Blythe Danner

Blythe Danner is a graduate of Bard College. Her early stage work included the musical Mata Hari and the Off-Broadway production of Summertree. She appeared on Broadway in Cyrano de Bergerac and received a Theatre World Award for The Miser. In 1970 she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Butterflies Are Free.

Danner began appearing in film and television in the early 1970s. She portrayed Martha Jefferson in the film adaptation of 1776 and appeared in the Columbo episode “Étude in Black” (1972). That same year she starred opposite Alan Alda in To Kill a Clown (1972) and later appeared on M*A*S*H. Her early screen credits also include the television series Adam’s Rib and the television film F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' (1974). She starred in the film Lovin’ Molly (1974) and appeared in Futureworld (1976).

During the 1980s and 1990s she continued appearing in film and television, including The Great Santini (1979), the television film Inside the Third Reich (1982), and Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986). She also appeared in The Prince of Tides (1991) and starred in Hallmark Hall of Fame television films including Saint Maybe and Back When We Were Grownups.

Danner later appeared in the comedy film Meet the Parents (2000) and its sequels Meet the Fockers (2004) and Little Fockers (2010), and is set to return in a fourth installment scheduled for release in 2026. On television, she had a recurring role as Marilyn Truman on Will & Grace (2001–2006) and starred in the series Huff (2004–2006), winning the Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in Huff in 2005 and 2006. She has also performed regularly at the Williamstown Theatre Festival for more than two decades.