Constance Towers facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Constance Towers
Towers in 1960
Born	Constance Mary Towers (1933-05-20) May 20, 1933 (age 92) Whitefish, Montana, U.S.
Alma mater	Juilliard School
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1952–present
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Spouse(s)	Eugene McGrath ​ ​ (m. 1959; div. 1966)​ John Gavin ​ ​ (m. 1974; died 2018)​
Children	2

Constance Mary Towers (born May 20, 1933) is an American actress. She has worked in movies, on stage, and on TV. She became well-known in the 1950s for her film roles. Later, she moved to theater, starring in many Broadway shows in the 1970s. She has also been nominated for two Emmy Awards.

In 1965, Towers started her theater career. She first appeared on Broadway in the musical Anya. She also performed in Show Boat in 1966. Throughout the 1970s, she starred in four more Broadway shows. Her most famous role was Anna in The King and I in 1977 and 1978. Later, she focused on television. She played Clarissa McCandless in the show Capitol from 1982 to 1987. Since 1997, she has played the character Helena Cassadine on General Hospital.

Early Life and Discovering Acting

Constance Towers was born on May 20, 1933, in Whitefish, Montana. She was one of two daughters. Her mother was from Nebraska and had Irish family. Her father was from Dublin, Ireland, and moved to the United States. When Constance was young, her family moved around Montana. They lived in Whitefish, Missoula, and Kalispell. They also lived in Moscow, Idaho.

In 1940, when Constance was in first grade, talent scouts found her. They were looking for child actors for radio shows. Her family then moved to Seattle, Washington. For the next three years, she worked as a child radio actress. When she was 11, Paramount Pictures offered her a contract. However, her parents said no. At age 12, she worked at a small movie theater in Whitefish.

Later, her family moved to New York City. Her father got a job there at a medicine company. Constance went to the Juilliard School to study music. She also studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She learned to sing from a famous voice teacher, Beverley Peck Johnson.

Career Highlights

Early Film Roles (1955–1964)

Towers in The Horse Soldiers (1959)

While studying at Juilliard, a film agent discovered Constance. She was very lucky. An agent saw her and believed in her talent. One day, they were walking down Fifth Avenue. The manager of the St. Regis Hotel asked if she could sing. Her agent said yes, and she was asked to perform in three weeks. She learned songs and sang for critics. She received good reviews. That night, a casting director from Columbia Pictures saw her. They flew her to Los Angeles to meet Harry Cohn, the president of Columbia. She read lines with Jack Lemmon and then signed a contract.

Towers first appeared in the movie Bring Your Smile Along (1955). She then had a role in the crime movie Over-Exposed (1956). Constance is 5 feet 9 inches tall. At first, her height made it hard to get main roles in films. In 1958, she got her first main role. She played Hannah Hunter in John Ford's Civil War film The Horse Soldiers (1959). She starred alongside John Wayne and William Holden. The next year, she was in Ford's film Sergeant Rutledge (1960). This was a Western movie about crime and race.

Towers in Shock Corridor (1963)

In 1963, Towers had a role in Samuel Fuller's movie Shock Corridor (1963). This film is about a journalist who pretends to be mentally ill to solve a murder. Her role in the film was described as "hard, driving, and realistic." To prepare, Towers spent time at dance clubs in Los Angeles.

Fuller then cast Towers in a main role in his next film, The Naked Kiss (1964). This was another intense thriller. She played a woman trying to fit into a normal neighborhood. A reviewer from The New York Times said she gave a "richly amusing performance."

In the same year, Towers was in the thriller Fate Is the Hunter. This movie is about an investigation into an airplane crash. She also worked as a model for a fashion show in Reno, Nevada. Between 1961 and 1965, she appeared as a guest in five episodes of Perry Mason.

Stage and Television Work (1965–1990)

Towers in a Broadway production of The King and I, 1977

After several roles in films and TV, Towers made her Broadway debut. She played the main role in Anya in 1965. This musical did not run for very long.

Towers played Julie in a 1966 show of Show Boat at Lincoln Center. She also starred in Carousel in 1966 and The Sound of Music in 1967. She played Maria in The Sound of Music again in 1970, 1971, and 1980. These shows were at the Jones Beach Theater in Long Island, New York.

She played Anna Leonowens in The King and I in 1968. Later, she starred with Yul Brynner in a long-running revival of The King and I. This show toured and then played on Broadway from 1976 to 1978. Critics praised her performance.

In 1995, she played Phyllis in Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

From the mid-1960s to the 1990s, Towers mostly worked in theater. However, she still appeared in films sometimes. She starred in the 1974 TV movie Once in Her Life. For this role, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actress. She also played Marian Hiller in Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1971–72).

She had a main role as Clarissa McCandless in Capitol (1982–87). She played a noble widow who wanted her son to succeed in politics. She was also the long-term love of Senator Mark Denning. For this part, she was nominated for a Soap Opera Digest Award.

Television and General Hospital (1991–Present)

Towers during a visit to the set of General Hospital in 2011

Towers had a role in the film The Next Karate Kid (1994). She also appeared on TV as Audrey North in The Young and the Restless (1996). Later, she played Madame Julianna Deschanel on Sunset Beach (1997). In 1998, Towers had roles in the horror film The Relic (1997) and the thriller A Perfect Murder (1998). She played the mother of Gwyneth Paltrow's character in A Perfect Murder.

Towers is best known for her role as the character Helena Cassadine on General Hospital. She started playing Helena in late 1997. The character passed away in 2015. However, Towers made more guest appearances as Helena in 2016, 2017, 2019, and February 2020. In October 2020, Towers briefly played Helena again. Helena was heard on a phone call.

Towers also guest-starred in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Forsaken" in 1993. She appeared in other TV shows like Designing Women, Frasier, Baywatch, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Her other TV roles include State Trooper, Hawaii Five-O, The Rockford Files, L.A. Law, The 4400, and Cold Case.

In 2008, Towers starred in a Los Angeles show called Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks. The play first opened in 2001.

Personal Life

Constance Towers was first married to Eugene McGrath from 1959 to 1966. They divorced. In 1974, she married actor John Gavin. He later became an ambassador to Mexico. Constance has two children from her first marriage. She also had two stepchildren from her marriage to Gavin. John Gavin passed away on February 9, 2018.

Towers is the chairwoman of the board of directors for the Blue Ribbon. This group supports the Los Angeles Music Center.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage Credits