Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight | |
|---|---|
 Shirley Knight in 1963 | |
| Born | Shirley Enola Knight July 5, 1936 |
| Other names | Shirley Knight Hopkins |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Spouse(s) | Gene Persson (1959–69) 1 child[1] John Hopkins (1969–98) (his death) 1 child |
Shirley Enola Knight (born July 5, 1936) is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth, 8 times for Emmy Awards (winning two), and has also won a Golden Globe and Volpi Cup for Best Actress for role in the film Dutchman (1967).
Personal life
Knight was born in Goessel, Kansas, the daughter of Virginia (née Webster) and Noel Johnson Knight, an oil company executive.[2] Knight was married twice, to Gene Persson from 1959 until they divorced in 1969, and to John Hopkins from 1969 until his death in 1998. She has two daughters, actress Kaitlin Hopkins and television writer Sophie.
Career
Knight's feature films include The Group (1966), The Dutchman (1966), Petulia (1968), The Rain People (1969) and As Good as It Gets (1997), and Elevator (2011), in which she plays one of several people trapped in a Wall Street elevator with someone who has a bomb.
She also was a Warner Brothers Television contract star who made films for Warners, appearing in television series whenever she had a break while filming a movie, including Maverick ("The Ice Man" episode with Jack Kelly), 77 Sunset Strip, Sugarfoot, and Cheyenne.[3]
Knight's stage credits include Three Sisters (1964), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1966), Kennedy's Children (1975), which earned her the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, and A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1979). She was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play twice, for Landscape of the Body and The Young Man from Atlanta, which also garnered her a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Play. She also appeared, with Alison Fraser, in Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are, (2009) an original play by legendary playwright, Arthur Laurents.
Knight's many television credits include Target: The Corruptors!, The Eleventh Hour, The Fugitive, The Virginian, thirtysomething, The Invaders, The Reporter, L.A. Law, Murder, She Wrote, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Maggie Winters, House M.D., Crossing Jordan, Cold Case, ER and Hot in Cleveland, among others, in addition to television movies such as Indictment: The McMartin Trial, for which she won both the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Her guest performance in thirtysomething earned her a 1988 Emmy for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series. She won another Emmy in 1995 for her guest performance in the NYPD Blue episode Large Mouth Bass.
She appeared in the first segment of If These Walls Could Talk. She has also had a recurring role on Desperate Housewives as Bree Hodge's annoying former mother-in-law, Phyllis Van de Kamp, mother of Bree's first husband, Rex Van de Kamp (Steven Culp). She also appeared in a popular episode from the original The Outer Limits series, "The Man Who Was Never Born".
Filmography
| Film and Television | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
| 1958-1959 | Buckskin | Mrs. Newcomb | 20 episodes | |
| 1959 | Five Gates to Hell | Sister Maria | ||
| 1960 | Ice Palace | Grace Kennedy | Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female | |
| The Dark at the Top of the Stairs | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female | |||
| 1962 | The Couch | Terry Ames | ||
| Sweet Bird of Youth | Heavenly Finley | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | ||
| House of Women | Erica Hayden | |||
| 1963 | The Outer Limits | Noel Anderson | Episode: The Man Who Was Never Born | |
| 1964 | Flight from Ashiya | Caroline Gordon/Stevenson | ||
| 1966 | The Group | Polly | ||
| 1967 | Dutchman | Lula | Volpi Cup for Best Actress | |
| The Outsider | Peggy Leydon | |||
| 1968 | Shadow Over Elveron | Joanne Tregaskis | ||
| The Counterfeit Killer | Angie Peterson | |||
