Dana Ivey

Dana Robins Ivey (born August 12, 1941) is an American actress. She is a five-time Tony Award nominee for her work on Broadway, and won the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her work in both Sex and Longing and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. Her film appearances include The Color Purple (1985), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), The Addams Family (1991), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Rush Hour 3 (2007) and The Help (2011).
== Early life and family ==
Ivey was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Her mother, Mary Nell Ivey Santacroce (néeMcKoin), was a teacher, speech therapist, and actress who appeared in productions of Driving Miss Daisy and taught at Georgia State University; Mary Nell was considered by John Huston to be "one of the three or four greatest actresses in the world."[1] Her father, Hugh Daugherty Ivey, was a physicist and professor who taught at Georgia Tech and later worked at the Atomic Energy Commission.[2] Her parents later divorced. She has a younger brother, John, and a half-brother, Eric Santacroce, from her mother's remarriage to Dante Santacroce.[3]
She received her undergraduate degree at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and earned a Fulbright grant to study drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.[4] She received an Honorary Doctorate (Humane Letters) from Rollins College in February 2008.[5]
== Career ==
Ivey's first job was at the age of 16, in Davison's, a department store in Atlanta. With the earnings, she bought a guitar and opened a bank account for her savings.[6]
=== Stage ===
Before making New York City her home in the late 1970s, Ivey appeared in numerous American and Canadian stage productions and served as director of DramaTech in Atlanta from 1974 to 1977, as had her mother before her from 1949 to 1966. In 1981, Ivey made her Broadway debut playing two small roles in a production of Macbeth; the following year she was cast in a major supporting role in a revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter, for which she received the Clarence Derwent Award as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in the same season (1984) – as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George and Best Featured Actress in a Play for a revival of Heartbreak House – a feat repeated by only three other actresses, Amanda Plummer, Jan Maxwell and Kate Burton.[7]
Ivey's performances in Quartermaine's Terms and Driving Miss Daisy (creating the title role)[8] earned her Obie Awards,[9] as did that in Mrs. Warren's Profession(2005).[10]
Ivey performed in the New York premiere in 2009 of The Savannah Disputationby Evan Smith at Playwrights Horizons. The comedy co-starred Marylouise Burke, Reed Birney, and Kellie Overbey.[11][12]
In July 2010 she appeared as Winnie in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett at the Westport Playhouse.[13] She appeared as Miss Prism in the Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 2011.[14]Ivey played Mrs Candour in the 2016 production of The School for Scandal at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.[15]
In December 2016, Ivey was invited by The Noel Coward Society to lay flowers on the statue of Sir Noël Coward at The Gershwin Theatre in Manhattan to celebrate the 117th birthday of "The Master".
=== Film ===
Ivey's first film appearance was in Joe Dante's 1985 science fiction fantasy film Explorers with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix.[16] Her first major screen appearance was in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple later that same year. Among her other film credits are Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the 1995 remake of Sabrina, Simon Birch, Postcards from the Edge, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Addams Family, Addams Family Values, Disney's The Kid, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Orange County, Rush Hour 3, the 2011 version of The Importance of Being Earnest, and as Sandra Bullock's character's mother, Mrs. Kelson, in Two Weeks Notice. In 2011, she played the role of Grace Higginbotham in the critically acclaimed film, The Help, and starred in Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight.
=== Television ===
In 1978, Ivey made her television debut in the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow. Her television credits include a starring role in the sitcom Easy Streetopposite Loni Anderson and guest appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Frasier, Oz, The Practice, Sex and the City, Ugly Betty, Boardwalk Empire and Monk (episode "Mr. Monk and the Other Detective").
