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Blythe Danner

Milestones

  • Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Birthday: February 3, 1943
  • 2006

    Co-starred in "The Last Kiss" directed by Tony Goldwyn and scripted by Paul Haggis

  • 2006

    Earned an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for "Will & Grace"

  • 2004

    Reprised her role as Dina Byrnes for the comedy sequel "Meet the Fockers"

  • 2004

    Starred as Hank Azaria's mother in the Showtime drama "Huff"

  • 2004

    Starred in the TV movie "Back When We Were Grownups" (CBS); received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Mini Series or TV movie

  • 2003

    Portrayed Sylvia Plath's mother opposite her real life daughter Gwyneth Paltrow in "Sylvia"

  • 2002

    Cast as Corinne Mulvaney in the Lifetime drama "We Were The Mulvaney's"

  • 2002

    Cast as Dr. Harriet Lanning in the short-lived CBS medical drama "Presidio Med"

  • 2001

    Cast as Phyllis in the all-star Broadway revival of "Follies", featuring Judith Ivey, Treat Williams and Gregory Harrison; received Tony nomination

  • 2001

    Cast in the recurring role as Will's mother on the NBC comedy "Will & Grace"; earned an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actress in 2005

  • 2001

    Played the mother of Cameron Diaz and Jordana Brewster in "The Invisible Circus"

  • 2000

    Appeared as Robert De Niro's wife in "Meet the Parents"

  • 1999

    Co-starred with Edward Herrmann in a staged reading of A R Gurney's "Ancestral Voices"

  • 1999

    Played Kate Capshaw's mother in "The Love Letter"

  • 1998

    Co-starred in "Anne Tyler's 'Saint Maybe'" (CBS), a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production

  • 1998

    Had lead role in ill-fated revival of "The Deep Blue Sea"

  • 1998

    Hosted "Sophisticated Ladies: Charleston and Savannah With Blythe Danner" (PBS)

  • 1998

    Played a Janet Reno-like character in a cameo in "The X-Files"

  • 1998

    Provided the voice of the title character, a crime-solving tiger cat in "Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery" (ABC)

  • 1998

    Starred as a woman who accidentally killed her daughter in the taut drama "The Farmhouse"; screened at Gen Art Film Festival; aired on Sundance Channel in 1999

  • 1997

    Cast as a Holocaust survivor in "A Call to Remember", aired on Starz! and Encore

  • 1997

    Portrayed the matriarch of a troubled family in "The Myth of Fingerprints"; screened at Sundance; Roy Scheider co-starred as the family patriarch

  • 1997

    Voiced Martha Jefferson in the PBS documentary "Thomas Jefferson", directed by Ken Burns

  • 1997

    Was one of the museum employees taken hostage by a disgruntled former security guard (John Travolta) in "Mad City"

  • 1995

    Appeared Off-Broadway in A R Gurney's stage comedy "Sylvia"

  • 1994

    Had featured role in the CBS miniseries "Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All"

  • 1994

    Portrayed Arkadina in Williamstown production of "The Seagull" with daughter Gwyneth Paltrow as Nina

  • 1992

    Played Juliette Lewis' mother in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives"

  • 1992

    Played the victim of a an attempted murder who begins to suspect her son of the crime in the NBC miniseries "Cruel Doubt"; daughter Gwyneth Paltrow played her onscreen daughter

  • 1991

    Acted alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in "Picnic" at Williamstown Theatre Festival

  • 1991

    Gave a fine performance as Nick Nolte's wife in "The Prince of Tides"

  • 1990

    Cast as the mother of a child molested by a priest in the HBO drama "Judgment"

  • 1990

    Second film with Woody Allen, "Alice"

  • 1990

    Supported Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in the Merchant Ivory production "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge"

  • 1988

    Appeared in Woody Allen's "Another Woman"

  • 1988

    Appeared opposite Kevin Kline in the New York Shakespeare Festival's summer production of "Much Ado About Nothing" in NYC's Central Park

  • 1988

    Earned Tony nomination as Blanche Du Bois in a stage revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire"

  • 1988

    Played the co-owner of a NYC restaurant in the NBC drama "Tattinger's"; series was cancelled after a brief run and retooled as a sitcom called "Nick & Hillary" (NBC, 1989) which lasted only a handful of episodes

