Beatrice Whitney Straight
| Beatrice Straight | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Beatrice Whitney Straight August 2, 1914 Old Westbury, New York |
| Died | April 7, 2001 (aged 86) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1939–1991 |
| Spouse(s) |
Louis Dolivet (m. 1942; div. 1949) Peter Cookson (m. 1949; his death 1990) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) |
Willard Dickerman Straight Dorothy Payne Whitney Leonard Knight Elmhirst (step-father) |
| Relatives |
Whitney W. Straight (brother) Michael W. Straight (brother) Ruth Elmhirst (half-sister) William Elmhirst (half-brother) |
Beatrice Whitney Straight (August 2, 1914 – April 7, 2001) was an American theatre, film and television actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She was an Academy Award and Tony Award winner.
Straight made her Broadway debut in 1939 in The Possessed. Her other Broadway roles included Viola in Twelfth Night (1941), Catherine Sloper in The Heiress (1947) and Lady Macduff in Macbeth (1948). For her role as Elizabeth Proctor in the 1953 production of The Crucible, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. For the 1976 film Network, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was on screen for five minutes and two seconds, the shortest performance ever to win an Academy Award for acting. She also received an Emmy Award nomination for the 1978 miniseries The Dain Curse. Straight also appeared as Mother Christophe in The Nun's Story (1959) and Dr. Lesh in Poltergeist (1982).
Beatrice Whitney Straight was born in Old Westbury, New York, the daughter of Dorothy Payne Whitney, of the Whitney family, and Willard Dickerman Straight, an investment banker, diplomat, and career U.S. Army officer. Her maternal grandfather was political leader and financier William Collins Whitney. In 1918, when Straight was four years old, her father died in France of influenza during the great epidemic while serving with the US Army during World War I. Following her mother's remarriage to British agronomist Leonard K. Elmhirst in 1925, the family moved to Devon England. It was there that Straight was educated at Dartington Hall and began acting in amateur theater productions.
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