== Filmography ==
2018 Ocean's Eight 
Diana
2017 The Leisure Seeker 
Lillian
2017 Professional Cuddler (Short) 
Gloria
2017 Madam Secretary (TV Series) 
Nelly Conlon
- The Beautiful Game (2017) ... Nelly Conlon
2015 Odd Mom Out (TV Series) 
Mrs. Hardwick
- Wheels Up (2015) ... Mrs. Hardwick
2014 We'll Never Have Paris 
Francoise
2013 Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight 
Mrs. Paige
2013 The Big C (TV Series) 
Nan
- Quality of Death (2013) ... Nan
2011 The Help 
Gracie Higginbotham
2011 The Importance of Being Earnest 
Miss Prism
2010 Boardwalk Empire (TV Series) 
Mrs. McGarry
- The Emerald City (2010) ... Mrs. McGarry
- Family Limitation (2010) ... Mrs. McGarry
- Nights in Ballygran (2010) ... Mrs. McGarry
- Boardwalk Empire (2010) ... Mrs. McGarry
2010 Ugly Betty (TV Series) 
Roberta
- All the World's a Stage (2010) ... Roberta
2010 American Experience (TV Series documentary) 
Quaker Woman
- Dolley Madison (2010) ... Quaker Woman
2009 Did You Hear About the Morgans? 
Trish Pinger
2008 Claire (Short) 
Barbara
2008/I Ghost Town 
Marjorie Pickthall
2008 The Return of Jezebel James (TV Series) 
Molly
- Needles and Schlag (2008) ... Molly
- Pilot (2008)
2007 Rush Hour 3 
Sister Agnes
2007 Broken English 
Elinor Gregory
2006 A Very Serious Person 
Betty
2005 Monk (TV Series) 
Mrs. Eels
- Mr. Monk and the Other Detective (2005) ... Mrs. Eels
2004 Sex and the City (TV Series) 
Trudy Stork
- Out of the Frying Pan (2004) ... Trudy Stork
2003 Two Weeks Notice: Additional Scenes (Video short) 
Ruth Kelson
2003 The Practice (TV Series) 
Judge Natalie Brown
- Cause of Action (2003) ... Judge Natalie Brown
2003 Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde 
Libby Hauser
2002 Two Weeks Notice 
Ruth Kelson
2002 Orange County 
Vera Gantner
2001 100 Centre Street (TV Series) 
Dr. Camille Willoughby
- Bottlecaps (2001) ... Dr. Camille Willoughby
2000 Oz (TV Series) 
Patricia Nathan
- The Bill of Wrongs (2000) ... Patricia Nathan
- Obituaries (2000) ... Patricia Nathan
2000 The Kid 
Dr. Alexander
1999 Walking Across Egypt 
Beatrice Vernon
1999 Mumford 
Mrs. Crisp
1999 A Lesson Before Dying (TV Movie) 
Edna Guidry
1998 Simon Birch 
Grandmother Wenteworth
1998 The Impostors 
Mrs. Essendine
1997 The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Video) 
Boo Levy
1997 Frasier (TV Series) 
Ms. Langer
- Three Days of the Condo (1997) ... Ms. Langer
1996 Law & Order (TV Series) 
Ms. Shore
- Girlfriends (1996) ... Ms. Shore
1995 Sabrina 
Mack
1995 The Scarlet Letter 
Meredith Stonehall
1995 Homicide: Life on the Street (TV Series) 
Margie Bolander
- Law & Disorder (1995) ... Margie Bolander
- End Game (1995) ... Margie Bolander
- Dead End (1995) ... Margie Bolander
1993 Mama's Back (TV Movie) 
Maureen
1993 Addams Family Values 
Margaret Addams
1993 Sleepless in Seattle 
Claire
1993 Guilty as Sin 
Judge D. Tompkins
1993 Class of '61 (TV Movie) 
Mrs. Julia Peyton
1993 The Adventures of Huck Finn 
Widow Douglas
1992 A Child Lost Forever: The Jerry Sherwood Story (TV Movie) 
Lois Jurgens
1992 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 
Desk Clerk
1991 The Addams Family 
Margaret Alford
1985-1990 Great Performances (TV Series) 
Gertrude / Lady Ariadne Utterword
- Hamlet (1990) ... Gertrude
- Heartbreak House (1985) ... Lady Ariadne Utterword
1990 Postcards from the Edge 
Wardrobe Mistress
1989 B.L. Stryker (TV Series) 
Gabrielle Harwood
- Die Laughing (1989) ... Gabrielle Harwood
1988 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 
Mrs. Reed
1988 Another Woman 
Engagement Party Guest
1988 The Appointments of Dennis Jennings (Short) 
Newscaster
1986-1987 Easy Street (TV Series) 
Eleanor Standard
- Spring Fever (1987) ... Eleanor Standard
- Maid in Italy (1987) ... Eleanor Standard
- The Country Club (1987) ... Eleanor Standard
- Our Kind of People (1987) ... Eleanor Standard
- Too Many Cooks (1987) ... Eleanor Standard
Show all 22 episodes
1986 Heartburn 
Wedding Speaker
1986 American Playhouse (TV Series) 
Yvonne / Naomi Eisen
- Sunday in the Park with George (1986) ... Yvonne / Naomi Eisen
1985 The Color Purple 
Miss Millie
1985 Explorers 
Mrs. Müller
1982 Macbeth (TV Movie) 
Witch
1982 Little Gloria... Happy at Last (TV Movie) 
1981 Another World (TV Series) 
Clinic Nurse
- Episode #1.4336 (1981) ... Clinic Nurse
1962 The Beachcomber (TV Series) 
Kahlana
- Tribal Law (1962) ... Kahlana
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