Maureen Stapleton

Troy N.Y. native Maureen Stapleton (1925 – 2006), a renowned actress, is perhaps best known for her Academy Award-winning role as anarchist writer Emma Goldman in the 1981 film “Reds.” A no-nonsense performer with a remarkable talent, Stapleton has a lifetime run on the stage, screen and television, playing a wide range of characters with surprising depth and vulnerability.

In 1951, she won a Tony Award for her performance as Serafina in Tennessee Williams’ “The Rose Tattoo.” Five nominations later, she landed another Tony in 1971 for “The Gingerbread Lady.”

In 1958 she received an Academy Award (Oscar) nomination for her role in the film “Lonelyhearts,” and an Emmy Award in 1968 for her role in “Among the Paths to Eden.” She had popular and widely seen performances in “Airport” (for which she received another Oscar nomination) and “Cocoon.”

Never one to flaunt her celebrity, this actor’s actor said that the key to acting was to “keep the audience awake.”