Irene Worth, Honorary CBE, (b. June 23, 1916, Fairbury, Nebraska - d. March 9, 2002, New York City) was a distinguished stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the English and American theatre. is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Fairbury is a city in Jefferson County, Nebraska, United States. ... is the 68th day of the year (69th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... New York, New York redirects here. ... BAFTA Award The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role has been presented to its winners since 1952 and actresses of all nationalities are eligible to receive the award. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award® but is formally the Antoinette Perry Award is an annual American award celebrating achievements in theater, including musical theater. ... The Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play is awarded to the actress who was voted as the best actress in a play, whether a new production or a revival. ... Tiny Alice, a three act play written by Edward Albee, premiered on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theatre on December 29, 1964. ... Sweet Bird of Youth is a play by Tennessee Williams which tells the story of a drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town with a faded movie star, Princess Kosmonopolis, hoping she can help him to break into the movies. ... A Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actress has been awarded since 1947. ... Image used on the Playbill for Lost in Yonkers Lost in Yonkers is a play by Neil Simon that opened on Broadway in 1991. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... Fairbury is a city in Jefferson County, Nebraska, United States. ... is the 68th day of the year (69th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

She pronounced her given name with three syllables -- "I-REE-nee" -- and other actors are heard to use this pronunciation when referring to her at the Tony Awards ceremony and other public occasions.

The beginnings

Harriet Elizabeth Abrams was of Mennonite descent. Her parents, Agnes Thiessen and Henry Abrams, were educators. They moved from Nebraska to California in 1920 and she was educated at Newport Harbor High School, Costa Mesa, California, Santa Ana Junior College, Santa Ana, California and the University of California, Los Angeles. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Mennonites are a group of... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Newport Harbor High School is a public high school in Newport Beach, in Orange County, California, in the United States. ... Categories: | | ... The University of California, Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is a public university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. ...

Shakespeare and the West End

She joined the Old Vic company in 1951, worked with Tyrone Guthrie and there played Desdemona, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Portia in The Merchant of Venice and her first Lady Macbeth. The company went off to South Africa with Worth as one of the leading ladies. The exterior of the Old Vic from the corner of Baylis Road and Waterloo Road. ... Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 - 15 May 1971) was a British theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada and the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ... For other uses, see Othello (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see A Midsummer Nights Dream (disambiguation). ... Portia and Shylock (1835) by Thomas Sully The Merchant of Venice is one of William Shakespeares best-known plays, written sometime between 1596 and 1598. ... Macbeth and Banquo meeting the witches on the heath by Théodore Chassériau. ...

In 1953, she joined the fledgling Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario for its inaugural season. There she was the principal leading lady, partnering Alec Guinness in All's Well That Ends Well and Richard III - and performing in a tent. "Binkie" Beaumont brought her back to London in N. C. Hunter's "Chekhovian" drama, A Day by the Sea, with a cast that included John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. She joined the Midland Theatre Company in Coventry for Ugo Betti’s The Queen and the Rebels. Her transformation from "a rejected slut cowering at her lover's feet into a redemption of regal poise" ensured a transfer to London, where Kenneth Tynan wrote of her technique: "It is grandiose, heartfelt, marvellously controlled, clear as crystal and totally unmoving." The Festival Theatre The Stratford Festival of Canada is a summer-long celebration of theatre held each year in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. ... Stratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a population of 30,461 in 2006. ... Sir Alec Guinness CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 – August 5, 2000) was an Academy Award and Tony Award-winning English actor who became one of the most versatile and best-loved performers of his generation. ... Alls Well That Ends Well is a comedy by William Shakespeare, and is often considered one of his problem plays, so-called because they cannot be easily classified as tragedy or comedy. ... Frontispage of the First Quarto Richard The Third. ... Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH (14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000), known as Sir John Gielgud, was an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Academy Award-winning British theatre and film actor. ... Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, did their best to make the transition to film. ... For other uses, see Coventry (disambiguation). ... Ugo Betti (Camerino, February 4, 1892 – Rome, June 9, 1953) was an Italian judge, better known as an author, who is considered by many the greatest Italian playwright next to Pirandello. ... Kenneth Peacock Tynan (April 2, 1927 - July 26, 1980), was an influential and often controversial British theatre critic and writer. ...

