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