Lee Grant
Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, during the mid-1920s)[a] is an American actress, documentarian, and director. For her film debut in 1951 as a young shoplifter in William Wyler's Detective Story, Grant earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress and won the Best Actress Award at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. Grant won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Warren Beatty's older lover in Shampoo (1975).
For other people named Lee Grant, see Lee Grant (disambiguation).
Lee Grant
Grant was one of many entertainment industry professionals blacklisted in the 1950s. Starting in 1952, Grant was largely prevented from finding employment in acting for 12 years, although did occasionally get work onscreen, onstage, and as a teacher during this period. She started appearing more regularly onscreen after 1963.
Grant starred in 71 TV episodes of Peyton Place (1965–1966), followed by lead roles in films such as Valley of the Dolls and In the Heat of the Night in 1967. In 1964, she won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her performance in The Maids. During her career, she won two Emmy Awards and was nominated seven times.
Grant later turned her focus to directing. In 1986, she won a Directors Guild of America Award for Nobody's Child. In 1987, the documentary she directed, Down and Out in America, tied for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[1]
Early life[edit]
Lee Grant was born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal[2][3] in Manhattan, the only child of Witia (née Haskell), a child care worker, and Abraham W. Rosenthal, a realtor and educator. Her father was born in New York City, to Polish Jewish immigrants, and her mother was a Russian Jewish immigrant[4] who, along with her sister Fremo, left Odessa to escape the pogroms. The family resided at 148th Street and Riverside in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.[5]
Her birthday is October 31, but the year is disputed, with all years ranging from 1925 to 1931 having been given as her year of birth at some point; however, census data, travel manifests, and testimony suggest that she was born in 1925 or 1926, while Grant's stated ages at the time of her professional debut and Oscar nomination indicate she was born in 1927.[a]
Grant made her stage debut in L'Oracolo at the Metropolitan Opera in 1931[6][7] and later joined the American Ballet as an adolescent.[8] She attended Art Students League of New York, Juilliard School of Music, The High School of Music & Art, and George Washington High School, all in New York City. Grant graduated from high school, and won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, where she studied under Sanford Meisner. Grant undertook further study with Uta Hagen at the HB Studio.[9] She later enrolled in the Actors Studio in New York.
Career[edit]
1930s–1950s[edit]
Grant had her first stage ballet performance in 1933 at the Metropolitan Opera House.[10] In 1938, in her early teens, she was made a member of the American Ballet under George Balanchine.[10] As an actress, Grant had her professional stage debut as understudy in Oklahoma! in 1944. In 1948, she had her Broadway acting debut in Joy to the World. Grant established herself as a dramatic method actress on and off Broadway, earning praise for her first major role as a shoplifter in Detective Story in 1949.[11]
She made her film debut two years later in the 1951 film version (Detective Story), starring Kirk Douglas, receiving her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination, and winning the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival.[12] She said she enjoyed working under director William Wyler, who helped guide her.[13]
Further reading[edit]
Grant, Lee (2014). I Said Yes to Everything: A Memoir. Blue Rider Press. ISBN 978-0147516282.; excerpts at CBSnews.com CBS Sunday Morning.