In the 1950s, Worth demonstrated her exceptional versatility by playing in the farce Hotel Paradiso in London with Alec Guinness, high tragedy in the title role of Schiller’s Mary Stuart, co-starring Eva Le Gallienne; and on Broadway and Shakespearean comedy in As You Like It at Stratford, Ontario. Friedrich Schiller “Schiller” redirects here. ... Mary I of Scotland (Mary Stuart or Stewart) (December 8, 1542 – February 8, 1587), better known as Mary, Queen of Scots, was the ruler of Scotland from December 14, 1542 – July 24, 1567. ... Eva Le Gallienne Eva Le Gallienne (January 11, 1899 – June 3, 1991) was a well-known actress, producer, and director, during the first half of the 20th century. ... Walter Deverell,The Mock Marriage of Orlando and Rosalind, 1853 William Shakespeares As You Like It is a pastoral comedy written in 1599 or early 1600. ...

The RSC and the National

In 1962, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre, and it was there that she gave some of her greatest performances. She was Goneril to Paul Scofield's Lear in Peter Brook’s acclaimed King Lear, the first of many collaborations with Brook. She repeated her Lady Macbeth and appeared again for Brook in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Physicists. Playing an asylum superintendent, she showed the darker side of her acting. She then went to New York in 1965 for the opening of Edward Albee's enigmatic Tiny Alice, in which she co-starred with Gielgud and which won her the first of her three Tony awards. Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a British theatre company. ... Aldwych Theatre in April 2007 The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. ... David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE (born 21 January 1922) is a British actor who was born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, England. ... For the British politician, see Peter Brooke. ... King Lear and the Fool in the Storm by William Dyce (1806-1864) King Lear is a play by William Shakespeare, considered one of his greatest tragedies, based on the legend of King Lear of Britain. ... Friedrich Dürrenmatt (January 5, 1921 – December 14, 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist. ... Die Physiker (The Physicists) (1962) is a satiric drama often recognized to be the most impressive, yet easiest to understand work by Swiss writer Dürrenmatt. ... Edward Albee, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1961 Edward Franklin Albee III (born March 12, 1928) is an American playwright known for works including Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Zoo Story, and The Sandbox. ... Tiny Alice, a three act play written by Edward Albee, premiered on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theatre on December 29, 1964. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award® but is formally the Antoinette Perry Award is an annual American award celebrating achievements in theater, including musical theater. ...

She returned to the RSC at the Aldwych to repeat her role. She worked with Peter Brook in Paris and also toured Iran with Orghast, Brook's attempt to develop an international theatre language. She joined the National Theatre at the Old Vic in 1968 to play Jocasta in Peter Brook's production of Seneca's Oedipus, again opposite Gielgud. She was proud to have been in Noel Coward’s last play Suite in Three Keys, in which he himself made his last appearance on stage. Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a British theatre company. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Orghast was the International Centre for Theatre Researchs first public performance at an international event. ... The Royal National Theatre from Waterloo Bridge The Royal National Theatre is a building complex and theatre company located on the South Bank in London, England immediately east of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge. ... Bust, traditionally thought to be Seneca, now identified by some as Hesiod. ... For other uses, see Oedipus (disambiguation). ... Noël Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an Academy Award winning English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ...

Broadway

She spent most of the 1970s in North America, apart from a season at the Greenwich Theatre in which she played Gertrude in Jonathan Miller's production of Hamlet. She played Hedda Gabler at Stratford, Ontario, which she considered one of her most satisfying achievements and which prompted Walter Kerr to write, in the New York Times, "Miss Worth is just possibly the best actress in the world." The Greenwich Theatre is a local theatre located in Crooms Hill close to the centre of Greenwich in south-east London. ... Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller, CBE (born 21 July 1934) is a British neurologist, theatre and opera director, television presenter, humourist and sculptor. ... Hamlet and Horatio in the cemetery by Eugène Delacroix For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... Actress Cate Blanchett in the title role of Hedda Gabler Hedda Gabler is both a play and a fictional character created by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. ... Walter Kerr (July 8, 1913 – October 9, 1996) was an American writer and Broadway theater critic. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

She played Princess Kosmonopolis in Tennessee Williams's Sweet Bird of Youth opposite Christopher Walken, which brought her a second Tony award. She was Madame Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, for which she received another Tony nomination and which brought to the stage an unknown actress named Meryl Streep. Towards the end of the decade she played Winnie, in Beckett's Happy Days. Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), better known by the pseudonym Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright and one of the prominent playwrights of the twentieth century. ... Sweet Bird of Youth is a play by Tennessee Williams which tells the story of a drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town with a faded movie star, Princess Kosmonopolis, hoping she can help him to break into the movies. ... Christopher Walken (born March 31, 1943) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actor. ... Bust of Anton Chekhov at Badenweiler, Germany The Cherry Orchard (Вишнëвый сад or Vishniovy sad in Russian) is Russian playwright Anton Chekhovs last play. ... Mary Louise Streep, mostly known as Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an Academy Award-winning American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. ... Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet. ... The first English edition of Happy Days. ...

