Lindsay Crouse | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lindsay Ann Crouse (1948-05-12)May 12, 1948 (age 77) Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingZosia Mamet |
| Parent | Russel Crouse (father) |
| Relatives | Timothy Crouse (brother) John Erskine (maternal grandfather) |
Lindsay Ann Crouse (born May 12, 1948)[1] is an American actress. She made herBroadway debut in the 1972 revival ofMuch Ado About Nothing and appeared in her first film in 1976 inAll the President's Men. For her role in the 1984 filmPlaces in the Heart, she received anAcademy Award nomination forBest Supporting Actress. Her other films includeSlap Shot (1977),Between the Lines (1977),The Verdict (1982),Prefontaine (1997), andThe Insider (1999). She also had a leading role in the 1987 filmHouse of Games, which was directed by her then-husbandDavid Mamet. In 1996, she received aDaytime Emmy Award nomination for "Between Mother and Daughter", aCBS Schoolbreak Special episode. She is also aGrammy Award nominee.
Crouse was born at Le Roy Hospital on Manhattan'sUpper East Side,[1][2] the daughter of Anna (née Erskine)[3] andRussel Crouse, the playwright and librettist.[1] Her maternal grandparents were author and educatorJohn Erskine and his wife Pauline Ives.[4][5] Lindsay Ann Crouse's full name is an intentional tribute to the Broadway writing partnership ofLindsay and Crouse, which consisted of her father and his writing partner,Howard Lindsay. The two wrote much ofThe Sound of Music.[6] Their 1946 playState of the Union won that year'sPulitzer Prize for Drama. Their last collaboration wasMr. President in 1962. As Crouse has said: "In our family, the work ethic was held up as some kind of byword ... At any hour, somebody's typewriter was going."[7]
After graduating from theChapin School in 1966[8] andRadcliffe College in 1970,[7] Crouse began her performing career as a modern and jazz dancer, but she soon switched to acting and made her Broadway debut inMuch Ado About Nothing in 1972.[9] She received her acting training atHB Studio[10] in New York City.
Crouse's film career began in 1976, with small roles in television and theatrical movies. In 1977, she appeared as Lily Braden, the discontented wife of hockey player Ned Braden inSlap Shot. In 1982 she appeared as the decisive witness inThe Verdict. Crouse was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1984 moviePlaces in the Heart. Among her films was a starring role inHouse of Games, the 1987 filmdirected and written by her then-husbandDavid Mamet, in which she plays Margaret Ford, a psychiatrist who is intrigued by the art of thecon. "It's always hard to be directed by someone who's close to you," Crouse says. "Because everybody needs to go home and complain about the director. Everybody."[11]
Crouse has appeared in featured and guest roles in a number of television series. Notable roles include a recurring portrayal of Kate McBride, a lesbian police officer onHill Street Blues during its sixth season in 1986. This was the first lesbian recurring character on a major network.[12] Crouse is also known for her role in the fourth season ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, where she was a recurring supporting cast member playing ProfessorMaggie Walsh. Crouse has also guest-starred onAlias,CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,Columbo,Criminal Minds,Law & Order,ER,Millennium, andNYPD Blue.
In recent years, Crouse has concentrated on the theater. "Once you get your driver's license, you end your film career," says Crouse. "Look at my generation. Great actresses likeGlenn Close andSusan Sarandon—there's nothing written for anyone over a certain age."[13] In 2007, Crouse opened arevival ofThe Belle of Amherst, a one-woman show about the life of poetEmily Dickinson, at the Gloucester Stage inGloucester, Massachusetts. "You can't stop and recite something," says Crouse. "You have to keep the poetry very, very active, which is pretty easy with Dickinson. She was striving so hard to understand what life was about. It's very dramatic poetry in that way.[14]
Crouse appeared in Lee Blessing'sGoing to St. Ives with the Gloucester Stage Company during the summer of 2008[15] and provided the narration forVirginia Lee Burton: A Sense of Place, a documentary film aboutVirginia Lee Burton.[16] In 2021, she appeared in a limited engagement ofMornings at Seven at Broadway's Theatre at St. Clements.[17]
After a relationship withRobert Duvall,[18] Crouse married playwright David Mamet in 1977. The two had met during the production onSlap Shot.[19]John Lahr writes in his bookShow and Tell: New Yorker Profiles that when Mamet married Crouse in 1977, he "married into show business aristocracy". Lahr also writes that Mamet received his first screenwriting assignment through Crouse. Crouse was on her way to audition forBob Rafelson's 1981 remake ofThe Postman Always Rings Twice, and jokingly Mamet told Crouse to tell Rafelson that "he was a fool if he didn't hire me to write the screenplay." But Crouse said this to Rafelson, who called Mamet; when the director asked why he should hire him for the screenplay, Mamet replied, "Because I'll give you a good screenplay or a sincere apology." Mamet received the job.[20] She and Mamet divorced in 1990.[21] Their marriage produced two daughters, Willa andZosia Mamet.
