Eileen Heckart
Eileen Heckart was an
Academy Award-winning
American actress of stage, screen and television.
She was born
Anna Eileen Heckart on
March 29,
1919 in
Columbus, Ohio to a family of Irish extraction. Heckart graduated from
Ohio State University with a
B.A. in
drama.
She won the
Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the 1972 movie,
Butterflies Are Free and was nominated in 1956 for her performance as the bereaved, besotted Mrs. Daigle in
The Bad Seed. She also appeared with
Clint Eastwood in
Heartbreak Ridge playing a Vietnam War widow.
Heckart was familiar to TV audiences with starring roles in
The Five Mrs. Buchanans,
Annie McGuire,
Out of the Blue,
Trauma Center,
Partners in Crime, "Backstairs at the White House" (as Eleanor Roosevelt), and guest spots on
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (as journalist Flo Meredith, a role she carried over to a guest appearance on MTM's spinoff
Lou Grant),
Rhoda,
Murder One,
Cybill and many other shows.
A heavy smoker for much of her life, she died of cancer on
December 31,
2001, at her home in
Norwalk, Connecticut, aged 82.
She was married to John Harrison Yankee Jr. from 1944 until his death in 1997; she is survived by her 3 children and 2 step-sisters.
