Dies at 78," Playbill
11. ^ "No. 4 in Long Play Runs, 'Deathtrap' Will Close," The New York Times
12. ^ http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/nominees/index.html

External links

• Marian Seldes at the Internet Broadway Database
• Marian Seldes at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Seldes, Marian
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1928-08-23
Place of birth	New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death