**Beatrice Straight** (2 Augustus 1914 – 7 April 2001) was 'n Amerikaanse teater, televisie en rolprent aktrise. Sy was `n lid van die aangesiene Whitney familie. Sy was `n Tony en Academy Award wenner en `n genomineerde vir die Emmy Award.

Straight se eerste Broadway vertoning was in die toneelstuk *The Possessed* (1939). Vir haar rol as Elizabeth Proctor in *The Crucible* (1953) wen sy die Tony Toekenning vir Beste Aktrise in `n Toneelstuk. Haar ander Broadway rolle sluit in Viola in *Twelfth Night* (1941), Catherine Sloper in *The Heiress* (1947) en Lady MacDuff in *Macbeth* (1948). Vir die satiriese film *Network* (1976) wen sy die Academy Award vir Beste Ondersteunende Aktrise; met vyf minute en twee sekondes van skermtyd is haar vertoning die kortste ooit om `n Academy Award vir toneelspel te wen. Sy was genomineer vir `n Emmy Toekenning vir die minireeks *The Dain Curse* (1978). Straight verskyn in *The Nun's Story* (1959) as Moeder Christophe saam met Audrey Hepburn en as die parasielkundige Dr. Martha Lesh in *Poltergeist* (1982).

Vroeë lewe
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Beatrice Whitney Straight is 2 Augustus 1914 in Old Westbury, New York Stad, as die tweede van drie kinders gebore. Haar vader was die beleggingsbankier, diplomaat en weermag offisier Willard Dickerman Straight en haar moeder, Dorothy Payne Whitney, `n lid van die Whitney familie en `n sosiale aktivis. In 1918 sterf haar vader aan griep in Frankryk gedurende die groot griep epidemie terwyl hy sy diensplig met die Verenigde State se weermag gedoen het. In 1925, na Dorothy Payne Whitney hertrou het met die landboukundige Leonard K. Elmhirst, trek Straight en haar gesin na Devon, Engeland. Daar ontvang sy haar opvoeding by Dartington Hall, `n landgoed wat haar moeder en stiefvader omskep het in `n eksperimentele skool en sentrum vir verkennende landbou projekte. Daar begin sy in amateur teaterproduksies optree. In die 1930s woon sy die Cornish School in Seattle by; Straight en haar moeder het belangrike weldoeners van die skool geword.

Loopbaan
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Straight het na die Verenigde State teruggekeer en haar Broadway debuut in die toneelstuk *The Possessed* (1939) gemaak. Die meerderheid van haar werk op die verhoog was in die klassieke, insluitende *Twelfth Night* (1941), *Macbeth* (1948) en *The Crucible* (1953).

Straight was `n lid van Actors Studio van die ontstaan van die organisasie, en woon die klas by wat drie maal `n week aangebied word deur stigterslid, Robert Lewis. Haar klasmaats het Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Jerome Robbins, Sidney Lumet en omtrent 20 ander ingesluit.

Straight was aktief in die vroeë dae van televisie, en verskyn in reekse soos *Armstrong Circle Theatre*, *Hallmark Hall of Fame*, *Kraft Television Theatre*, *Suspense*, *Studio One*, *The United States Steel Hour*, *Playhouse 90* en *Alfred Hitchcock Presents,* en drama reekse soos *Dr. Kildare*, *Ben Casey*, *The Defenders*, *Route 66*, *Mission: Impossible* en *St. Elsewhere*. Verdere televisie optredes sluit in Hippolyta in die *Wonder Woman* reeks en Marion Hillyard, die moeder van Stephen Collins in *The Promise*.

Straight het min in rolprente gewerk, en is wel bekend vir haar rol as die verpletterde vrou wat haar ontrou man William Holden konfronteer in die prent *Network* (1976). Ten spyte daarvan dat haar karakter net kortliks verksyn op die skerm, ontvang Straight hoë lof vir haar toneelspel en wen die Academy Award vir Beste Ondersteunende Aktrise. Haar ander bekende rolprent verskyning was die rol van Dr. Martha Lesh, die paranormale ondersoeker in die gruwelprent *Poltergeist* (1982).

