Blythe Danner

Blythe Katherine Danner was born February 3, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is an established stage and screen actress who has enjoyed a long and varied career. Graduating from George School in Newton, Pennsylvania, she then attended Bard College, where she studied acting and received her degree. Her first roles were with several different Boston theater companies.

By the time Danner was twenty-five, she had already won the Theater World Award for her role in The Miser by Moliere, which she performed at the Lincoln Center. Just two years later in 1970, Danner also won the prestigious Tony Award for Butterflies Are Free. Following on her stage success, Danner made her film debut in 1971’s Dr. Cook’s Garden. The thriller began with a Kevorkian-like doctor (Bing Crosby) who eventually crossed the line between mercy and a God complex. Terror ensued when he began deciding who should live and die in his small town based solely on his/her conduct.

Danner’s acting prowess and training had been honed on the stage, and this translated well to film and television. Danner released at least one project every year from 1970 to 1979. The highlights of this period were the historical musical 1776 in 1972, the biopic F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Last of the Belles in 1974, an appearance on M*A*S*H in 1976, the Tennessee Williams’ production of Eccentricities of a Nightingale in 1976 and the 1979 adaptation of the Pat Conroy novel The Great Santini.

Danner took a brief reprieve, but was back on the screen in 1982 to film Inside the Third Reich as well as to host an episode of Saturday Night Live, with cast Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Eddie Murphy. She acted in a healthy number of films and television productions throughout the rest of the 1980s, and scored a hit when she once again acted in a Pat Conroy adaptation The Prince of Tides in 1991, with Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand.

Throughout the 90s, Danner once again proved what versatile acting skills she possessed. In 1992, Woody Allen cast her in a bit part in his new film Husbands and Wives. But she also showed up in silly comedies like To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar in 1995, the drag queen comedy starring Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo.

In 2000, Danner landed quite possibly her most commercial role. She portrayed Dina Byrnes in Meet the Parents opposite Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, and Owen Wilson. The film was a smash success, and Danner was nominated for a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress. Danner revived this role for the 2004 sequel, Meet the Fockers.

In 2003, Danner even teamed up with daughter Gwyneth Paltrow in the biopic Sylvia. In a case of art imitating life, Danner played poet Sylvia Plath’s mother. Seamlessly switching between the big screen and television, Danner took a recurring role on the highly successful sitcom Will and Grace, playing Will’s mother Marilyn Truman. She also appeared in the comedy-drama Huff, with Hank Azaria as the mother of a man mired in his midlife crisis. For this role, Danner won the 2005 Emmy for Best Supporting Actress.

Danner’s accolades are numerous for both stage and screen. As previously mentioned, she won the Tony in 1970 and has been nominated another three times—once in 1980 for Betrayal, again in 1988 for A Streetcar Named Desire, and lastly in 2001 for Follies. In 2005 she also became the first actress to be nominated for three Emmys in the same year.

Danner married director Bruce Paltrow in December 1969, and they were together until his death in October 2002. Paltrow died in Rome due to complications resulting from recurring lung cancer. The couple had two children, actor Jake Paltrow and Hollywood A-list actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

YUDDY