Cast & creator
Lee Grant
Best known for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show, Great Performances
Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, 1925) is an American actress and director. She made her film debut in 1951 as a young shoplifter in William Wyler's Detective Story, co-starring Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker. This role earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Best Actress Award at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. In 1952 she was blacklisted from most acting jobs for the next 12 years. She was able to find only occasional work onstage or as a teacher during this period. It also contributed to her divorce. She was removed from the blacklist in 1962 and rebuilt her acting career. She starred in 71 TV episodes of Peyton Place (1965–1966), followed by lead roles in films such as Valley of the Dolls, In the Heat of the Night (both 1967), and Shampoo (1975), for the last of which she won an Oscar. In 1964, she won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her performance in The Maids. During her career she was nominated for the Emmy Award seven times between 1966 and 1993, winning twice. In 1986 she directed Down and Out in America which tied for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and in the same year she also won a Directors Guild of America Award for Nobody's Child.
Also known as: Lyova Haskell Rosenthal
133
film credits
44
television credits
140
1948–2026 · acting roles
6.5
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (177)
Showing 177 of 177 credits
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
1961
Great Performances
Irina Arkadina
1971Great Performances
1971
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest
1968
The Fugitive
Millie Hallop
1963
American Playhouse
Director
1982
Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
1956
Ironside
Francesca Kirby
1967
Mission: Impossible
Susan Buchanan
1966Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Virginia Cloyd
1963
Intimate Portrait
Self
1993Intimate Portrait
Director
1993Intimate Portrait
Writer
1993
Studio One
Emily Brooks
1948
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948
The Defenders
Norma Burgess
1961The Defenders
Maria Edwards
1961
Ben Casey
1961
The Name of the Game
Edwina Booker
1968
The Big Valley
Rosemary
1965
Dinah!
Self
1974Film '72
Self
1971
ABC Afterschool Special
Director
1972
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Self
1968
The Oscars
Self
1953
Empty Nest
1988
Judd, for the Defense
1967
The Mod Squad
1968
The Ray Bradbury Theater
1985
People's Choice Awards
Self
1975
Mulholland Drive
Louise
2001
ABC Stage 67
Laura
1966ABC Stage 67
Ruth
1966Festival
Lizzie
1963
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self
1973
Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War
Self - Actress
2024Playwrights '56
1955
Damien - Omen II
Ann Thorn
1978Wedden, dat..?
Self
1986
The Mafu Cage
Ellen
1978
In the Heat of the Night
Mrs. Leslie Colbert
1967
Mussolini: The Untold Story
Rachele Mussolini
1985
Valley of the Dolls
Miriam Polar
1967
Backstairs at the White House
Grace Coolidge
1979
Bare Essence
Ava Marshall
1982
Defending Your Life
Lena Foster
1991
Voyage of the Damned
Lili Rosen
1976
Shampoo
Felicia Karpf
1975
Dr. T & the Women
Dr. Harper
2000
It's My Party
Amalia Stark
1996
Visiting Hours
Deborah Ballin
1982
There Was a Crooked Man...
Mrs. Bullard
1970
Airport '77
Karen Wallace
1977Fay
Fay Stewart
1975
Peyton Place
Stella Chernak
1964
The Swarm
Anne MacGregor
1978
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
Mrs. Sylvia Lupowitz
1981
Middle of the Night
Marilyn
1959
Inside the Actors Studio
Self
1994
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
Self
1997
The Big Town
Ferguson Edwards
1987
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster
Self
2021
Detective Story
Shoplifter
1951
Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
Fritzie Braddock
1968
Poor Liza
Countess Ekaterina
2000
Marooned
Celia Pruett
1969
Ransom for a Dead Man
Leslie Williams
1972
Hello Actors Studio
Self
1988
No Place Like Home
Director
1989Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret
Self
1990
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
Clarisse Ethridge
1979
Seasons of the Heart
Director
1994
The Internecine Project
Jean Robertson
1974
Teachers
Dr. Donna Burke
1984
Divorce American Style
Dede Murphy
1967
Citizen Cohn
Dora Cohn
1992
The John Garfield Story
Self
2003
Little Miss Marker
The Judge
1980
The Substance of Fire
Cora Cahn
1996
A Matter of Sex
Director
1984
Lieutenant Schuster's Wife
Ellie Schuster
1972
The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro
Marilyn Klinghoffer
1989
The Golden Girls: Lifetime Intimate Portrait Series
Director
2003
The Million Dollar Face
Evalyna
1981
Earth and the American Dream
Reader (voice)
1992
Under Heat
Jane
1994
The Omen Legacy
Self
2001
Will There Really Be a Morning?
