Posted on 03/13/2006 11:28:33 AM PST by LouAvul
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Maureen Stapleton, an Oscar-winning character actress whose subtle vulnerability and down-to-earth toughness earned her dramatic and comedic roles on stage, screen, and television, died Monday. She was 80.
The longtime smoker died from chronic pulmonary disease in the Berkshire hills town of Lenox, where she had been living, said her son, Daniel Allentuck.
Stapleton, whose unremarkable, matronly appearance belied her star personality and talent, won an Academy Award in 1981 for her supporting role as anarchist-writer Emma Goldman in Warren Beatty's "Reds," about a left-wing American journalist who journeys to Russia to cover the Bolshevik Revolution.
To prepare for the role, Stapleton said she tried reading Goldman's autobiography, but soon chucked it out of boredom.
"There are many roads to good acting," Stapleton, known for her straightforwardness, said in her 1995 autobiography, "Hell of a Life." "I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake."
Stapleton was nominated several times for a supporting actress Oscar, including for her first film role in 1958's "Lonelyhearts"; "Airport" in 1970; and Woody Allen's "Interiors" in 1978.
Her other film credits include the 1963 musical "Bye Bye Birdie" opposite Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke, "Johnny Dangerously," "Cocoon," "The Money Pit" and "Addicted to Love."
In television, she earned an Emmy for "Among the Paths to Eden" in 1967. She was nominated for "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom" in 1975; "The Gathering" in 1977; and "Miss Rose White" in 1992.
Brought up in a strict Irish Catholic family with an alcoholic father, Stapleton left home in Troy, N.Y., right after high school. With $100 to her name, she came to New York and began studying at the Herbert Berghof Acting School and later at the Actor's Studio, which turned out the likes of Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Julia Roberts.
Stapleton soon made her Broadway debut in Burgess Meredith's 1946 production of "The Playboy of the Western World."
At age 24, she became a success as Serafina Delle Rose in Tennessee Williams' Broadway hit "The Rose Tattoo," and won a Tony Award. She appeared in numerous other stage productions, including Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Attic" and Neil Simon's "The Gingerbread Lady," for which she won her second Tony in 1971.
She starred opposite Laurence Olivier in Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Stapleton's friendship with Williams was well-known and he wrote three plays for her, but she never appeared in any of them.
Along the way, she led a chaotic personal life, which her autobiography candidly described as including two failed marriages, numerous affairs, years of alcohol abuse and erratic parenting for her two children.
She often said auditioning was hard for her, but that it was just a part of acting, a job "that pays."
"When I was first in New York there was a girl who wanted to play 'St. Joan' to the point where it was scary. ... I thought 'Don't ever want anything that bad," she recalled. "Just take what you get and like it while you do it, and forget it."
Cast throughout her career in supporting roles, Stapleton was content not playing a lead character, Allentuck said.
"I don't think she ever had unrealistic aspirations about her career," he said.
Beside Allentuck, Stapleton is survived by a daughter, Katharine Bambery, of Lenox and a brother, Jack Stapleton, of Troy, N.Y.
Such as, her history as a smoker. (Interesting that they would include it.)
And the comments about Reds.
To prepare for the role, Stapleton said she tried reading Goldman's autobiography, but soon chucked it out of boredom. "There are many roads to good acting," Stapleton, known for her straightforwardness, said in her 1995 autobiography, "Hell of a Life." "I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake."
Gratuitous and useless opportunistic exploitation by the tiny controlling a****les among us.
At 80, she obviously died of old age.
At least in my reality.
May she rest in peace.
She was respected and enjoyed by millions...
I really liked her in "The Gathering". May God bless her.
My wife's grandmother died on 7-4-04. She died of lung cancer, she was 86. She smoked a half a pack a day and drank a fifth of Johnny Walker Black a week form when she was 17 until 3 days before she died. At 86. Sounds like a good run to me.
A friend of mine says that her goal is not to arrive quietly at her grave in a thin, well-preserved body. Instead she intends to come sliding in sidways, a chocolate bar in one hand and champagne in the other, her body totally used up and worn out, screaming, "Woooooo-hooooo! What a ride!"
She was a great actress and a great lady. I truly hope she finds the peace she deserves.
The poor, put-out wife she played in Plaza Suite, I will never forget how she orders roast beef for hub Walter Matthau, BEGS the guy in the kitchen to get it right, which of course, he doesn't. Leading to her to finally get the truth out in the open.
And she was hysterical in Johnny Dangerously, quirky with an Irish brogue!
I just saw a re-run of that and was about to add that very thing in my post when I thought "Nah!". In any event, here's the link at IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076067/
Some treat their boddies as a temple. I treat mine as an amusement park.
She was also quite good with the small part she had in "Airport," I thought. The character was so devastated when she thought her husband left her, then she wept uncontrollably when she realized it was he who nearly brought down the plane. Pretty powerful.
LOL!
Stifle??
I thought she was great in "Bye Bye Birdie."
"Bless the saints, it's an ashtray! I've been thinking of taking up smoking. This clinches it!"
Wrong Stapleton. Jean Stapleton played Edith on "All in the Family" She is still alive.
I inferred that she had been ill for some time. I have no idea of what her condition was, but being tied to an oxygen bottle or gasping for breath does not sound like a good way to live.
My mother-in-law just turned 81. She can't walk, talk, sit without flopping over or toilet herself. Can't tell how much cognitive function goes on. Just because your body is still "alive" doesn't mean you're living.
I think it's appropriate to mention whether someone was a smoker if they die of pulmonary disease or its complications. It was interesting to note that Dana Reeve never smoked though she died of lung cancer.
Are there any actors today who have such a wonderful attitude toward their craft?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.