| Petulia | Polo | Laurel Award for Best Female Supporting Performance | ||
| 1969 | The Rain People | Natalie Ravenna | ||
| 1971 | Secrets | Beatrice | ||
| 1974 | The Country Girl | Georgie Elgin | ||
| Juggernaut | Barbara Bannister | |||
| 1975 | Friendly Persuasion | Eliza Birdwell | ||
| Medical Story | Phyllis Lenahan | |||
| 1976 | Return to Earth | Joan Aldrin | ||
| 21 Hours at Munich | Anneliese Graes | |||
| 1978 | The Defection of Simas Kudirka | Genna Kudirka | ||
| 1979 | Champions: A Love Story | Barbara Harlich | ||
| Beyond the Poseidon Adventure | Hannah Meredith | |||
| 1980 | Playing for Time | Frau Lagerfuhrerin Maria Mandel | Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie | |
| 1981 | Prisoners | Virginia | ||
| Endless Love | Ann Butterfield | |||
| 1982 | Kennedy's Children | Carla | ||
| The Sender | Jerolyn | |||
| 1984 | With Intent to Kill | Edna Reinecker | ||
| 1987-1990 | Thirtysomething | Ruth Murdoch | Episodes: The Parents Are Coming and Arizona Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (1988) Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (1990) | |
| 1989 | The Equalizer | Kay | Episode: Time Present, Time Past Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | |
| 1991 | Bump in the Night | Katie | ||
| Shadow of a Doubt | Mrs. Potter | |||
| To Save a Child | Rinda Larson | |||
| Law & Order | Melanie Cullen | Episode: The Wages of Love Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1992) | ||
| 1993 | L.A. Law | Belinda Collins | Episode: Hello and Goodbye | |
| When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn | Edna Larson | |||
| Angel Falls | Edie Wren Cox | |||
| A Mother's Revenge | Bess Warden | |||
| 1994 | The Secret Life of Houses | Aunt Fergie | ||
| Benders | Donna | |||
| Color of night | Edith Niedelmeyer | |||
| 1995 | NYPD Blue | Agnes Cantwell | Episode: Large Mouth Bass Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | |
| Stuart Saves His Family | Mom - The Smalley Family | |||
| Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Peggy Buckey | Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie | ||
| 1996 | Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden | Sally Ann | ||
| Diabolique | Edie Danziger | |||
| If These Walls Could Talk | Mary Donnelly | |||
| Somebody Is Waiting | Irma Cill | |||
| 1997 | As Good as It Gets | Beverly Connelly | Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | |
| Little Boy Blue | Doris Knight | |||
| 1998 | The Wedding | Gram | Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | |
| A Father for Brittany | Donna Minkowitz | |||
| 1998-1999 | Maggie Winters | Estelle Winters | 16 episodes | |
| 2000 | 75 Degrees in July | Jo Beth Anderson | ||
| 2001 | My Louisiana Sky | Jewel Ramsey | ||
| Angel Eyes | Elanora Davis | |||
| 2002 | The Salton Sea | Nancy Plummer | ||
| P.S. Your Cat Is Dead! | Aunt Claire | |||
| Ally McBeal | Helen Apple | Episode: Homecoming | ||
| Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood | Necie Rose Kelleher | |||
| ER | Mrs. Burke | Episode: Insurrection | ||
| 2003 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Rose Granville | Episode: Tragedy | |
| A House on a Hill | Mercedes Mayfield | |||
| 2004 | Crossing Jordan | Frances Littleton | Episode: Most Likely | |
| 2005 | House | Georgia Adams | Episode: Poison | |
| Sexual Life | Joanna | |||
| 2006 | Grandma's Boy | Bea | ||
| Open Window | Ann | |||
| Thanks to Gravity | Lea | |||
| 2005-2007 | Desperate Housewives | Phyllis Van De Kamp | 5 episodes Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (2006) | |
| 2008 | The Other Side of the Tracks | Helen | ||
| Not Fade Away | Diane | |||
| 2009 | Paul Blart: Mall Cop | Margaret Blart | ||
| The Private Lives of Pippa Lee | Dot Nadeau | |||
| Drop Dead Diva | Millie Carlson | Episode: Dead Model Walking | ||
| 2010 | Hot in Cleveland | Loretta | Episode: Meet the Parents | |
| Listen to Your Heart | Grandma Sam | |||
| 2011 | Elevator | Jane Redding | ||
| Our Idiot Brother | Ilene Rochlin | |||
| The Melancholy Fantastic | Mor | |||