Lois Smith

Lois Smith made her Broadway debut in Time Out for Ginger (1952), playing Joan. She followed with The Wisteria Trees (1955), The Young and Beautiful (1955), and The Glass Menagerie (1956), in which she performed with Helen Hayes. In 1957, she originated the role of Carol Cutrere in Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending, and in 1958 she appeared in Edwin Booth, directed by José Ferrer.

From 1965 to 1967, Smith was a company member of the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia. She is also a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, founded in 1968. She returned to Broadway in The Iceman Cometh (1973). Her subsequent stage credits included Harry Outside (1975), Touching Bottoms (1978), Hillbilly Women (1979), and The Stick Wife (1987), in which she played Jessie Bliss with the Hartford Stage Company.

In 1988, Smith originated the role of Ma Joad in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of The Grapes of Wrath. The production toured before transferring to Broadway in 1990, earning Smith a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Also in 1988, she originated the role of Mrs. Campbell in The Man Who Climbed the Pecan Trees. In 1989, she played Mistress Overdone in an Off-Broadway production of Measure for Measure.

Smith became an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1993. In 1995, she starred as Halie in Steppenwolf's revival of Buried Child, which transferred to Broadway in 1996 and earned her a second Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her later stage work included Defying Gravity (1997), Impossible Marriage (1998), Mother Courage and Her Children (2001), The Royal Family (2002), The Trip to Bountiful (2005), After the Revolution (2010), Heartless (2012), My Old Friends (2013), Marjorie Prime (2014), John (2015), and Peace for Mary Frances (2018). For The Trip to Bountiful, she received an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk Award. She received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for After the Revolution.

Smith made her film debut in East of Eden (1955), followed by Strange Lady in Town (1955). After returning to film with The Way We Live Now (1970), she appeared in Five Easy Pieces (1970), for which she won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other film credits in the 1970s and 1980s included Up the Sandbox, Next Stop, Greenwich Village, Resurrection (1980), Foxes (1980), Four Friends (1981), Reuben, Reuben (1983), Reckless (1984), Black Widow (1987), Fatal Attraction (1987), and Midnight Run (1988).

Her film credits in the 1990s and 2000s included Green Card (1990), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Falling Down (1993), Holy Matrimony (1994), Dead Man Walking (1995), Twister (1996), Tumbleweeds (1999), The Pledge (2001), Minority Report (2002), P.S. (2004), Sweet Land (2005), Hollywoodland (2006), and Killshot (2008). In the 2010s, she appeared in Please Give (2010), The Nice Guys (2016), The Comedian (2016), and the documentary The Gettysburg Address. She also appeared in the film adaptation of Marjorie Prime (2017), for which she won the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress, and in Lady Bird (2017). She later appeared in The French Dispatch.

Smith made her television debut on Kraft Television Theatre (1953). Her early television credits included Studio One (1954), Robert Montgomery Presents (1955), Bring Me a Dream (1956), Noon on Doomsday (1956), and Cindy's Fella (1959). She also appeared in Naked City, The Doctors, Dr. Kildare, The Defenders, The Master Builder (1960), Miss Julie (1960), Victory (1960), Men in White (1960), Route 66, CBS Playhouse's Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night (1967), and Dragon Country (1970).

Smith's later television work included Stacey (1978), The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (1980), The House of Mirth (1981), Rage of Angels (1983), The Execution of Raymond Graham (1985), Switched at Birth (1991), Skylark (1993), White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd (1991), and Truman (1995). She also guest-starred on The Equalizer (1991), Thirtysomething (1991), The Practice, Frasier, Just Shoot Me!, Touched by an Angel, Cold Case, and Law & Order.

In 2002, Smith appeared in The Laramie Project, followed by Iron Jawed Angels (2004), in which she portrayed Anna Howard Shaw. She guest-starred in four episodes of ER (2007) and appeared in A Dog Year (2009). She also played Adele Stackhouse on True Blood and appeared on Desperate Housewives. In 2015, she received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Guest Performer for her appearance on The Americans. Her later television credits included Grace and Frankie (2017), Younger (2017), Mom (2019), and Law & Order: Organized Crime (2024).

Smith also had recurring and guest roles in daytime television, including Zoe Cannell on Somerset (1972–1974), Eleanor Conrad on The Doctors (1975–1977), Ella Fitz on Another World (1982–1983), Mrs. Oakes on The Edge of Night (1983), Elwinna Pendergast on All My Children, and Betsy Cramer on One Life to Live (2003–2004).