Stockard Channing | |
|---|---|
 Channing in 2011 | |
| Born | Susan Antonia Williams Stockard (1944-02-13)February 13, 1944 (age 81) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Radcliffe College ofHarvard University (BA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | Daniel Gillham (1990–2014) |
| Awards | Full list |
Stockard Channing (bornSusan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944)[1] is an American actress.Her accolades include threeEmmy Awards, aTony Award, and a nomination for anAcademy Award.
Channing playedBetty Rizzo in the filmGrease (1978) andFirst LadyAbbey Bartlet in theNBC television seriesThe West Wing (1999–2006). She also originated the role of Ouisa Kittredge in the stage and film versions ofSix Degrees of Separation; the 1993film version earned her anAcademy Award nomination forBest Actress.
Channing won the 1985Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for theBroadway revival ofA Day in the Death of Joe Egg, and won Emmy Awards forThe West Wing andThe Matthew Shepard Story, both in 2002. She won aDaytime Emmy Award in 2005 for her role inJack. Her film appearances includeThe Fortune (1975),The Big Bus (1976),The Cheap Detective (1978),Heartburn (1986),To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995),Up Close & Personal (1996),Practical Magic (1998), andWoody Allen'sAnything Else (2003). She also played the recurring role of Veronica Loy on theCBS dramaThe Good Wife (2012–16).
Channing was born inManhattan, and she grew up on the affluentUpper East Side.[2] She is the daughter of Mary Alice (née English),[3] who came from a largeBrooklyn Irish Roman Catholic family, and Lester Napier Stockard (died 1960), who was in the shipping business. Her elder sister is Lesly Stockard Smith, former mayor ofPalm Beach, Florida.[4][5][6]
Channing is an alumna of theMadeira School inMcLean, Virginia, a boarding school for girls, which she attended after starting at theChapin School in New York City.[2] She studied history and literature atRadcliffe College ofHarvard University inMassachusetts and graduatedsumma cum laude in 1965.[6] She received her acting training atHB Studio[7] in New York City.
Channing started her acting career with the experimental Theatre Company ofBoston; she performed in the group'sOff-Broadway 1969 production of theElaine May playAdaptation/Next.[8] She performed in a revival ofArsenic and Old Lace directed byTheodore Mann as part of theCircle in the Square atFord's Theatre program in 1970.[9] In 1971, she made herBroadway debut inTwo Gentlemen of Verona — The Musical, working with playwrightJohn Guare.[2][10] She also appeared on Broadway in 1973 in a supporting role inNo Hard Feelings at theMartin Beck Theatre.[11]
Channing made her television debut onSesame Street in the role ofThe Number Painter's female victim. She landed her first leading role in the 1973television movieThe Girl Most Likely To..., ablack comedy written byJoan Rivers[12] about anugly duckling woman, made newly beautiful byplastic surgery after an auto accident, who vows murderous revenge on all who had scorned her.[13][14] For the role, Channing went through a considerable transformation, with the syndicated column "TV Scout" reporting months later, "It was a great make-up job — at least the part that made very pretty Stockard look so ugly. She had her cheeks puffed out with cotton and her nose was wadded, too, to make it thick and off-center. Very thick eyebrows were drawn on her face and she wore padded clothes to make her look fat. Making her look beautiful was easy."[15]
After some small parts in feature films, Channing co-starred withWarren Beatty andJack Nicholson inMike Nichols'The Fortune (1975). Despite Channing being tagged "the next big thing" in cinema, and the actress herself considering this some of the best work of her career, the movie did poorly at the box office and did not prove to be the breakthrough role Channing hoped it would be. On May 22, 1977, she, along withNed Beatty, starred in the pilot for the short-lived TV seriesLucan. Lucan, played byKevin Brophy, is a 20-year-old who has spent the first 10 years of his life running wild in the forest. After being raised by wolves, Lucan strikes out on his own in search of his identity.