Persoonlike lewe
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Beatrice Straight was tweemaal getroud. Van 1942 tot hul skeiding in 1949 was sy getroud met Louis Dolivet, met wie sy `n seun, Willard Whitney Straight Dolivet, gehad het. In 1952, op die ouderdom van sewe, verdrink haar seun in `n dammetjie op hul plaas in Armonk. Die seun se vader, Louis Dolivet, het in Parys gewoon op daardie stadium, en weens sy beweerde pro-kommunistiese aktiwiteite, was hy `n visa geweier en kon dus nie die begrafnis bywoon nie.

In 1948, tydens die loop van die toneelstuk *The Heiress*, `n verwerking van Henry James se *Washington Square*, ontmoet sy Peter Cookson. Hulle trou in 1949 en het getroud gebly tot Cookson se dood in 1990. Cookson het twee kinders van sy vorige huwelik gehad: Jane Coopland en Peter W. Cookson Jr. 

Met Peter Cookson het Straight twee seuns gehad: Gary Cookson en Anthony Cookson. 

Straight het na bewering gely aan Alzheimer siekte gedurende haar laaste jare. Op 7 April 2001, sterf sy aan longontsteking in Northridge, Los Angeles. Haar teraardebestelling vind plaas by die William Henry Lee Memorial Cemetery in New Marlborough, Massachusetts.

Filmografie
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### Rolprente

| Titel | Jaar | Rol |
| --- | --- | --- |
| *Phone Call from a Stranger* | Claire Fortness | 1952 |
| *Patterns* | Nancy Staples | 1956 |
| *The Silken Affair* | Theora | 1956 |
| *The Nun's Story* | Moeder Christophe (Sanatorium) | 1959 |
| *The Young Lovers* | Mev. Burns | 1964 |
| *The Garden Party* | Mev. Sheridan | 1973 |
| *Network* | Louise Schumacher | 1976 |
| *The Promise* | Marion Hillyard | 1979 |
| *Bloodline* | Kate Erling | 1979 |
| *The Formula* | Kay Neeley | 1980 |
| *Endless Love* | Rose Axelrod | 1981 |
| *Poltergeist* | Dr. Lesh | 1982 |
| *Two of a Kind* | Ruth | 1983 |
| *Power* | Claire Hastings | 1986 |
| *Deceived* | Adrienne se moeder | 1991 |

