Jane Alexander | |
|---|---|
 Alexander in 2008 | |
| Born | Jane Quigley (1939-10-28)October 28, 1939 (age 86) Boston,Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | Sarah Lawrence College (BA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Jace Alexander |
| Relatives | Maddie Corman (daughter-in-law) |
| Chair of theNational Endowment for the Arts | |
| In office October 1993 – October 1997 | |
| Preceded by | John Frohnmayer |
| Succeeded by | Kathryn Higgins |
Jane Alexander (néeQuigley; born October 28, 1939)[1] is an American-Canadian actress and author. She is the recipient of twoPrimetime Emmy Awards, aTony Award, and nominations for fourAcademy Awards, and threeGolden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997, Alexander served as the chairwoman of theNational Endowment for the Arts.
Alexander won the 1969Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in the Broadway production ofThe Great White Hope. Other Broadway credits include6 Rms Riv Vu (1972),The Night of the Iguana (1988),The Sisters Rosensweig (1993) andHonour (1998). She has received a total of eight Tony Award nominations and was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.[2]
Her film breakthrough came with the romantic dramaThe Great White Hope (1970), which earned her a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress. Her subsequent Oscar nominations were for her roles inAll the President's Men (1976),Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), andTestament (1983). An eight-time Emmy nominee, she received her first nomination for playingEleanor Roosevelt inEleanor and Franklin (1976), a role that required her to age from 18 to 60. She has won twoPrimetime Emmy Awards forPlaying for Time (1980) andWarm Springs (2005).
Alexander was born Jane Quigley inBoston,Massachusetts, daughter of Ruth Elizabeth (née Pearson), a nurse, and Thomas B. Quigley, an orthopaedic surgeon.[citation needed] She graduated fromBeaver Country Day School, an all-girls school inChestnut Hill outside of Boston, where she discovered her love of acting.[3]
Encouraged by her father to go to college before embarking on an acting career, Alexander attendedSarah Lawrence College inBronxville, New York, where she concentrated on theater but also studied mathematics with an eye toward computer programming in the event that she failed as an actress. Also while at Sarah Lawrence, she shared an apartment withHope Cooke, who would become Queen Consort of the last king ofSikkim. Alexander spent her junior year studying at theUniversity of Edinburgh in Scotland where she participated in theEdinburgh University Dramatic Society. The experience solidified her determination to continue acting.[3]
Alexander made her Broadway debut in 1963, replacing Phyllis Wynn asSandy Dennis' standby inA Thousand Clowns. She reportedly performed the role a handful of times.[4] Alexander's major break in acting came in 1967 when she played Eleanor Backman in the original production ofHoward Sackler'sThe Great White Hope at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. Like her co-star,James Earl Jones, she went on to play the part both onBroadway (1968), winning a Tony Award for her performance, and in the film version (1970), which earned her an Oscar nomination.[5] Alexander's additional screen credits includeAll the President's Men (1976),Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), andTestament (1983), all of which earned her Oscar nods,Brubaker (1980),The Cider House Rules (1999), andFur (2006), in which she played Gertrude Nemerov, mother ofDiane Arbus, played in the film byNicole Kidman.
The playThe Time of Your Life was revived on March 17, 1972, at theHuntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles with Alexander,Henry Fonda,Gloria Grahame,Lewis J. Stadlen,Richard Dreyfuss,Ron Thompson,Strother Martin,Richard X. Slattery, andPepper Martin among the cast withEdwin Sherin directing.[6][7]
Alexander portrayedEleanor Roosevelt in two television productions,Eleanor and Franklin (1976) andEleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977); she also played FDR's mother,Sara Delano Roosevelt, inHBO'sWarm Springs (2005) withKenneth Branagh andCynthia Nixon, a role which garnered her an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Alexander co-starred withRachel Roberts in Steven Gether's teleplay and production ofA Circle of Children (1977), based on Mary MacCracken's autobiographical book about emotionally disturbed children (with an emphasis onautism), which won Gether an Emmy. Alexander also starred in its sequel,Lovey: A Circle of Children, Part II (1978).
