Colleen Dewhurst

The Voice That Broke Broadway's Glass Ceiling

That baritone voice didn't belong to a man. It was a deep sound with a texture reminiscent of old leather and tobacco smoke. Colleen Dewhurst didn't fit the mold of the delicate actresses who dominated the New York stage in the mid-twentieth century. She had broad cheekbones and a laugh that could fill an entire theater without a microphone.

Born in Montreal in 1924.

Her arrival in New York was no bed of roses. For years she juggled jobs as a receptionist and elevator operator while waiting for an opportunity that never came. Her look wasn't that of an ingenue, and casting directors didn't know what to do with a woman who radiated such natural authority.

And then Eugene O’Neill came into her life.

Dewhurst's relationship with O’Neill's plays defined her career. In 1956, she took part in a production of Desire Under the Elms that made it clear no one understood American rural tragedy better. She didn't just play characters; she inhabited them with an almost violent physical force that unsettled and fascinated audiences in equal measure.

Two Marriages and a Volcanic Setting

Her personal life was marked by the storm that was George C. Scott. They married and divorced twice in a whirlwind of alcohol, talent and arguments that fueled the tabloids of the time. Yet their professional chemistry was undeniable. Together they brought to life projects that other actors avoided because of their emotional intensity.

It was the 1960s, and theater was her one true religion.

In 1973, she won her second Tony Award for A Moon for the Misbegotten. Her performance as Josie Hogan is still considered the gold standard for the role. Dewhurst brought a mix of vulnerability and strength that few had managed to find in the original text. She worked with Spartan discipline and demanded the same from her castmates.

But widespread recognition came from an unexpected direction.

For millions of viewers around the world, she will always be Marilla Cuthbert. In 1985, she agreed to take part in the Canadian miniseries Anne of Green Gables. Her portrayal of the austere woman from Prince Edward Island who ends up opening her heart to a red-haired orphan brought her late international fame, which she handled with complete ease.

The Office and the End of the Road

She didn't limit herself to acting. Between 1985 and 1991, she served as president of the Actors’ Equity Association. It was a challenging period in which she had to manage the early devastation of the AIDS crisis within the theater community. She fought for better health insurance and for relief funds for actors left without resources when they fell ill.

Television gave her financial stability in her final years.

She appeared in TV series such as Murphy Brown, where she played the protagonist's mother and earned two Emmy Awards for her brief but powerful appearances. In 1989 she filmed Termini Station, and in 1991 she appeared in Dying Young, one of her last roles on screen before her health declined for good.

She died at her home in South Salem in August 1991. She was only two days away from receiving an honorary award from the American Theatre Wing, which she never got to accept. The cause of death was cervical cancer, which she chose not to treat due to her strict beliefs in Christian Science. She left behind two children and a collection of recordings that are still studied in New York acting schools.