Crouse's brother isTimothy Crouse, author ofThe Boys on the Bus about political journalism during the1972 presidential campaign.
Crouse is aBuddhist. In 2005, she organized an annual Buddhist educational program, originally held at the Windhover Center for the Performing Arts inRockport, Massachusetts,[22] and then in 2010 moved to The Governor's Academy inByfield, Massachusetts.[23] Crouse has spoken on the relevance of Buddhism in the modern world:
[Buddhism] is not an exclusive club. It has something to offer everyone at all levels ... Buddhism is dynamic and has captured the interests of Americans. Even ourquantum physics validate[s] ideas the Buddha taught 2,500 years ago.[24]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | All the President's Men | Kay Eddy | |
| 1977 | Slap Shot | Lily Braden | |
| 1977 | Between the Lines | Abbie | |
| 1981 | Prince of the City | Carla Ciello | |
| 1982 | The Verdict | Kaitlin Costello | |
| 1983 | Krull | Princess Lyssa (voice) | |
| 1983 | Daniel | Rochelle Isaacson | |
| 1984 | Iceman | Dr. Diane Brady | |
| 1984 | Places in the Heart | Margaret Lomax | |
| 1987 | House of Games | Margaret Ford | |
| 1989 | Brave Irene | Narrator (voice) | Short subject |
| 1989 | Communion | Anne Strieber | |
| 1990 | Desperate Hours | Brenda Chandler | |
| 1994 | Being Human | Janet | |
| 1995 | Bye Bye Love | Grace Damico | |
| 1995 | The Indian in the Cupboard | Jane | |
| 1996 | The Juror | Tallow | |
| 1996 | The Arrival | Ilana Green | |
| 1997 | Prefontaine | Elfriede Prefontaine | |
| 1998 | Progeny | Dr. Susan Lamarche | |
| 1999 | Stranger in My House | Patti Young | |
| 1999 | The Insider | Sharon Tiller | |
| 2000 | One Hell of a Guy | Judge Davis | |
| 2001 | Almost Salinas | Allie | |
| 2001 | Impostor | Chancellor | |
| 2002 | Cherish | Therapist | |
| 2007 | Mr. Brooks | Captain Lister | |
| 2013 | Somewhere Slow | Katherine Franklin | |
| 2023 | Chantilly Bridge | Rheza |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Eleanor and Franklin | Marjorie Bennett | TV film |
| 1976 | The Tenth Level | Karen | TV film |
| 1977 | Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years | Marjorie Bennett | TV film |
| 1980 | Paul's Case | First Actress | TV film |
| 1981 | Summer Solstice | Young Maggie Burnside | TV film |
| 1982 | Kennedy's Children | Rona | TV film |
| 1985 | ABC Afterschool Special | Louise Sanders | Episode: "I Want to Go Home" |
| 1986–1987 | Hill Street Blues | Kate McBride | Recurring role (5 episodes) |
| 1987 | The Equalizer | Sarah McGee | Episode: "Solo" |
| 1988 | American Playhouse | Ronnie | Episode: "Lemon Sky" |
| 1989 | Columbo | Dr. Joan Allenby | Episode: "Sex and the Married Detective" |
| 1989 | CBS Summer Playhouse | Annie Holscher | Episode: "American Nuclear" |
| 1990 | Everyday Heroes | Janet Florine | TV film |
| 1990 | Lifestories | Rebecca McManus | Episode: "Rebecca McManus and Steve Arnold" |
| 1990 | L.A. Law | Sharon Cummings | Episode: "Outward Bound" |
| 1992 | Batman: The Animated Series | Mrs. Grant (voice) | Episode: "I've Got Batman in My Basement" |
| 1993 | Murder, She Wrote | Louise Anderson-Crowe | Episode: "Killer Radio" |
