Raised in Kansas

While in college, spent one summer singing in the chorus of operas in Center City, Colorado

Joined Pasadena Playhouse and made stage debut in "Look Back in Anger"

Made TV acting debut

Signed contract with Warner Bros.

Film debut "Five Gates to Hell"

While making the 1960 film "Ice Palace", tutored in Shakespeare by Richard Burton

Received first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs"

Early TV credit, a guest appearance on "Maverick"

Earned second Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for "Sweet Bird of Youth"

Off-Broadway debut in "Journey to the Day"

Offered role of Ophelia opposite Richard Burton's "Hamlet" and role of Irina in Actors Studio production of Chekhov's "Three Sisters"

Broadway debut in "Three Sisters" alongside Geraldine Page and Kim Stanley; replaced in film version by Sandy Dennis

Co-starred in "The Group"

TV-movie debut "The Outsider" (NBC)

Had starring role in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Rain People"

Lived in England

British stage debut in "A Touch of the Poet"

Played Georgie Elgin in a the NBC "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production of "The Country Girl"

Returned to films after a five year absence in "Juggernaut"

Earned a Tony Award as Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in "Kennedy's Children"

Co-starred alongside Alan Arkin in the CBS movie "The Defection of Simas Kudirka"

Offered a strong supporting turn as a concentration camp inmate in "Playing for Time" (CBS)

Cast as Brooke Shields' mother in "Endless Love"

Last film appearance for a decade "Sweet Scene of Death"

Won first Emmy Award playing Hope's mother in an episode of the ABC drama "thirtysomething"

Reprised her award-winning role of Hope's mother in another episode of "thirtysomething"

TV series debut as regular in the short-lived CBS series "Angel Falls"

Returned to films in "The Secret Life of Houses"

Won second Emmy as the mother of a murder victim in an episode of "NYPD Blue"

Played Peggy Buckley, a real-life pre-school owner accused of child molestation, in the acclaimed HBO movie "Indictment: The McMartin Trial"; received third Emmy Award

Played Al Franken's mother in "Stuart Saves His Family"

Co-starred with Mary Tyler Moore and Linda Lavin in the Family Channel TV-movie "Stolen Memories: Secrets From the Rose Garden"

Returned to Broadway as co-star with Rip Torn in Horton Foote's Pulitzer-winning "The Young Man From Atlanta"; received Tony nomination

Portrayed Helen Hunt's mother in "As Good As It Gets"

Appeared as Gram, the Caucasian matriarch of a biracial family in "The Wedding" (ABC)

Returned to series TV as Estelle, the mother of Faith Ford's "Maggie Winters" (CBS)

Had featured role in "Angel Eyes"

Acted in Hartford Stage production of "Necessary Targets"

Earned an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for "Desperate Housewives"