1. Claudia Mae McNeil was an American actress known for premiering the role of matriarch Lena Younger in both the stage and screen productions of A Raisin in the Sun.
14 Facts About Claudia McNeil
1. 2.
Claudia McNeil later appeared in a 1981 production of the musical version of the play, Raisin presented by Equity Library Theater.
3.
Claudia McNeil was twice nominated for a Tony Award, first for her onstage performance in A Raisin in the Sun, and again for the play Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright in 1962.
4.
Claudia McNeil was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for the screen version of A Raisin in the Sun in 1961.
5.
Claudia McNeil was raised by her mother after her father left the family.
6.
At the age of 12, Claudia McNeil began working for The Heckscher Foundation for Children.
7.
Claudia McNeil was advised by Ethel Waters to begin acting, and made her New York stage debut in 1953, understudying Jacqueline Andre in the role of Tituba in The Crucible at the Martin Beck Theater.
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Ethel Waters 8.
Claudia McNeil first went on in the role in mid-March 1953.
9.
Claudia McNeil acted in more films, including The Last Angry Man, There Was a Crooked Man.
10.
Claudia McNeil appeared in many TV series, including The DuPont Show of the Month, The Nurses, Profiles in Courage, and Roots: The Next Generations.
11.
Claudia McNeil was married when she was 19 to a husband whom she described as a "very wonderful man", whose name she wouldn't disclose.
12.
Claudia McNeil studied Judaism, the religion of her adoptive parents, in youth.
13.
Claudia McNeil retired in 1983 and two years later moved into the Actors' Fund Nursing Home in Englewood, New Jersey.
14.
Claudia McNeil died there on November 25,1993, aged 76, from complications related to diabetes.