  • 1987

    Co-starred with Richard Chamberlain and Judith Ivey in a revival of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit"; played Elvira

  • 1986

    Played the matriarch of a Jewish family in the film version of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical "Brighton Beach Memoirs"; Judith Ivey co-starred as her sister

  • 1985

    Offered nice turn as the wife of a philandering attorney (Anthony Hopkins) who was plotting to kill her in the three-character drama "Guilty Conscience" (CBS)

  • 1984

    Cast as Annie Sullivan in the syndicated "Helen Keller -- The Miracle Continues"

  • 1984

    Made guest appearance in an episode of "St. Elsewhere" (NBC)

  • 1982

    Portrayed the wife of German architect Albert Speer in the ABC miniseries "Inside the Third Reich"

  • 1980

    Returned to Broadway appearing alongside Raul Julia and Roy Scheider in Harold Pinter's "Betrayal"; earned Tony nomination

  • 1979

    Delivered a strong turn as the devoted wife of a military officer in "The Great Santini"

  • 1979

    With Michael Moriarty, starred in "Too Far to Go", adapted from short stories by John Updike; originally aired on NBC; briefly released theatrically

  • 1978

    Earned critical praise as Eleanor Gehrig in the NBC biographical drama, "A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story"

  • 1977

    Had lead in "The New York Idea", staged at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

  • 1977

    Portrayed Elizabeth Custer, the general's wife, in "The Court-Martial of General George Armstrong Custer" (ABC), a fictionalized speculation of what might have happened had Custer not died at Little Big Horn

  • 1976

    Co-starred in the sequel "Futureworld"

  • 1976

    Reteamed with Alan Alda in a memorable episode of "M*A*S*H*" (CBS)

  • 1975

    Again paired with Langella in the Williamstown production of Tennessee Williams' "Eccentricities of a Nightingale"; production filmed and aired on "Theater in America"

  • 1975

    Was leading lady to Jeff Bridges in the amiable comedy "Hearts of the West"

  • 1974

    Began on-going association with the Williamstown Theatre Festival; appeared as Nina in Chekhov's "The Seagull"; production filmed and aired on public television's "Theater in America" series; co-stared with Frank Langella

  • 1974

    Had leading role of a woman who comes betweeen two friends in "Lovin' Molly"

  • 1974

    Portrayed Zelda to Richard Chamberlain's F Scott Fitzgerald in the ABC drama "F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles'"

  • 1973

    Starred as Amanda in the short-lived ABC sitcom, "Adam's Rib", opposite Ken Howard

  • 1972

    Appeared on "Columbo" (NBC)

  • 1972

    Film acting debut, "To Kill a Clown", co-starring Alan Alda

  • 1972

    Made feature singing debut as Martha Jefferson in "1776", opposite Ken Howard

  • 1971

    Played featured role in the ABC movie "Dr. Cook's Garden", starring Bing Crosby

  • 1970

    Had supporting role in NBC production of the Broadway musical "George M!"

  • 1968

    TV debut in "Day Tripper" episode of "N.Y.P.D" (ABC)

  • 1967

    Spent part of the theater season acting with Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island

  • 1967

    Was cast in first Broadway show, the musical "Mata Hari"; had featured role; show closed during out-of-town tryout

  • 1966

    NYC debut in the Off-Broadway play "The Infantry"

  • 1965

    Professional stage debut as Laura in "The Glass Menagerie"

  • 1965 to 1966

    Spent one season as a member of the Theatre Company of Boston

  • 1961

    Traveled to Berlin as a foreign exchange music student; was present when the Berlin Wall was erected

  • Breakthrough stage role as the kooky, sexually liberated teenage divorcee Jill Tanner, who befriends her blind male neighbor, in "Butterflies Are Free"; received Tony Award

  • Garnered attention for her performance in the Lincoln Center productions of "Summertree" (1968) and "The Miser" (1969)

  • Raised in a community on Philadelphia's Main Line

  • Sang soprano with a jazz group at Baggy Pants in Stowe, Vermont

  • Starred in the Lincoln Center revival of "The Philadelphia Story"

  • Starred opposite Jason Robards in Pinter's "Moonlight"

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