### Televisiereekse

| Titel | Jaar | Rol | Notas |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *Somerset Maugham TV Theatre* | 1951 |  |  |
| *Lights Out* | 1951 | Charlotte |  |
| *Love of Life* | 1951 | Vinnie Phillips |  |
| *Cosmopolitan Theatre* | 1951 | Maria |  |
| *Hallmark Hall of Fame* | 1952 | Elizabeth Barrett / Louisa May Alcott | Televisierolprente *Love Story* en
*The Magnificent Failure* |
| *Armstrong Circle Theatre* | 1952 |  | 2 episodes |
| *The Web* | 1952 |  |  |
| *Kraft Theatre* | 1952-
1953 |  | 3 episodes |
| *Love Story* | 1954 |  | 2 episodes |
| *Suspense* | 1952-
1954 | Mev. de Spain / Claire Trent |  |
| *Inner Sanctum* | 1954 | Louise |  |
| *Omnibus* | 1953-
1954 | Goneril / Antigone |  |
| *You Are There* | 1954-
1955 | Anna Boleyn | 2 episodes |
| *Danger* | 1955 |  |  |
| *Studio One in Hollywood* | 1951-
1957 | Kay / Pamela Baxter | 4 epsiodes |
| *The United States Steel Hour* | 1955-
1958 | Daisy Jackson / Katherine Grant |  |
| *Playhouse 90* | 1958 | Grace |  |
| *The Investigator* | 1958 | Die Weduwee |  |
| *Play of the Week* | 1959 | Mlle. de St. Euverte |  |
| *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* | 1959-
1960 | Ida Blythe / Cynthia Fortnam | 2 episodes |
| *Diagnosis: Unknown* | 1960 | Rhoda Clarence |  |
| *Dr. Kildare* | 1961 | Pamela Rainey |  |
| *Naked City* | 1962 | Ann Johns |  |
| *The Doctors and the Nurses* | 1962 | Ruth Martin |  |
| *The Eleventh Hour* | 1963 | Veronica Filmore |  |
| *Ben Casey* | 1963 | Edith Bauer |  |
| *Route 66* | 1961-
1963 | Elena De Amundo / Moeder Teresa / 
Kitty Chamberlain | 3 episodes |
| *The Defenders* | 1965 | Mev. Campbell |  |
| *Mission: Impossible* | 1966 | Dr. Martha Richards Zubrovnik |  |
| *Felony Squad* | 1967 | Victoria Cahill |  |
| *Matt Lincoln* | 1970 | Barbara Miller |  |
| *The Borrowers* | 1973 | Mev. Crampfurl | Televisierolprent |
| *Beacon Hill* | 1975 | Mev. Hacker |  |
| *The Andros Targets* | 1977 | Mev. Benderson |  |
| *The World of Darkness* | 1977 | Joanna Sanford | Televisierolprent |
| *Wonder Woman* | 1977 | Hippolyta |  |
| *Killer on Board* | 1977 | Beatrice Richmond | Televisierolprent |
| *The Dain Curse* | 1978 | Alice Dain Leggett | Minireeks |
| *King's Crossing* | 1982 | Louisa Beauchamp |  |
| *Faerie Tale Theatre* | 1984 | Koningin Veronica / Vrou in die museum |  |
| *Robert Kennedy and His Times* | 1985 | Rose Kennedy | Minireeks |
| *Chiller* | 1985 | Marion Creighton | Televisierolprent |
| *Under Siege* | 1986 | Margaret Sloan | Televisierolprent |
| *Jack and Mike* | 1988 | Mike se moeder |  |
| *St. Elsewhere* | 1988 | Marjorie Andrews |  |
| *Run Til You Fall* | 1988 | Margaret | Televisierolprent |
| *People Like Us* | 1990 | Maisie Verdurin | Televisierolprent |

### Teaterloopbaan

#### Broadway

| Titel | Datum | Rol | Notas |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *The Possessed* | Okt. 24, 1939 - Nov. 4, 1939 | Lisa |  |
| *Twelfth Night* | Des. 2, 1941 - Des. 13, 1941 | Viola |  |
| *Land of Fame* | Sep. 21, 1943 - Sep. 25, 1943 | Angela |  |
| *The Wanhope Building* | Feb. 9, 1947 - Feb. 16, 1947 | Felina |  |
| *The Heiress* | Sep. 29, 1947 - Sep. 18, 1948 | Catherine Sloper | Vervang Wendy Hiller |
| *Eastward in Eden* | Nov. 18, 1947 - Nov. 29, 1947 | Emily Dickinson |  |
| *Macbeth* | Mar. 31, 1948 - Apr. 24, 1948 | Lady Macduff |  |
| *The Innocents* | Feb. 1, 1950 - Jun. 3, 1950 | Mej. Giddens |  |
| *The Grand Tour* | Des. 10, 1951 - Des. 15, 1951 | Nell Valentine |  |
| *The Crucible* | Jan. 22, 1953 - Jul. 11, 1953 | Elizabeth Proctor | 1953 Tony Toekenning vir Beste 
Aktrise in `n Toneelstuk |
| *Everything in the Garden* | Nov. 29, 1967 - Feb. 10, 1968 | Mev. Toothe |  |

#### Buite Broadway

| Titel | Datum | Rol | Teater |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *Sing Me No Lullaby* | 1954 | Christine Collinger | Phoenix Theatre |
| *The River Line* | 1957 | Marie Chassaigne | Carnegie Hall Playhouse |
| *Phedre* | 1966 | Phedre | Greenwich Mews Theatre |
| *Ghosts* | 1973 | Mev. Helene Alving | Roundabout Stage II |
| *All My Sons* | 1974 | Kate Keller | Roundabout Stage I |
| *Hamlet* | 1979 | Gertrude | Circle Theatre |