In 1979, theSupersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Alexander's name and picture.[8]
Alexander's other television films includeArthur Miller'sPlaying for Time, co-starringVanessa Redgrave, for which Alexander won another Emmy Award;Malice in Wonderland (as famed gossip-mongerHedda Hopper);Blood & Orchids; andIn Love and War (1987) co-starringJames Woods, which tells the story of James and SybilStockdale during Stockdale's eight years as a US prisoner of war in Vietnam. Alexander also played the protagonist, Dr. May Foster, in theHBO drama seriesTell Me You Love Me. Her character, a psychotherapist, serves as the connecting link between three couples coping with relational and sexual difficulties. The show's frank portrayal of "senior" sexuality and explicit sex scenes generated controversy, although it won a rare endorsement by theAARP. She also had a minor role as Dr. Graznik inThe Ring.
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Booknotes interview with Alexander onCommand Performance: An Actress in the Theater of Politics, August 13, 2000,C-SPAN |
In 1993,PresidentBill Clinton appointed Alexander chairperson of theNational Endowment for the Arts, the organization that had provided partial funding forThe Great White Hope at Arena Stage. Alexander moved to Washington, DC, and served as chair of the NEA until 1997. Her book,Command Performance: an Actress in the Theater of Politics (2000), describes the challenges she faced heading the NEA at a time when the 104thU.S. Congress, headed byNewt Gingrich, unsuccessfully strove to shut it down.[3] She was elected a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.[9]
In 2004, Alexander, together with her husband,Edwin Sherin, joined the theater faculty atFlorida State University.[10] She serves on various boards, including theWildlife Conservation Society, theNational Audubon Society,[11] Project Greenhope, the National Stroke Association, and Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, and she has received the Israel Cultural Award and the Helen Caldicott Leadership Award. Alexander is also a fellow of theInternational Leadership Forum.[12] In 2009 Alexander starred in Thom Thomas's playA Moon to Dance By at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was directed by her husband, Edwin Sherin.
Alexander met her first husband, Robert Alexander, in the early 1960s in New York City, where both were pursuing acting careers. They had one son,Jace Alexander, in 1964, and the couple divorced a decade later. Alexander had been acting regularly in various regional theaters when she met producer/directorEdwin Sherin inWashington, DC, where he was artistic director atArena Stage. Alexander starred in the original theatrical production ofThe Great White Hope under Sherin's direction at Arena Stage prior to the play's Broadway debut. The two became good friends and, once divorced from their respective spouses,[citation needed] became romantically involved, marrying in 1975. Between the two, they have four children, Alexander's son Jace and Sherin's three sons, Tony, Geoffrey, and Jon.[3] She and Sherin becameCanadian citizens, having maintained a home inLockeport, Nova Scotia starting in 1998.[13] Edwin Sherin died at the age of 87, in Nova Scotia, on May 4, 2017.[14][15]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | N.Y.P.D. | Episode "The Night Watch" | |
| Adam-12 | Flo the Records Clerk | Episode "Log 112: You Blew It" (uncredited) | |
| 1972 | Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol | Anne Palmer | |
| 1973 | Miracle on 34th Street | Karen Walker | |
| 1974 | This Is the West That Was | Sarah Shaw | |
| 1975 | Death Be Not Proud | Frances Gunther | |
| 1976 | Eleanor and Franklin | Eleanor Roosevelt, age 18–60 | Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special |
| 1977 | A Circle of Children | Mary MacCracken | CBS two night mini-series adapted from Mary MacCracken's autobiographical book. |
| Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years | Eleanor Roosevelt | Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special | |
| 1978 | A Question of Love | Barbara Moreland | a.k.a.A Purely Legal Matter |
| Lovey: A Circle of Children, Part II | Mary MacCracken | Two night mini-series adapted from Mary MacCracken's second autobiographical book. | |
| 1980 | Playing for Time | Alma Rose | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special |
