Bio from 1982 Program for What I Did Last Summer:
EILEEN HECKART (Anna) appeared on Broadway in Picnic, The Bad Seed, A View from the Bridge, Pal Joey, Everybody Loves Opal, Invitation to a March, Too True to be Good, Barefoot in the Park, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, A Family Affair, You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running, Veronica’s Room, Ladies at the Alamo.
She played the title role of Mother Courage at UCLA and Princeton, Before Breakfast in Berlin, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The Moon Marigolds in Boston, also directed by Mel Bernhardt, and a one woman show of Eleanor Roosevelt, on tour.
Her movies: Miracle in the Rain, The Bad Seed, Bus Stop, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Heller in Pink Tights, Hot Spell, Zandy’s Bride, No Way to Treat a Lady, Up the Down Staircase, My Six Loves, Butterflies Are Free, The Hiding Place.
In two hundred television shows, she is probably most remembered as Mary Tyler Moore’s “Aunt Flo”.
Miss Heckart’s awards: an Oscar, an Emmy, the N.Y. Drama Critics, the Variety Poll, the Hollywood Golden Globe, the Donaldson, the Straw Hat, the March of Dimes, the Sylvania TV, New Jersey’s Best Actress, four Tony nominations, four other Emmy nominations, another Oscar nomination, a Danny Blum, an Outer Circle, and three Honorary Doctorates.
[1982 Program for What I Did Last Summer]
Seasons at the Theatre
- 1982
Productions/Roles:
- What I Did Last Summer – Anna
Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:
- Heckart won the 1953 Theatre World Award for Picnic.
- Her Tony Award nominations include: Butterflies Are Free, Invitation to a March, and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
- In 2000, at age 81, she appeared off-Broadway in Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery. For this performance, she won several awards, including the Drama Desk Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Drama League Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award.
- In 2000 she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and received an honorary Tony Award for lifetime achievement.
- Won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the 1972 movie adaptation of Butterflies Are Free a role she originated on Broadway.
- Was nominated for an Academy Award in 1956 for her performance as Mrs. Daigle in The Bad Seed (1956), another role she originated on Broadway.
- She played Diane Keaton‘s meddling mother in the 1996 comedy film The First Wives Club.
- Appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and received two Emmy nominations as journalist Flo Meredith. She carried over this role to a guest appearance on MTM’s spinoff Lou Grant.
Elitch Theatre Connections:
- Heckart appeared on Broadway in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs as Lottie Lacey with Elitch Theatre alums, Pat Hingle and Teresa Wright.
- Heckart appeared in the 1979 television miniseries Backstairs at the White House with Elitch Theatre alums, Julie Harris, Kim Hunter, and Cloris Leachman!
- Three alums in one film! Heckart appeared in the 1956 film, The Bad Seed, with Elitch alums, Joan Croydon and Jesse White. Plus, Heckart and Croydon were also in the original 1954 Broadway production.
Wikipedia Link:
