Home   >   Movie Stars   >   D   >   Blythe Danner   >   More Biographies

More Blythe Danner Bios & Profiles

 

The most recent Blythe Danner biography is published on the main page.
 


Biography #2 (for Meet the Fockers)

Blythe Danner has had a diverse and distinguished career in film, television and theater. Among her many film credits are: The Prince of Tides, directed by Barbra Streisand; three Woody Allen films, including Husbands and Wives, Alice and Another Woman; Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs; The Great Santini, opposite Robert Duvall; Costa Gavras' Mad City, with John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman; The X Files; Edward Burns' No Looking Back; Farmhouse; To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar; The Myth of Fingerprints; and Jay Roach's Meet the Parents.

In the spring of 1999 she co-starred in Forces of Nature with Sandra Bullock and The Love Letter with Kate Capshaw. In 2003, Danner portrayed Aurelia Plath, mother of the poet Sylvia Plath, in the film Sylvia, opposite her daughter, Gwyenth Paltrow, as Sylvia.

On television, Danner starred in such movies as: HBO's Judgment, for which she received a CableACE Award nomination; A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story; Too Far to Go; Saint Maybe; and Guilty Conscience with Anthony Hopkins. She can be seen in a recurring role as Marilyn Truman, Will's mother, in the popular sitcom Will & Grace, as well as in the Showtime series Huff, opposite Hank Azaria. In 1999 Danner was nominated for a CableACE Award for A Call to Remember with Joe Mantegna and she received an Emmy nomination for her role in 2003's We Were the Mulvaneys, a telefilm based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates. She has starred in two network series, Adam's Rib and Tattinger's, and has had numerous guest-starring roles on such shows as M*A*S*H and St. Elsewhere.

Her theater resume is as extensive as it is impressive. She received a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in Butterflies Are Free and Tony nominations for roles in A Streetcar Named Desire and Harold Pinter's Betrayal. Other Broadway credits include The Philadelphia Story, Blithe Spirit and the Roundabout Theater production of Deep Blue Sea. Danner has been a member of the Williamstown Theater Festival for over 20 years and also appeared at other leading venues such as the Theater Company of Boston, Trinity Square Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Repertory Company of Lincoln Center in New York and the New York Shakespeare Festival. Many of her roles have been in the classics, ranging from Shakespeare to Chekhov, George Bernard Shaw and Tennessee Williams.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Danner holds a drama degree from Bard College in New York and honorary Doctorate degrees of fine arts from Williams College and Hobart/William Smith Colleges.

Bio courtesy Universal Pictures for "Meet the Fockers" (18-Dec-2004)


Biography #3 (for Sylvia)

Blythe Danner received a Tony Award for her debut Broadway role, in Leonard Gershe's play Butterflies Are Free. She received subsequent Tony Award nominations for Blanche in Tennesse Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, Emma in Harold Pinter's Betrayal, and Phyllis in Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

She starred as Beatrice opposite Kevin Kline's Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (for New York Shakespeare Festival). Her other Broadway credits include The Philadelphia Story (Lincoln Center), The Deep Blue Sea (the Roundabout Theatre), and Blithe Spirit. For more than 20 years, she has been a member of the Williamstown Theater Festival, and has also performed at Mark Taper Forum, B.A.M., and the Manhattan Theatre Club. For the latter, she starred in A.R. Gurney's Sylvia (unrelated to Sylvia and Sylvia Plath).

On-screen, Ms. Danner most recently starred opposite Robert De Niro in Jay Roach's blockbuster comedy Meet the Parents, for which a sequel is planned. Her other film credits include 1776, The Great Santini (opposite Robert Duvall), Brighton Beach Memoirs (adapted by Neil Simon from his play), Merchant Ivory's Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (with Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman), Barbra Streisand's The Prince of Tides, and three Woody Allen films.

Her many television appearances include PBS adaptations of Chekhov's The Seagull and G.B. Shaw's Candida. She was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2002 for her performance in Lifetime's We Were the Mulvaneys. She received CableACE Award nominations for her performances in the telefilms A Call to

Remember and Judgment. She has a recurring role as Will's mother on the hit NBC comedy Will and Grace.

Ms. Danner drives an electric car and powers it and her home with solar panels. She highly recommends all alternative energies to one and all.

Bio courtesy Focus Features for "Sylvia" (01-Jan-2000)