She also appeared in the premiere of another Albee play, The Lady from Dubuque, but it closed after only twelve performances; a revival of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman and The Golden Age, by A.R. Gurney (which co-starred Stockard Channing). The Lady from Dubuque, a play by Edward Albee, opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on January 31, 1980. ... Ibsen redirects here. ... John Gabriel Borkman is the penultimate composition of the great Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, written in 1896. ... A.R. Gurney (1930- ) is an American playwright and novelist. ... Stockard Channing press kit photo Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard on February 13, 1944) is an American actress. ...

The Later Years

In 1984, Peter Hall invited her to return to the National Theatre to play Volumnia in Coriolanus, with Ian McKellen in the title role. The impresario Joseph Papp persuaded her to repeat Volumnia on Broadway in a production by Steven Berkoff when she was once again partnered by Christopher Walken as Coriolanus. She was also seen in David Hare's The Bay at Nice (National, 1987) and in Chère Maître (New York, 1998 and Almeida, London 1999), compiled by Peter Eyre from the letters of George Sand and Gustave Flaubert. Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE (born 22 November 1930) is an English theatre and film director. ... Gaius Marcius Coriolanus was a 5th century BC Roman general. ... Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CBE (born May 25, 1939) is an English stage and screen actor, the recipient of a Tony Award and two Oscar nominations. ... Joseph Papp (1921 - 1991) was an American theatre producer and director. ... Steven Berkoff (born August 3, 1937) is an English actor, writer and director. ... David Hare (born June 5, 1947) is an English dramatist and director. ... Peter Eyre is a American actor, born in 11 March 1942, New York, New York. ... George Sand sewing, portrait by Eugène Delacroix (1838). ... Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert (December 12, 1821 – May 8, 1880) was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. ...

In 1991, she won a third Tony for her performance as the tough as nails Grandma Kurnitz in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers and later appeared in the film version. Neil Simon (1966) Neil Simon (born Marvin Neil Simon July 4, 1927 in The Bronx, New York City), is a Jewish American playwright and screenwriter. ... Image used on the Playbill for Lost in Yonkers Lost in Yonkers is a play by Neil Simon that opened on Broadway in 1991. ...

In 1999, she appeared in the film Onegin. As she was about to begin preview performances in a Broadway revival of Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon, Worth had a stroke and never appeared in the production. She continued to act, however, right up until September 2001, when one of her last appearances was with Paul Scofield at the Almeida Theatre in the two-handed play, I Take Your Hand in Mine, by Carol Rocamora based on the love letters of Anton Chekhov and Olga Knipper . Onegin is a 1999 film adaptation of Aleksandr Pushkins novel in verse Yevgeny Onegin. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Founded in 1980, the Almeida Theatre has become one of the key theatres in London. ... Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: , IPA: ) was a Russian short story writer and playwright. ... Olga Leonardovna Knipper (1869-1959) was among the 39 original members of the Moscow Art Theatre, when the latter was formed by Konstantin Stanislavsky in 1898. ...

She died following a second stroke in a New York hospital, aged 85.

At Worth's memorial service, held at The Public Theater in New York City, speakers included Edward Albee, Christopher Walken, Mercedes Ruehl, Meryl Streep and Alan Rickman.

Her "recitals"

During the mid 1960s in New York, Worth and Gielgud had collaborated in a series of dramatic readings first from T. S. Eliot and Edith Sitwell and then from Shakespeare. It was a form of theatre at which she became more adept as she grew older, drawing from Virginia Woolf, Ivan Turgenev and Noel Coward among others. She referred to them as "her recitals". In the mid 1990s, she devised and performed a two-hour monologue, Portrait of Edith Wharton, based on Wharton's life and writings. Using no props, costumes or sets, she created characters entirely through vocal means. Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell DBE (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) was a British poet and critic. ... For the American childrens writer, see Virginia Euwer Wolff Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (January 25, 1882 – March 28, 1941) was an English novelist and essayist regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. ... Ivan Turgenev, photo by Félix Nadar (1820-1910) “Turgenev” redirects here. ... Edith Wharton (January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer. ...

Select Filmography

• Film debut in 1948 One Night with You. She since appeared in:
• Orders to Kill (1958) with Lillian Gish, directed by Anthony Asquith
• The Scapegoat (1959) with Alec Guinness and Bette Davis
• Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) with a large cast including Janet Suzman, Michael Jayston, Laurence Olivier, Jack Hawkins, Michael Redgrave and Harry Andrews.
• Deathtrap (1982) with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, directed by Sidney Lumet.
• Separate Tables (TV) (1983) with Julie Christie, Alan Bates and Claire Bloom, directed by John Schlesinger.
• Onegin (1999) with Ralph Fiennes, Toby Stephens and Liv Tyler, directed by Martha Fiennes.

