Acting · Columbus, Ohio, U.S. · Born March 29, 1919
Eileen Heckart was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. Born Anna Eileen Herbert, her career spanned nearly 60 years. She first became known for her role as schoolteacher Rosemary Sydney in the original 1953 cast of William Inge's play Picnic on Broadway. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the overprotective mother of a blind adult son in Butterflies Are Free, a role she originated on Broadway before playing it in the film. She often played mothers, including Rocky Graziano's mother in Somebody Up There Likes Me; the mother of a murdered child in The Bad Seed; the elderly mother of an estranged son in the PBS production of the one-act play Save Me a Place at Forest Law; the overbearing mother of the detective portrayed by George Segal in No Way to Treat a Lady; the mother of reporter Jack Stein on the 1990s television sitcom Love & War; the mother of two separate characters on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live in the 1980s and 1990s; and the meddling mother of a jilted wife (played by Diane Keaton) in The First Wives Club, her last film role. She also had a recurring role on the 1970s sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, as Mary's Aunt Flo Meredith, a famous woman reporter, which she repeated on the subsequent spin-off series, Lou Grant. In addition to her Academy Award, she also won two Emmy Awards for Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn and Love & War, and a Golden Globe Award for The Bad Seed. She also received a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 2000, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She made her final acting appearance in 2000 at age 80 in an off-Broadway production, The Waverly Gallery, in which she played the leading role of an elderly grandmother with Alzheimer's disease. Description above from the Wikipedia article Eileen Heckart, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
MovieThe First Wives Club
1996
as Catherine MacDuggan
TVMurder One
1995
TVCybill
1995
as Marge
TVThe 5 Mrs. Buchanans
1994
as Mother Emma Buchanan
TVEllen
1994
as Grandma
MovieUltimate Betrayal
1994
as Sarah McNeil
MovieBreathing Lessons
1994
as Mabel
MovieTriumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story
1993
as Shelly
MovieStephen King's Golden Tales
1993
as Rose Pennywell
TVLove & War
1992
TVHome Improvement
1991
as Elaine Jenkins
MovieStuck with Each Other
1989
as Fay Cass
Annie McGuire
1988
MovieHeartbreak Ridge
1986
as Little Mary Jackson
TVTales from the Darkside
1984
as Rose Pennywell
TVPartners in Crime
1984
as Jeanine
TVThe Cosby Show
1984
as Mrs. Hickson
TVHighway to Heaven
1984
as Helen Spencer
TVTrauma Center
1983
as Amy Decker
MovieGames Mother Never Taught You
1982
as Martha Brewster
MovieTable Settings
1982
TV9 to 5
1982
MovieJoe Dancer: The Big Black Pill
1981
as Sister Clara
MovieF.D.R.: The Last Year
1980
as Eleanor Roosevelt
MovieWhite Mama
1980
as Three Bag Lady
MovieThe Sorrows of Gin
1979
as Rosemary
TVTrapper John, M.D.
1979
TVOut of the Blue
1979
as The Boss Angel
TVBackstairs at the White House
1979
as Eleanor Roosevelt
MovieThe Honeymooners Christmas Special
1978
as Mildred
MovieSuddenly, Love
1978
as Mrs. Malloy
TVFlying High
1978
MovieSunshine Christmas
1977
as Bertha Hayden
TVLou Grant
1977
MovieBurnt Offerings
1976
as Roz Allardyce
TVAlice
1976
TVSwitch
1975
as Annie Warren
MovieThe Hiding Place
1975
as Katje
MovieThe F.B.I. Story: The FBI Versus Alvin Karpis, Public Enemy Number One
1974
as Ma Barker
TVLittle House on the Prairie
1974
as Amanda Cooper
TVRhoda
1974
as Aunt Lillian Fiedler
MovieZandy's Bride
1974
as Ma Allan
MovieWedding Band
1974
as Herman's Mother
TVBarnaby Jones
1973
as Virginia Lennox / Steele
MovieThe Victim
1972
as Mrs. Hawkes
TVThe Streets of San Francisco
1972
as Stella 'Stell' Charnovski
TVBanyon
1972
as Mrs. Shaw
MovieButterflies Are Free
1972
as Mrs. Florence Baker
MovieAll the Way Home
1971
as Aunt Hannah Lynch
TVThe Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970
as Flo Meredith
The Tree
1969
as Sally Dunning
TVHawaii Five-O
1968
as Agatha Henderson
MovieNo Way to Treat a Lady
1968
as Mrs. Brummel
MovieUp the Down Staircase
1967
as Henrietta Pastorfield
CBS Playhouse
1966
as Janet Ferguson
TVFelony Squad
1966
TVThe F.B.I.
1965
as Mrs. Creighton
TVThe Fugitive
1963
as Sister Veronica
MovieMy Six Loves
1963
as Ethel
TVThe Mike Douglas Show
1961
as Self
TVThe New Breed
1961
as Harriet Dawson
TVBen Casey
1961
TVDr. Kildare
1961
as Nurse Jenny Freesmith
MovieHeller in Pink Tights
1960
as Lorna Hathaway
MovieA Doll's House
1959
as Kristine
TVPlay of the Week
1959
as Myrtle
TVNaked City
1958
as Mildred Pepper
MovieHot Spell
1958
as Fan
MovieThe Little Foxes
1956
as Birdie
MovieThe Bad Seed
1956
as Hortense Daigle
MovieBus Stop
1956
as Vera
MovieSomebody Up There Likes Me
1956
as Ma Barbella
TVTony Awards
1956
as Self - Nominee
MovieMiracle in the Rain
1956
as Grace Ullman
TVAlfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
as Lucy Baldwin
TVGunsmoke
1955
as Hattie Silks
Kraft Television Theatre
1953
The Trip to Bountiful
1953
as Jessie Mae Watts
TVHallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Birdie
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Florie
TVSuspense
1949
as Mollie
TVStudio One
1948
TVThe Ford Theatre Hour
1948
as Carrie
TVThe Philco Television Playhouse
1948
TVThe Ed Sullivan Show
1948
as Self
