Blythe Danner

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Blythe Danner

Blythe Danner, (right, back row), in Huff
Birth name Blythe Katherine Danner
Born February 3, 1943 (age 64)
Flag of United States Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Spouse(s) Bruce Paltrow, 1970 - 2002, (deceased)
Notable roles Isabelle 'Izzy' Huffstodt in Huff,
Dina Byrnes in Meet the Parents and in Meet the Fockers
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actress - Drama Series, Huff, 2005
Outstanding Supporting Actress - Drama Series, Huff, 2006
Tony Awards
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, Butterflies Are Free, 1970

Blythe Katherine Danner , born February 3, 1943 in Philadelphia, United States, is an Emmy and Tony Award winning American actor.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Raised a Quaker, Danner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a family of part Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, the daughter of a bank executive. She has two brothers: opera singer/actor Harry Danner, and violin maker William Moennig (half-brother). She attended George School, a private Quaker secondary school in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Bard College, where she graduated in 1965. She holds three honorary doctorates of fine arts from Bard College, Williams College, and Hobart.

[edit] Career

Danner first appeared on stage with the Theater Company of Boston and the Trinity Square Repertory Company (now Trinity Repertory Company) in Providence, Rhode Island. She first gained national attention at age 25 by winning the Theatre World Award for her performance in the Lincoln Center Rep's production of The Miser. In 1970, she appeared in her first film role, in a television production of Dr. Cook's Garden. Danner was a close friend of actor Christopher Reeve and appeared with him in several plays.

With her waspy appearance and husky voice, Danner has most frequently been cast as a middle class or upper class wife, or more lately, matriarch; although in 1986 in Brighton Beach Memoirs, she portrayed a middle-aged Jewish woman, and in the 1982 TV movie Inside the Third Reich, she played the wife of Albert Speer. Her earliest starring film roles were opposite Alan Alda in To Kill a Clown (1972) and in the title role of Lovin' Molly (1974), directed by Sidney Lumet. She has appeared in two films based on the novels of Pat Conroy, The Great Santini (1979) and The Prince of Tides (1991), as well as two television movies adapted from books by Anne Tyler, Saint Maybe and Back When We Were Grownups, both for the Hallmark Hall of Fame.

Blythe Danner in Lovin' Molly
Blythe Danner in Lovin' Molly

Danner is more recently known for her role opposite Robert De Niro in the 2000 comedy hit Meet the Parents and its 2004 sequel, Meet the Fockers (with Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman). From 2004 to 2006 she starred in the TV series Huff.

From 2001 to 2006, she regularly appeared on Will & Grace as Will's mother Marilyn. In 2005, she was nominated for three Emmy Awards, for her work on Will & Grace, Huffand Back When We Were Grownups. Danner won her first Emmy Award for Huff and thanked her daughter and late husband, amongst others. In July 2006, she won a second consecutive Emmy award for Huff.

For 25 years, she has been a regular performer at the Williamstown Summer Theater Festival, where she also serves on the Board of Directors.

In 2006, Danner was awarded the Katharine Hepburn Medal, which recognizes "women whose lives, work and contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence of the four-time-Oscar-winning actress," by Bryn Mawr College's Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center.

[edit] Trivia

  • Emmy host Ellen DeGeneres poked fun at Blythe Danner during the 2005 Emmy Award ceremony, saying that Danner should not be nervous because she was almost certain to win at least one Emmy (which Blythe Danner did.)
  • At the 2006 Emmy award ceremony, Blythe Danner said that New Orleans (which had recently been devastated by Hurricane Katrina) was her husband's favorite city, and ended by paying tribute to "our sons and daughters in Iraq," followed by, "let's get the heck outta there!"
  • Appeared in the episode of M*A*S*H entitled "The More I See You", playing Hawkeye's ex-girlfriend and they begin a love affair until she transfers to another MASH unit.

[edit] Tony Award Nominations

For successful Tony Awards, see the Infobox.

Unsuccessful nominations were :

  • 1980 - Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, Betrayal
  • 2001 - Best Leading Actress in a Musical, Follies

[edit] Emmy Award Nominations

For successful Emmy awards, see the Infobox.

Unsuccessful nominations were :

[edit] Personal life

She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow, and is the widow of late producer Bruce Paltrow, who died from complications of pneumonia while losing his battle with throat cancer in 2002. Danner first co-starred with her daughter in 1992 in the TV movie Cruel Doubt, then again in the 2003 film Sylvia, playing the mother of the title character, played by her daughter.

She is also the aunt of actresses Hillary Danner and Katherine Moennig, and sister-in-law (through brother Harry) of opera director Dorothy Danner.

Although she has worked frequently on TV and on stage, Danner put her film career on hold for a number of years to raise her children. Danner often said the proudest night of her life was when Gwyneth won an Academy Award for Best Actress (for Shakespeare in Love), and Danner was the first person Paltrow thanked, tearfully, followed by her father and grandfather, who were both ill with cancer and subsequently died.

[edit] Environmental activism

In addition to her acting work, Blythe Danner has been involved in environmental issues such as recycling and conservation for over 30 years, having seen firsthand the contrast between her rural youth and her later residence in Los Angeles and New York. She has been active with INFORM, is on the Board of Environmental Activists and the Board of Directors of the Environmental Media Association, and won the 2002 EMA Board of Directors Ongoing Commitment Award. She was instrumental in implementing curbside recycling in Santa Monica and in retaining the New York City recycling program despite threatened budget cuts in 1991, has driven an electric car since the first General Motors EV1 was available, and has installed solar panels at her house. In 2002 Danner, her husband Bruce Paltrow, and her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow worked together on a series of public service announcements encouraging use of alternative energy sources and alternative fuel vehicles. Blythe Danner recently announced that she plans to take up skydiving.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Television appearances

[edit] Theater credits

  • The Miser (1968)
  • Butterflies Are Free (1970)
  • Betrayal (1980)
  • A Streetcar Named Desire (1988)
  • Blythe Spirit (1987)
  • Follies (2001)
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • Suddenly Last Summer (2006)

[edit] External links

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