In 1977, at the age of 33, Channing was cast for the role of high school teenager Betty Rizzo in the hit musicalGrease. The film was released in 1978 and her performance earned her thePeople's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress.[16]
In addition, during the second half of the 1970s, Channing played a mischievouscar thief inJerry Schatzberg's 1976dramedySweet Revenge (which competed at theCannes Film Festival),Joseph Bologna's love interest in thedisaster filmspoofThe Big Bus (also 1976),Peter Falk's secretary in the 1978Neil Simon filmThe Cheap Detective, and real-lifedeafstuntwoman and former femaleland speed record holderKitty O'Neil in the TV movieSilent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story (1979).
Channing starred in two short-lived sitcoms onCBS in 1979 and 1980:Just Friends andThe Stockard Channing Show. In both shows, she co-starred with actress Sydney Goldsmith, who played her best friend in both. When her Hollywood career faltered after these failures, Channing returned to her theatre roots.[17] Nevertheless, she continued to appear in movies, often insupporting roles, including 1983'sWithout a Trace (alongsideKate Nelligan andJudd Hirsch), Mike Nichols' 1986Heartburn (re-teaming with Nichols and Jack Nicholson, and co-starringMeryl Streep),The Men's Club (also 1986; featuringRoy Scheider,Harvey Keitel, andJennifer Jason Leigh),A Time of Destiny (1988; withWilliam Hurt,Timothy Hutton, andMelissa Leo), andStaying Together (1989; directed byLee Grant, and co-starringMelinda Dillon andLevon Helm.)
Channing played the female lead in the Broadway show,They're Playing Our Song (1980–81). Channing then took the part of the mother (Sheila) in the 1981Long Wharf Theater (New Haven) production ofPeter Nichols'A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.[18] She reprised the role in theRoundabout Theater Company production, first Off-Broadway in January 1985[19] and then on Broadway in March 1985,[20] and won the 1985Tony Award forBest Actress in a Play.[2]
Channing continued her return to the stage by teaming up again with playwright John Guare. She received Tony Award nominations for her performances in his plays,The House of Blue Leaves (1986) andSix Degrees of Separation (1990), for which she also won anObie Award.[21] TheAlan Ayckbourn playWoman in Mind received its American premiere Off-Broadway in February 1988 at theManhattan Theatre Club. The production was directed byLynne Meadow and the cast included Channing in the role of Susan, for which she won aDrama Desk Award for Best Actress.[22] When once asked if Susan was Channing's most fully realized character, the actress replied:
Well, you like to think that they're all fully realized because what you're doing is different from what anyone else is seeing. You do a character but how much of it is on film, or how much of it is seen by an audience, is really up to the director, the piece, or the audience. And so, I just do these people. And flesh them out. I think anything else is not my job.[23]
Channing made her London theatre debut in 1992 at the Royal Court Theatre in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation, which then transferred for a season at the Comedy Theatre in the West End. In 2017 she returned to London to appear in Apologia at the Trafalgar Studios and again in 2021 in Night Mother at the Hampstead Theatre.
She also garnered recognition for her work in television during this time. She was nominated for anEmmy Award for the CBS miniseriesEchoes in the Darkness (1987) and won aCableACE Award for theHarvey Fierstein-scriptedTidy Endings (HBO, 1988).[2] Other TV movie credits during the latter half of the 1980s include the CBS teenage drug abuse-themedNot My Kid (1985; co-starringGeorge Segal),Hallmark's domestic dramaThe Room Upstairs (1987; withSam Waterston,Joan Allen, andSarah Jessica Parker), and the HBO thrillerPerfect Witness (1989; alongsideBrian Dennehy andAidan Quinn.)
Channing reprised her lead role as an Upper East Side matron in the film version ofSix Degrees of Separation. She was nominated for anAcademy Award and aGolden Globe Award for her performance.[17] She then made several films in quick succession:To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar as Carol Ann[24] andSmoke (both 1995); acameo appearance inThe First Wives Club;Up Close and Personal (as Marcia McGrath);[25] andMoll Flanders (all 1996). ForSmoke she was nominated for aScreen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress[26] and forMoll Flanders she was nominated for theSatellite Award for Best Supporting Actress, Drama.[27]
Channing kept busy with film, television, and stage roles throughout the late 1990s.[2] She starred in theUSA Network filmAn Unexpected Family in 1996 and its sequel,An Unexpected Life, in 1998. She was nominated for anIndependent Spirit Award as Best Supporting Female for her performance as one-half of an infertile couple inThe Baby Dance (also 1998).[citation needed] On stage, she performed atLincoln Center inTom Stoppard'sHapgood (1995) and the 1997 revival ofLillian Hellman'sThe Little Foxes. During this period, ChanningvoicedBarbara Gordon in the animated series,Batman Beyond.
