Lois Smith facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lois Smith
Smith in 2017
Born	Lois Arlene Humbert (1930-11-03) November 3, 1930 (age 94) Topeka, Kansas, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1952–present
Spouse(s)	Wesley Smith ​ ​ (m. 1948; div. 1970)​
Children	1

Lois Arlene Smith (born November 3, 1930) is an American actress. She has had a very long career, acting for over 70 years!

Lois Smith first appeared in a movie in 1955. It was a drama called East of Eden. She has been in many other popular movies. Some of these include Five Easy Pieces (1970), Fatal Attraction (1987), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Twister (1996), and Minority Report (2002). More recently, she was in Lady Bird (2017) and The French Dispatch (2021).

In 2017, Lois Smith was highly praised for her main role in the science-fiction movie Marjorie Prime. She won a Satellite Award for her amazing performance. She has also acted in many TV shows, both during the day and in the evening. She was a regular on the HBO show True Blood. She also received an award nomination for her role in The Americans.

Lois Smith is also very well known for her work in live theatre. She has been nominated for the prestigious Tony Award three times. In 2020, she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in The Inheritance. This made her the oldest actor to ever win a Tony Award for acting! She was also nominated for Tony Awards for her roles in The Grapes of Wrath (1990) and Buried Child (1996). She is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

In 2007, she was added to the American Theater Hall of Fame. This honor is for people who have made great contributions to theatre. In 2013, she received a special Obie Award for her excellent performances in Off-Broadway plays. She has also taught, directed, and written for the stage.

Lois Smith's Early Life

Lois Arlene Humbert was born in Topeka, Kansas on November 3, 1930. She was the youngest of six children. Her father worked for a telephone company. He passed away in 1950.

When Lois was 11, her family moved to Seattle. Her father was very involved in their church. He would put on plays there, and young Lois would perform in them. She studied theatre at the University of Washington. However, she did not finish her degree. At 18, she married Wesley Dale Smith. They met in college and later divorced in 1970. They had one daughter, Moon Elizabeth Smith.

Around 1951, Lois and her husband moved to New York City. They wanted to start their acting careers there. After working on the movie East of Eden, director Elia Kazan told her to study with Lee Strasberg. She also received guidance from John Van Druten when she was starting out in New York.

Lois Smith's Acting Career

Theatre Performances

Lois Smith first performed on Broadway in 1952. She was 22 years old. Her first play was Time Out for Ginger. She then acted with famous actress Helen Hayes in The Wisteria Trees (1955) and The Glass Menagerie (1956). In 1955, she played the main character, Josephine Perry, in the play The Young and Beautiful.

In 1957, she created the role of Carol Cutrere in Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams. She also worked with director José Ferrer in the 1958 play Edwin Booth. From 1965 to 1967, she was part of the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia. She has also been a lifelong member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre since 1968.

In 1988, Lois Smith joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. She played Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. This play was based on the famous 1939 novel. The show went on tour and then came to Broadway in 1990. Lois Smith was nominated for a Tony Award for her role.

Since 1993, Lois Smith has been a main member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. In 1995, she starred in Buried Child by Sam Shepard. This play also moved to Broadway in 1996. She received her second Tony Award nomination for this role.

In 2005, Lois Smith starred in an Off-Broadway play called The Trip to Bountiful. She played Carrie Watts. For this role, she won several awards, including an Obie Award and a Drama Desk Award.

In 2014, she played the main character, Marjorie, in a new play called Marjorie Prime. She also appeared in the play John in 2015. In 2018, she played the main role in Peace for Mary Frances.

Film Roles

Smith in 1955, in a publicity photo

Lois Smith's first movie was East of Eden in 1955. She acted alongside James Dean in this film. Her next movie was the western Strange Lady in Town. In November 1955, she was even featured on the cover of Life magazine!

After focusing on TV for a while, she returned to movies in 1970 with The Way We Live Now. She then received great reviews for her role as Partita Dupea in Five Easy Pieces (1970). She won an award for Best Supporting Actress for this role.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she played supporting roles in many films. These included Resurrection (1980), Fatal Attraction (1987), and Midnight Run (1988).

In the 1990s and 2000s, she continued to appear in many movies. Some of these were Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Falling Down (1993), Dead Man Walking (1995), and Twister (1996). She also appeared in Minority Report (2002) and Hollywoodland (2006). In the 2010s, she was in Please Give (2010) and The Nice Guys (2016).

In 2017, Lois Smith starred in the science-fiction drama Marjorie Prime. She won a Satellite Award for her performance. Later that year, she had a supporting role in the popular movie Lady Bird. She was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award with the rest of the cast. Her most recent film is The French Dispatch, which came out in 2021.

Television Appearances

Lois Smith first appeared on television in 1953. She was on a show called Kraft Television Theatre. In 1955, she played the famous Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind in a TV episode. She acted in many TV series throughout the 1950s and 1960s. She guest-starred on shows like Naked City, Dr. Kildare, and The Defenders. In 1959, she played the main role of Cindy in a modern version of Cinderella called Cindy's Fella.

In the 1970s, she was a regular cast member on the soap opera Somerset from 1972 to 1974. She also appeared on The Doctors from 1975 to 1977. She played supporting roles in TV films like Rage of Angels (1983) and Switched at Birth (1991).

In 1995, she played Margaret, the mother of Bess Truman, in the TV film Truman. She also guest-starred on popular shows like Frasier, Just Shoot Me!, and Law & Order.

In 2004, she played Anna Howard Shaw in the film Iron Jawed Angels. From 2008 to 2014, she played Adele Stackhouse, the grandmother of the main character, on the HBO series True Blood. She also played the mother-in-law of Felicity Huffman's character on Desperate Housewives.

In 2015, Lois Smith was nominated for an award for her guest role on The Americans. In 2017, she guest-starred on Grace and Frankie and Younger. In 2019, she appeared on Mom. In 2024, she appeared in several episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Lois Smith has also been in many daytime soap operas. She played Zoe Cannell on Somerset, Eleanor Conrad on The Doctors, and Ella Fitz on Another World.

Filmography

Movies

Television Shows

Theatre Performances

Broadway Plays

Off-Broadway Plays

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Lois Smith para niños