Nationality: Canadian
Birthdate: 06/03/1926
Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Death Date: 08/22/1991
Award-winning stage and TV performer whose regal presence has made her a leading interpreter of American playwrights from Eugene O'Neill to Edward Albee. Frequently cast as sensual, earth-mother types, Dewhurst first won acclaim on Broadway as James Agee's mother in Tad Mosel's adaptation of Agee's "A Death in the Family" and "All the Way Home" (1961). Though she has appeared in relatively few films, she was memorable as Annie's superbly WASP-y mother in "Annie Hall" (1977). Dewhurst also played Candice Bergen's mother in the popular TV comedy series "Murphy Brown".
Family left Canada when Dewhurst was a child, moving first to Boston and later to Milwaukee
Resolved to become a pilot and later a journalist before considering an acting career
1946
Stage debut while a student in "The Royal Family" at the Carnegie Lyceum
1952
Broadway stage debut (a bit part as a dancer) in Harold Clurman's revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms"
1956
Acted the roles of Gertrude in "Hamlet", Kate in "The Taming of the Shrew", Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra in Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in Central Park productions; acted several times opposite future husband George C. Scott
