Born in Detroit,
Elaine Stritch studied at the New School in New York City under the direction of Erwin Piscator. Beginning her career in musical comedy on Broadway, she went from standing by for
Ethel Merman in
Call Me Madam to her Tony-nominated performance in the recent revival of
Edward Albee's
A Delicate Balance. Her Broadway credits include
Angel in the Wings,
Pal Joey,
On Your Toes,
Bus Stop,
Goldilocks,
Sail Away (which she performed in both New York and London, and just recently in concert at Carnegie Hall to celebrate
Noel Coward's centennial),
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (following
Uta Hagen in the role of Martha),
Company and
Show Boat. In London's West End, she starred in Neil Simon's
The Gingerbread Lady and
Tennessee Williams'
Small Craft Warnings. Other stage credits include the concert version of both
Follies and
Company at Lincoln Center and her appearance in A. R. Gurney's
Love Letters with
Jason Robards. Ms. Stritch made her film debut in the 1957 remake of A Farewell to Arms. She co-starred in the 1977 Alain Renais film Providence and the award-winning BBC television series
Two's Company. Other film credits include Cocoon: The Return,
Woody Allen's September, Out to Sea with
Walter Matthau and
Jack Lemmon, Krippendorf's Tribe with
Richard Dreyfuss, An Unexpected Life with
Stockard Channing and
Stephen Collins, Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks and Autumn in New York with
Richard Gere and
Winona Ryder. Ms. Stritch's television credits include
The Cosby Show,
3rd Rock from the Sun and
Soul Man. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the miniseries
An Inconvenient Woman written by Dominick Dunne and won an Emmy Award for her recurring role on
Law & Order. Ms. Stritch won a Tony Award for the Broadway production of
Elaine Stritch at Liberty, as well as two Drama Desk Awards. She toured her show across the country, ending in San Francisco. Following her triumph [she just won't quit], she filmed
Paradise for Showtime TV in Salt Lake City; the movie aired in November 2004. She can next been in Romance & Cigarettes for
John Turturro.