| 1993 | Civil Wars | Dianne Ralston | Episodes: "Captain Kangaroo Court", "A Liver Runs Through It" |
| 1993 | Chantilly Lace | Rheza | TV film |
| 1993 | Final Appeal | Dana Cartier | TV film |
| 1993 | Law & Order | Diane Meade | Episode: "Promises to Keep" |
| 1993 | The Halloween Tree | Additional Voices | TV film |
| 1994 | Out of Darkness | Kim Donaldson | TV film |
| 1994 | Traps | Laura Parkhurst | Recurring role (5 episodes) |
| 1994 | L.A. Law | Sharon Cummings | Episode: "Finish Line" |
| 1994 | Parallel Lives | Una Pace | TV film |
| 1995 | CBS Schoolbreak Special | Anna Leone | Episode: "Between Mother and Daughter" |
| 1996 | ER | Dr. Anna Castiglioni | Episode: "Baby Shower" |
| 1996 | Norma Jean & Marilyn | Natasha Lytess | TV film |
| 1996 | If These Walls Could Talk | Frances White | Segment, "1996" |
| 1996 | Millennium | Ardis Cohen | Episode: "Kingdom Come" |
| 1996–1997 | NYPD Blue | Jane Wallace | Episodes: "Ted and Carey's Bogus Adventure", "Alice Doesn't Fit Here Anymore" |
| 1998 | Brimstone | Dr. Julia Martin | Episode: "Heat" |
| 1999 | Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder | Caroline Ingalls | TV film |
| 1999 | The Outer Limits | Gwen Sawyer | Episode: "Tribunal" |
| 1999 | Touched by an Angel | Kate | Episode: "Such a Time as This" |
| 1999 | Law & Order | Judge Denise Grobman | Episode: "DNR" |
| 1999–2000 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Prof. Maggie Walsh | Recurring role (9 episodes) |
| 2001 | The Warden | Maureen Redmond | TV film |
| 2001-2002 | Providence | Lauren MacKenzie | Recurring role (4 episodes) |
| 2002 | Frasier | Peg | Episodes: "Juvenilia", "The Proposal" |
| 2002 | The Division | Donna B. / Julie M. | Episode: "Forgive Me, Father" |
| 2002 | Alias | Dr. Carson Evans | Episode: "The Prophecy" |
| 2002 | Beyond the Prairie, Part 2: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder | Caroline Ingalls | TV film |
| 2002 | Arliss | Sharon 'Sydney' Perelli | Episode: "The Immortal" |
| 2003 | Hack | Beth Kulvicki | Episodes: "Forgive, But Don't Forget", "Black Eye", "Sinners and Saints", "All Others Pay Cash" |
| 2003 | Dragnet | Captain Ruth Hagermann | Recurring role (6 episodes) |
| 2004 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Dr. Mona Lavelle | Episode: "Ch-Ch-Changes" |
| 2005 | Law & Order | Judge Deirdre Hellstrom | Episode: "Red Ball" |
| 2005 | Criminal Minds | Mary Mays | Episode: "Blood Hungry" |
| 2007 | Drive | The Boss | Episode: "Rearview" |
| 2009–2011 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Judge Andrews | Recurring role (7 episodes) |
| 2010 | FlashForward | Mrs. Kirby | Episodes: "Revelation Zero: Parts 1 & 2" |
There's only a difference of one word between Lindsay and Crouse and Lindsay Ann Crouse, and that's the name Russel Crouse has given the baby girl born to his wife Wednesday night at the Le Roy Hospital.
Move actress Marlene Dietrich became a grandmother yesterday when her 24-year-old daughter, Mrs. William Riva, gave birth to an eight-pound boy. The film star visited Le Roy Hospital, 40 E. 61st St., to see her new grandson.