Channing was nominated for theTony Award for Best Actress three times in the 1990s: in 1991, forSix Degrees of Separation; in 1992, forFour Baboons Adoring the Sun; and in 1999, forThe Lion in Winter.[28]
In 1999, Channing took on the role ofFirst LadyAbbey Bartlet in theNBCtelevision seriesThe West Wing. She was a recurringguest star for the show's first two seasons; she became a regular cast member in 2001.[17] In theseventh and final season ofThe West Wing (2005–2006), Channing appeared in only four episodes (including the series finale) because she was co-starring (withHenry Winkler) in theCBSsitcomOut of Practice at the same time.[29]Out of Practice was cancelled byCBS after one season.[30]
Channing received several awards in 2002. She won theEmmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work onThe West Wing.[31] That same year, she also won theEmmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and theScreen Actors GuildAward for Best Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries for her portrayal of Judy Shepard inThe Matthew Shepard Story, adocudrama aboutMatthew Shepard's life and murder.[31]
Channing received the 2002London Film Critics Circle Award (ALFS) forBest Actress of the Year for her role in the filmThe Business of Strangers. ForThe Business of Strangers, she was also nominated for theAmerican Film Institute Best Actress award.[32] In 2003, she was awarded theWomen in FilmLucy Award.[33]
In 2005, Channing won aDaytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children/Youth/Family Special forJack (2004), aShowtime TV movie about a young man struggling to understand why his father left the family for another man. Channing played Jack's mother.[34][35]
She was selected for the second narrator of theAnimal Planet hit seriesMeerkat Manor in 2008, replacingSean Astin, who did the first three seasons. In November 2008, she returned to Broadway as Vera Simpson in the musicalPal Joey and was nominated for the 2009Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.[36]
In 2005, Channing starred inOut of Practice withHenry Winkler, receiving an Emmy nomination for her role. She played the role of Lydia Barnes, ex-wife of Stewart Barnes (Winkler), and had two sons and a lesbian daughter (Christopher Gorham, Paula Marshall, Ty Burrell). The show aired for one season (22 episodes).
From 2012, Channing played a recurring role inThe Good Wife. She played the role of the title character's mother, Veronica Loy until the final season in 2016.
She returned to the stage in June 2010, to Dublin'sGaiety Theatre to play Lady Bracknell in Rough Magic Theatre Company's production ofOscar Wilde'sThe Importance of Being Earnest.[37] Channing appeared in the playOther Desert Cities Off-Broadway atLincoln Center and then on Broadway, as of October 2011.[38] Channing was nominated for the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play, and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play forOther Desert Cities.[39] In 2018, she played the lead inApologia, which had a limited run in London, and then moved to the Roundabout Theatre Co. in NYC.
Channing also narrated the audiobook, “Frankie & Bug”, written by Gayle Forman, released in 2021
In May 2023, Channing appeared inITV’s three part series “MaryLand” alongsideSuranne Jones andEve Best, playing a character named Cathy.[40]
In 2025 she playedClytemnestra inSophocles' playElektra, starringBrie Larson in the title role and directed byDaniel Fish. The play was performed in Brighton before moving to London in January.[41]
Channing has been married and divorced four times; she has no children.[42] She marriedWalter Channing Jr. in 1963 and kept theamalgamated name "Stockard Channing" after they divorced in 1967.[43] Her second husband wasPaul Schmidt, a professor of Slavic languages (1970–1976), and her third was writer-producerDavid Debin (1976–1980).[44] Her fourth husband was businessman David Rawle (1980–1988).[45] Channing was in a long-term relationship with cinematographer Daniel Gillham from 1990 until his death in 2014.[46] They met on the set ofA Time of Destiny.[2]
In 2019, Channing was residing inLondon.[47]
Mary Alice Fortin, philanthropist and mother of actress Stockard Channing, died Wednesday night in Palm Beach, Fla., after an extended illness. She was 97.