Lillian Farmer
1983
Thou Shalt Not Kill
Maxine Lochman
1982
The World of Sholom Aleichem
The Goatseller / Avenging Angel
1959
A Father… A Son… Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Director
2005A Father… A Son… Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Producer
2005
Partners in Crime
Judge Meredith Leland
1973
For Ladies Only
Anne Holt
1981
Staying Together
Director
1989
Dangerous Citizen: The Life and Times of Abraham Polonsky
Self
2026
In My Daughter's Name
Maureen Leeds
1992
Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story
Carol Gertz
1992
Tell Me a Riddle
Flight Attendant (voice)
1980Tell Me a Riddle
Director
1980
Perilous Voyage
Virginia Monroe
1976
Nobody's Child
Director
1986
Storm Fear
Edna
1955
You Can't Go Home Again
Esther Jack
1979
What Are Best Friends For?
Adele Ross
1973
Hal
Self
2019
Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls'
Miriam (archive footage)
2006
Down and Out in America
Narrator (voice)
1986Down and Out in America
Director
1986
The Landlord
Joyce Enders
1970
A Billion for Boris
Sascha Harris
1984
Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light
Narrator
2000Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light
Director
2000
Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
Self
2014
Plaza Suite
Norma Hubley
1971
Pie in the Sky
Suzy
1964
Plaza Suite
Norma Hubley / Muriel Tate / Karen Nash
1982
The Love Song of Barney Kempinski
Laura
1968
Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval
Narrator
1995
Truth and Lies: The Family Manson
2017
What Sex Am I?
Self
1985What Sex Am I?
Director
1985
She Said No
D.A. Doris Cantore
1990
Seeing is Believing: Women Direct
Self
2017
Three Plays by Tennessee Williams
Jane (Segment "Moony's Kid Don't Cry")
1958
For the Use of the Hall
Director
1975
Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale
Director
1985
The Loretta Claiborne Story
Director
2000
The Good Doctor
Various Roles
1978
TVTV Looks at the Oscars
Self
1976
The Big Bounce
Joanne
1969
Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties
Self
2001
Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood
Self
2023
Actresses Turned Producer/Directors
2014
An Affair of the Skin
Katherine McCleod
1963
Why Me?
Narrator (voice)
1974
Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist: None Without Sin
Self
2003
Reunion
Director
1994
Going Shopping
Winnie
2005
Portnoy's Complaint
Sophie Portnoy
1972
Night Slaves
Marjorie Howard
1970
Baghdad ER
Executive Producer
2006Deadlock
Virginia Cloyd
1967
Calling the Shots
Self
1988
The Spell
Marion Matchett
1977Tribute To Burgess Meredith
Self (voice)
2006Intimate Portrait: Lauren Bacall
Director
1999
Following Her Heart
Director
1994
The Neon Ceiling
Carrie Miller
1971
Killian & the Comeback Kids
Ms. Hunter (voice)
2020
The Amati Girls
Aunt Spendora
2001
A Crime to Fit the Punishment
Narrator
1982
The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer
Narrator
1992Say It, Fight It, Cure It
Narrator/Host
1997Say It, Fight It, Cure It
Director
1997Say It, Fight It, Cure It
Producer
1997
Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor
Narrator (voice)
2018Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America
Narrator
1999
The Seagull
Irina Arkadina
1975Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America
Director
1999Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America
Producer
1999
The Balcony
Carmen
1963
The Stronger
Writer
1976The Stronger
Director
1976The Gun Deadlock
Director
2001
When Women Kill
Herself
1983When Women Kill
Director
1983
The Willmar 8
Narrator
1981The Willmar 8
Writer
1981The Willmar 8
Director
1981
Women on Trial
Narrator
1992Women on Trial
Director
1992Women on Trial
Producer
1992
Battered
Narrator
1989Battered
Director
1989Battered
Producer
1989