# Roberta Maxwell

Roberta Farnham Maxwell (born June 17, 1941) is a Canadian stage, film, and television actress.

## Biography

Maxwell began studying for the stage in her early teens. She joined John Clark for two years as the child co-host of his Junior Magazine series for CBC Television. She first performed at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1956.
She appeared as Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing, Lady Anne in Richard III, Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Anne in The Merry Wives of Windsor, before going on to England, where she spent three years in repertory. She made her West End debut with Robert Morley and Molly Picon in A Majority of One.
She first traveled to New York at age 19 in 1960. She debuted on Broadway in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1968, going on to five more plays with the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1974, she was back on Broadway playing the role of Jill in Equus, which starred Anthony Hopkins and Peter Firth.
Maxwell played Lavinia Mannion (opposite Joan Hackett's Christine Mannion) in the 1978 PBS adaptation of Mourning Becomes Electra. In 1982, she starred as Rosalind in the Stratford Festival's stage production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, a production which was videotaped and telecast on Canadian television in 1983. In 2011, she played the duchess of York in Richard III In 2009-10 she appeared in two episodes of the Syfy series Warehouse 13.
Maxwell has also appeared in several noteworthy films including Rich Kids (1979), Popeye and The Changeling (both 1980), Psycho III (1986), Philadelphia (1993), Dead Man Walking (1995) and Brokeback Mountain (2005). Her performance in the 1998 independent Canadian dramady Last Night garnered Maxwell a nomination for a Genie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

