43 Facts About Lois Smith

Lois Arlene Smith is an American actress whose career spans eight decades.

Lois Smith made her film debut in the 1955 drama film East of Eden, and later played supporting roles in a number of movies, including Five Easy Pieces, Resurrection, Fatal Attraction, Fried Green Tomatoes, Falling Down, How to Make an American Quilt, Dead Man Walking, Twister, Minority Report, The Nice Guys, Lady Bird, and The French Dispatch.

In 2017, Smith received critical acclaim for her leading performance in the science-fiction drama film Marjorie Prime, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards and Saturn Award, and won a Satellite Award.

Lois Smith has had many roles on daytime and primetime television.

Lois Smith was a regular cast member in the HBO horror drama True Blood, and received a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series nomination for The Americans.

Lois Smith is known for her extensive work in the theatre.

Lois Smith starred in an acclaimed Off-Broadway revival of The Trip to Bountiful in 2005 for which she received an Obie Award for Best Actress, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a Drama Desk Award.

Lois Smith is an ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Lois Smith was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007 for her outstanding contributions to the theatre.

Lois Smith has taught, directed, and written for the stage.

Lois Smith's family included her two sisters, Alice and Marvelle, and three brothers, William, Dilman, and Phillip, all of whom are now deceased.

Lois Smith's father moved the family to Seattle when Lois was 11 years old, and he was involved heavily in the church, staging plays there in which young Lois performed.

Lois Smith studied theatre at the University of Washington but did not graduate.

Lois Smith was mentored in her early years in New York City by John Van Druten.

Lois Smith made her Broadway debut in 1952 at age 22 in the play Time Out for Ginger as Joan, with Nancy Malone as Ginger and Melvyn Douglas as their father.

Lois Smith followed this in 1955 with The Wisteria Trees, a play that starred Helen Hayes.

In 1957, Lois Smith originated the role of Carol Cutrere in Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, which starred Maureen Stapleton.

From 1965 to 1967, Lois Smith starred in several plays as a company member with the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia with Andre Gregory.

Lois Smith is a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, founded by Curt Dempster in 1968.

Lois Smith played the lead female role in Steve Tesich's play Touching Bottoms in 1978.

Lois Smith originated the stage role, and after going on tour, the production reached Broadway in 1990 and Lois Smith earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Also in 1988, Lois Smith originated the role of Mrs Campbell in Horton Foote's The Man Who Climbed the Pecan Trees.

Lois Smith has been an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company since 1993.

In 1995, Lois Smith starred as Halie in a revival of Buried Child by Sam Shepard at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company that transferred to Broadway in 1996, and for which she received her second nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

In 1997, Lois Smith played the role of Betty in Defying Gravity by Jane Anderson Off-Broadway.

In 2005, Lois Smith starred in an Off-Broadway production of The Trip to Bountiful as Carrie Watts with the Signature Theatre Company, for which she received an Obie Award for Best Actress, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a Drama Desk Award.

In 2010, Lois Smith played Vera in Amy Herzog's After the Revolution, for which she was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award.

Lois Smith was featured in Annie Baker's play John, which opened Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre Company on July 22,2015, and ran to September 6.

Lois Smith's performance was praised, but the play received negative reviews from a variety of outlets from The New York Times to The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap.

Lois Smith made her film debut in 1955 directed by Elia Kazan in the drama film East of Eden with James Dean, Julie Harris, and Jo Van Fleet.

Lois Smith then focused on television work, not making a film until The Way We Live Now in 1970.

Lois Smith then earned critical acclaim for her role as Partita Dupea, the sister of Jack Nicholson's character in Five Easy Pieces, and Smith won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2017, Lois Smith appeared in the science-fiction drama film Marjorie Prime, for which she won the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 22nd ceremony.

Lois Smith was later cast in The French Dispatch, a drama film written and directed by Wes Anderson.

Lois Smith made her television debut in 1953 on Kraft Television Theatre.

Lois Smith performed on many series through the 1950s and 1960s, guest-starring on Naked City, The Doctors, Dr Kildare, and The Defenders.

Lois Smith did four episodes of Route 66, and in 1967 performed in Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night on CBS Playhouse with Shirley Booth.

In 1978, Lois Smith played the lead role of Stacey MacAindra in the teleplay Stacey based on Margaret Laurence's The Fire Dwellers.

Lois Smith played supporting roles in the Emmy-nominated TV films Rage of Angels, The Execution of Raymond Graham, Switched at Birth and Skylark.

Lois Smith guest-starred on two episodes of The Equalizer and one episode of Thirtysomething in 1991.

In 2002, Lois Smith appeared in The Laramie Project and in 2004 she portrayed Anna Howard Shaw in the Emmy-nominated film Iron Jawed Angels.

Lois Smith played Adele Stackhouse, the grandmother of Anna Paquin's character on True Blood and played the mother-in-law of Felicity Huffman's character on Desperate Housewives.

In 2015, Lois Smith was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer for her role in an episode of The Americans.