In addition, some of her stage performances have been preserved on film, including: Lillian Diana de Guiche (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993), was an Oscar-nominated American actress, better known as Lillian Gish. ... The Honourable Anthony Asquith (November 9, 1902-February 20, 1968) was a respected British film director. ... For the singer, see Betty Davis, for the meteorologist, see Betty Davis (meteorologist). ... Nicholas and Alexandra, ... is a 1971 biographical film which tells the story of the last of Russias monarchs, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his wife, the Tsarina Alexandra. ... Janet Suzman (born February 9, 1939) is a South African actress. ... Michael Jayston (born 29th October, 1935 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) is a British actor. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... John Edward Jack Hawkins (September 14, 1910 - July 18, 1973) was a British film actor of the 1950s and 1960s. ... Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (March 20, 1908—March 21, 1985) was an English actor of great renown. ... Harry Andrews (November 10, 1911 - March 6, 1989) was a British actor. ... Deathtrap is a 1982 thriller film about a playwright who tries to pass off a students script as his own. ... This article is about the English actor. ... Christopher DOlier Reeve[1] (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, director, producer and writer. ... Portrait of Sidney Lumet, May 7, 1939. ... Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1941) is an English Academy Award-winning film actress. ... Alan Bates as butler in Gosford Park (2001) Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE, (February 17, 1934 – December 27, 2003) was a British actor. ... Claire Bloom (born Patricia Claire Blume on February 15, 1931) is a British film and stage actress. ... John Richard Schlesinger CBE (February 16, 1926 – July 25, 2003) was an English film director. ... Onegin is a 1999 film adaptation of Aleksandr Pushkins novel in verse Yevgeny Onegin. ... Ralph Nathaniel Fiennes, (IPA: ), born 22 December 1962) is a Tony Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated and Genie Award-nominated British actor. ... Toby Stephens (born April 21, 1969) is an English stage, television and film actor, best known for playing supervillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day (2002) and Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre (2006). ... Liv Tyler (born Liv Rundgren, on July 1, 1977 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, New York[1]) is an American actress best known for her roles of Grace Stamper in Armageddon and Arwen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. ... Martha Maria Fiennes (born 5 February 1965 in the UK) is an award winning film director, writer and producer. ...

• Happy Days (1980) (TV)
• The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984) (TV), directed by Elijah Moshinsky.
• Lost in Yonkers (1993) with Richard Dreyfuss and Mercedes Ruehl.

Happy Days is a popular American television sitcom that originally aired between 1974 and 1984 on the ABC television network. ... Image used on the Playbill for Lost in Yonkers Lost in Yonkers is a play by Neil Simon that opened on Broadway in 1991. ... Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. ... Mercedes Ruehl (born February 28, 1948) is an Academy Award-winning United States theater and film actress. ...

Awards

• Daily Mail Television Award The Lady from the Sea 1953 - 54
• British Film Academy Award Best British Actress Orders to Kill 1958
• Page One Award Toys in the Attic 1960
• Tony Actress (Dramatic) Tiny Alice 1965
• Evening Standard Award Suite in Three Keys 1966
• Variety Club of Great Britain Award Heartbreak House 1967
• Plays and Players London Theatre Critics Award Best Actress Heartbreak House 1967
• Irene Worth received an honorary CBE in 1975.
• Tony Actress in a Play Sweet Bird of Youth 1975 - 76
• Joseph Jefferson Award Best Actress in a Play Sweet Bird of Youth 1975 - 76
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actress in a Play The Cherry Orchard 1977
• OBIE Award Performance The Chalk Garden 1981 - 82
• OBIE Award Sustained Achievement 1988 - 89
• Tony Featured Actress in a Play Lost in Yonkers 1991
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Lost in Yonkers 1991

The Daily Mail is a British newspaper and the oldest tabloid, first published in 1896. ... The Lady from the Sea (Original Norwegian title: Fruen fra havet) is a 1888 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. ... BAFTA Award The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award® but is formally the Antoinette Perry Award is an annual American award celebrating achievements in theater, including musical theater. ... Headlines of the Evening Standard on the day of London bombing on July 7, 2005, in Waterloo Station The Evening Standard is a British tabloid newspaper published and sold in London and surrounding areas of southeast England. ... The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... The Joseph Jefferson Awards (The Jeff Awards) are given annually to acknowledge excellence in theatre in the Chicago area. ... Created in 1955, the Drama Desk Award was created to recognize Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows in addition to Broadway shows. ... The Obie Awards, short for Off-Broadway Theater Awards, are annual awards bestowed by the newspaper The Village Voice on theater artists performing in New York City. ...

External links

• Irene Worth at the Internet Movie Database