## Filmography

Film :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1968 | A Great Big Thing | Eve | |
| 1979 | Rich Kids | Barbara Peterfreund | |
| 1980 | The Changeling | Eva Lingstrom | |
| 1980 | Popeye | Nana Oyl | |
| 1986 | Psycho III | Tracy Venable | |
| 1989 | Kingsgate | Marlene | |
| 1993 | Philadelphia | Judge Tate | |
| 1995 | Dead Man Walking | Lucille Poncelet | |
| 1997 | Fall | Joan Alterman | |
| 1997 | The Postman | Irene March | |
| 1998 | Last Night | Mrs. Wheeler | |
| 1999 | Water Damage | Dr. Winfrey | |
| 2001 | Full Disclosure | Sarah Archer | Direct-to-video |
| 2005 | Brokeback Mountain | Mrs. Twist, Jack's Mother | |
| 2007 | The Killing Floor | Ms. Alimet | Uncredited |
| 2014 | Hungry Hearts | Anne | |
| 2014 | What We Have | Rosemary | |
| 2015 | Stranger in the House | Alice | |
| 2015 | Unearthing | Mary Hart | |
| 2017 | Gwendolyn Green | Gwendolyn Green | Short film |
| 2020 | Percy | Louise Schmeiser | |
| 2022 | This is Harriet | Beatrice | Short film |
Television :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1957-1958 | Junior Magazine | Herself / Host | Various episodes |
| 1957 | Folio | Unknown | Episode: "Peer Gynt" |
| 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961 | Encounter | ** / Marjorie / Kathryn Loring / Laurie / Stella Meredith / Helen / Betty | Episodes: "The Movie Star"; "Lady's Choice"; "The Room"; "The Oddball"; "The Watchers"; "The Touch of Light"; "Counsel for the Defense" |
| 1960 | Just Mary | (voice) | Unknown episodes |
| 1962 | BBC Sunday-Night Play | Carolyn Claybourne | Episode: "The Day Before Atlanta" |
| 1962 | Emergency-Ward 10 | Nurse Merritt | 2 episodes |
| 1965 | Festival | Ria Hennessy | Episode: "A Cheap Bunch of Nice Flowers" |
| 1966 | Henry V | Unknown | TV movie |
| 1974 | A Touch of the Poet | Sara Melody | TV movie |
| 1974 | Great Performances | Clara | Episode: "The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd" |
| 1974 | Another World | Barbara Weaver | 91 episodes |
| 1976 | The Other Side of Victory | Unknown | TV movie |
| 1978 | For the Record | Carol | Episode: "A Matter of Choice" |
| 1978 | Mourning Becomes Electra | Lavinia Mannon | TV miniseries (four-part) – Episodes: "The Secret"; "The Homecoming"; "The Hunted"; "An Act of Justice" |
| 1979 | The Other Side of Victory | Nancy Turner | TV movie |
| 1981 | Today's FBI | Phyllis Slater | Episode: "The Bureau" |
| 1982 | Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal | Mary Belinski | TV movie |
| 1982 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Griselda / Queen Beatrice | Episode: "The Tale of the Frog Prince" |
| 1983 | As You Like It | Rosalind | TV movie |
| 1983 | Special Bulletin | Diane Silverman | TV movie |
| 1984 | St. Elsewhere | Cat Lady | Episode: "Hello, Goodbye" |
| 1986-1987 | Airwaves | Jean Lipton | 26 episodes |
| 1988 | All My Children | Nanny Judith | 1 episode |
| 1989 | Great Performances | Mrs. Webb | Episode: "Our Town" |
| 1989 | The Equalizer | Unknown | Episode: "Heart of Justice" |
| 1989 | The Hitchhiker | Marybeth | Episode: "The Dying Generation" |
| 1996 | We the Jury | Lydia Bosco | TV movie |
| 1996 | Mistrial | Judge Friel | TV movie |
| 1997 | When Innocence Is Lost | Cynthia Adams | TV movie |
| 1997 | Liberty! | Mercy Otis Warren | TV miniseries (six-part) – Episodes: "The Reluctant Revolutionaries"; "Blows Must Decide"; "The Times That Try Men's Souls"; "Oh Fatal Ambition!" |
| 1998 | As the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story | Doe | TV movie |
| 1999 | Shadow Lake | Louise Garvey | TV movie |
| 1999 | Too Rich: The Doris Duke Story | Myra | TV movie |
| 1999 | Forget Me Never | Unknown | TV movie |
| 1999 | Twice in a Lifetime | Eloise Hawke / Eileen Kotter | Episode: "School's Out" |
| 2000 | Law & Order | Teresa Brewster | Episode: "Collision" |
| 2000 | The Outer Limits | Mrs. Reynolds | Episode: "Inner Child" |
| 2000 | Life in a Day | Carla Jennings | TV movie |
| 2000 | The Dinosaur Hunter | Adult Julia | TV movie |
| 2001 | What Makes a Family | Claire | TV movie |
| 2002 | Scar Tissue | Mora Carlisle-Nevsky | TV movie |
| 2002 | Benjamin Franklin | Deborah Read Franklin | TV miniseries documentary (three-part) – Episodes: "Let the Experiment Be Made"; "The Making of a Revolutionary"; "The Chess Master" |
| 2003 | The Atwood Stories | Lois | Episode: "Death by Landscape" |
| 2004 | Gracie's Choice | Judge | TV movie |
| 2005 | Vinegar Hill | Ellen's Mother | TV movie |
| 2005 | Riding the Bus with My Sister | Valerie | TV movie |
| 2005 | Queer as Folk | Michael's Lawyer | Episode: "5.3" |
| 2006 | Booky Makes Her Mark | Aunt Aggie | TV movie |
| 2006 | The Mermaid Chair | Nelle | TV movie |
| 2009-2010 | Warehouse 13 | Rebecca St. Clair | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | Rookie Blue | Marie D'Abramo | Episode: "Bullet Proof" |
| 2014 | Theater Talk | Herself / Guest | Episode: "Dick Cavett, Roberta Maxwell and Marcia Rodd on 'Hellman v. McCarthy'" |
| 2017 | The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family | Patricia Gabriel | TV miniseries (three-part) – Episodes: "Hungry"; "What Did You Expect?"; "Women of a Certain Age" |
Theater :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1958 | Two Gentlemen of Verona | Ursula | |
| 1968 | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | Various Roles | Understudy: Sister Helena, Sandy |
| 1968-1969 | The House of Atreus | Handmaiden / Chorus | |
| 1968-1969 | The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui | Betty Dullfeet | |
| 1969 | King Henry VI | Katherine | |
| 1970 | Othello | Desdemona | |
| 1970 | Hay Fever | Sorel Bliss | |
| 1972 | There's One in Every Marriage | Lucienne | |
| 1973 | The Plough and the Stars | Nora Clitheroe | |
| 1973 | The Merchant of Venice | Jessica | |
| 1974-1977 | Equus | Jill Mason | |
| 1977 | The Merchant | Portia Contarini | |
| 1988-1989 | Our Town | Mrs. Webb | |
| 1996 | Summer and Smoke | Mrs. Winemiller | |
| 2015 | Indian Ink | Eleanor Swan | American Conservatory Theater production |
| 2016 | The Gabriels: Election Year In the Life of One Family (Hungry, What Did You Expect?, and Women of a Certain Age) | Patricia Gabriel | Play Cycle by Richard Nelson at The Public Theater |

## Awards and recognition

* 1970: Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress, Whistle in the Dark — Winner
* 1971: Drama Desk Award for Best Lead Performance, Slag — Winner
* 1977: Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress, Ashes — Winner
* 1999: Genie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Last Night — Nominee
* 2003: Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series, Scar Tissue — Nominee
* 2006: Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Ensemble, Brokeback Mountain — Winner
* 2006: International Online Cinema Award for Best Ensemble (INOCA), Brokeback Mountain — Nominee