Longevity and a wide selection of roles – both dream items on the serious actor’s wish list – never eluded the endearingly expressive Laurie Metcalf. Though not always front and center like many of her peers, the co-founder of Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company maintained a sturdy, pivotal presence, moving easily from the stage to film and television and back. An actress committed to the inner life of the vulnerable, the tough-willed and all those in between, Hollywood audiences came to know Metcalf’s versatile abilities when she brought out the humor and realism in TV’s Jackie