| 1981 | Dear Liar | Mrs. Patrick Campbell | |
| 1982 | In the Custody of Strangers | Sandy Caldwell | |
| 1984 | When She Says No | Nora Strangis | |
| Calamity Jane | Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Canary | Bronze Wrangler Award for Fictional Television Drama Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special | |
| 1985 | Malice in Wonderland | Hedda Hopper | a.k.a.The Rumor Mill Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special |
| 1986 | Blood & Orchids | Doris Ashley | |
| 1987 | In Love and War | Sybil Stockdale | |
| 1988 | A Friendship in Vienna | Hannah Dournenvald | Nominated—CableACE Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie |
| Open Admissions | Ginny Carlsen | ||
| 1990 | Daughter of the Streets | Peggy Ryan | |
| 1991 | A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz | Georgia O'Keeffe | |
| 1992 | Stay the Night | Blanche Kettman | |
| 1993 | New Year | Elsie Robertson | |
| 2000 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Regina Mulroney | Episode: "Entitled"(also forLaw & Order episode "Entitled: Part 2") Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series |
| Law & Order | Regina Mulroney | Episode: "Entitled: Part 2" | |
| 2001 | Jenifer | Marilyn Estess | |
| Bitter Winter | |||
| 2004 | Freedom: A History of Us | Jane Addams | Episode: "Yearning to Breathe Free" |
| Carry Me Home | Mrs. Gortimer | Nominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children/Youth/Family Special | |
| 2005 | Warm Springs | Sara Delano Roosevelt | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
| 2006 | The Way | Helen Warden | |
| 2007 | Tell Me You Love Me | Dr. May Foster | 10 episodes |
| 2008 | Louisa May Alcott | Ednah Cheney | |
| 2011 | Deck the Halls | Nora Regan Reilly | |
| 2011–2015 | The Good Wife | Judge Suzanne Morris | 5 episodes |
| 2011 | William & Catherine: A Royal Romance | Queen Elizabeth II | |
| 2013–2014 | The Blacklist | Diane Fowler | 4 episodes |
| 2013 | Forgive Me | Bookie | 5 episodes |
| 2014 | The Divide | Elizabeth | 2 episodes |
| 2014–2016 | Elementary | C. | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | The Book of Negroes | Maria Witherspoon | Episode #1.5 |
| Forever | Nora Morgan | Episode: "Social Engineering" | |
| 2017–2018 | The Good Fight | Judge Suzanne Morris | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | Modern Love | Margot | Episode: "The Race Grows Sweeter Near Its Final Lap" |
| 2020 | Tales From The Loop | Klara | 3 episodes |
| 2025 | Severance | Celestine "Sissy" Cobel | Episode: "Sweet Vitriol" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series |
| Date | Production | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 3, 1968 – January 31, 1970 | The Great White Hope | Eleanor Bachman | Tony Award for Best Supporting or Featured Actress in a Play Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play Theatre World Award |
| October 17, 1972 – May 19, 1973 | 6 Rms Riv Vu | Anne Miller | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play |
| December 13, 1973 – May 4, 1974 | Find Your Way Home | Jacqueline Harrison | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play |
| December 17, 1975 – January 25, 1976 | Hamlet | Gertrude | |
| April 20, 1976 – May 9, 1976 | The Heiress | Catherine Sloper | |
| October 3, 1978 – December 9, 1978 | First Monday in October | Judge Ruth Loomis | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play |
| April 23, 1980 – April 26, 1980 | Goodbye Fidel | Natalia | |
| December 14, 1982 – December 18, 1982 | Monday After the Miracle | Annie | |
| June 26, 1988 – September 4, 1988 | The Night of the Iguana | Maxine Faulk | (revival) |
| November 11, 1990 – April 7, 1991 | Shadowlands | Joy Davidman | |
| January 23, 1992 – March 1, 1992 | The Visit | Claire Zachanassian | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play |
| March 18, 1993 – July 16, 1994 | The Sisters Rosensweig | Sara Goode | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play Nominated—Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play |
| April 26, 1998 – June 14, 1998 | Honour | Honor | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play |
| December 23, 2019 – March 1, 2020 | Grand Horizons | Nancy | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chair of theNational Endowment for the Arts 1993–1997 | Succeeded by |
