Estelle Parsons Biography

Estelle Margaret Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American actress, singer and stage director.

After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961. During the 1960s, Parsons established her career on Broadway before progressing to film. She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Blanche Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and was also nominated for her work in Rachel, Rachel (1968).

She worked extensively in film and theatre during the 1970s and later directed several Broadway productions. More recently her television work included playing Beverly Harris, mother of the eponymous title character, on the sitcom Roseanne. She has been nominated five times for the Tony Award (four times for Lead Actress of a Play and once for Featured Actress). In 2004, Parsons was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Early life

Parsons was born in Lynn Hospital, Lynn, Massachusetts. Her mother, Elinor Ingeborg (ne Mattsson), was a native of Sweden, and her father, Eben Parsons, was of English descent.

She attended Oak Grove School for Girls in Maine. After graduating from Connecticut College in 1949, Parsons initially studied law at Boston University, and then worked as a singer with a band before settling on an acting career in the early 1950s. In a November 1, 1983 interview on The Tonight Show]], she told Johnny Carson that actor Jack Lemmon was her first boyfriend.

Career

Moving to New York City, Parsons worked as a writer, producer and commentator for The Today Show. She made her Broadway debut in 1956 in the ensemble of the Ethel Merman musical Happy Hunting. She began performing Off-Broadway in 1961, and received a Theatre World Award in 1963 for her performance in Whisper into My Good Ear/Mrs. Dally Has a Lover (1962).

In 1964, Parsons won an Obie Award for Best Actress for her performance in two Off-Broadway plays, Next Time I'll Sing to You and In the Summer House. In 1967, she starred with Stacy Keach in the premiere of Joseph Heller's play We Bombed in New Haven at the Yale Repertory Theater.

Parsons has received Tony Award nominations for her work in The Seven Descents of Myrtle (1968), And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (1971), Miss Margarida's Way (1978), and Morning's at Seven (2002). She played Leokadia Begbick in the American premiere of the Weill-Brecht opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1970), and performed as Mrs. Peachum to Lotte Lenya's Jenny in Threepenny Opera on tour and in New York City. In 1978 she played Lady MacBeth in the Kauai Community Players production. She also played Ruth in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance on Broadway in 1981. From June 17, 2008 through May 17, 2009, she played the role of Violet Weston in August: Osage County. She continued playing the role during the show's national tour beginning July 24, 2009, in Denver.

As a director, Parsons has a number of Broadway credits, including a production of Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and As You Like It in 1986. Off-Broadway, she directed Dario Fo's Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo (1983). She served as the Artistic Director of the Actors Studio for five years, ending in 2003.

In 2016, she starred in Israel Horovitz's new play Out Of The Mouths Of Babes along with Judith Ivey directed by Barnet Kellman at The Cherry Lane Theater in New York City.

In 2004, Parsons was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Her film career includes an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Blanche Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and a nomination for Rachel, Rachel (1968). She received a BAFTA Award nomination for her role in Watermelon Man (1970), and appeared in I Never Sang for My Father (1970), Two People (1973), A Memory of Two Mondays (1974), For Pete's Sake (1974), Dick Tracy (1990) and Boys on the Side (1995).

On television, Parsons played the recurring role of Beverly, on Roseanne. Other television credits include appearances in The Patty Duke Show, Love, American Style, All In The Family, Archie Bunker's Place, Open Admissions, Frasier, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Good Wife, as well as The UFO Incident: The Story of Betty and Barney Hill and the PBS production of June Moon. She played the part of Babe in two episodes of the second season of Grace and Frankie.

She was honored with a Woman of Achievement Award from the Women's Project Theater in 2009. In 2010, she appeared in London, playing psychic Helga ten Dorp in Deathtrap at the Nol Coward Theatre in the West End.

She was recently seen on Broadway in Good People and Nice Work If You Can Get It.

Personal life

Her grandson is former Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars guard/tackle, Eben Britton. Her second husband, Peter Zimroth, was appointed police monitor for the NYPD in August 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Ladybug Ladybug	JoAnn's Mother
1967	Bonnie and Clyde	Blanche	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance (2nd place)
1968	Rachel, Rachel	Calla Mackie	Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance Nominated"?Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1969	Don't Drink the Water	Marion Hollander
1970	Watermelon Man	Althea Gerber	Nominated"?BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1970	I Walk the Line	Ellen Haney
1970	I Never Sang for My Father	Alice
1973	Two People	Barbara Newman
1974	For Pete's Sake	Helen Robbins
1975	Fore Play	1st Lady / Barmaid
1989	The Lemon Sisters	Mrs. Kupchak
1990	The Blue Men	May
1990	Dick Tracy	Mrs. Trueheart
1995	Boys on the Side	Louise
1996	Looking for Richard	Margaret
1997	That Darn Cat	Old Lady McCracken

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	Today	Self	Episode dated 6 September 1954
1963		Mrs. Martin	"Metamorphosis"
1964		Carrie Bernice	"The Gambling Heart"
		Mrs. Appleton	"The Con Artist"
1965		Mrs. Meyers	"Where There's Smoke"
1966		Miss Baines	"Alarums and Excursions"
1968	Snap Judgment	Self	Episode dated 18 November 1968
	Hemingway's Spain: A Love Affair	Self (voice only)
	Kraft Music Hall	Self	Episode #11.30
		Self	Oscar winner
1970		Mollie Malloy
		Self	Episode #2.240
1971	25th Tony Awards	Self	Nominee
	Great Performances	Agnes	A Memory of Two Mondays
1972	Love, American Style	Bernice	"Love and the Clinic/Love and the Perfect Wedding/Love and the President/Love and the Return of Raymond"
	Medical Center	Bev	"Wall of Silence"
1973	Terror on the Beach	Arlene Glynn
1974		Sadie Underwood
	Great Performances	Lucille	"June Moon"
1975		Betty Hill
1976		Crossland
	NBC Special Treat	Edwina Kemp	"Big Henry and the Polka Dot Kid"
	All in the Family	Dolores Mancheney Fencel	"Archie's Secret Passion"
1978	All in the Family	Blanche Hefner	2 episodes
1979	Archie Bunker's Place	Blanche Hefner	"Blanche and Murray"
	Backstairs at the White House	Bess Truman	Four episodes
1981		Marjorie Seebode
	Guests of the Nation	Kate O'Connell
1982	Today	Self	Episode dated 14 January 1982
	American Playhouse	Mabel Lederer/Angela Motorman	"Come Along with Me"
1987	American Playhouse		"Waiting for the Moon" (the producers wish to thank)
1988	Open Admissions	Clare Block
1989-1997, 2018	Roseanne	Beverly Harris	59 episodes Nominated for TV Land Award
1990	Everyday Heroes	Matty Jennings
1992		Mary Chessen	Nominated"?CableACE Award Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1993		Older Doris
	Family Feud	Self	"Roseanne vs. Jackie Thomas Sitcoms"
1994	Inside the Actors Studio	Self
1997	Touched by an Angel	Jeannette Fisher	"Sandcastles"
1998		Beatrice Corrigan
		Self
1999	Freak City	Mrs. Stanapolous
2000	Backstory	Self	"Bonnie and Clyde"
2001	100 Center Street	Esther O'Neill	"The Fix"
2002	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Rose Rinato	"Denial"
		Self
2004	Frasier	Celeste's Mother (voice) Opal Herself (photograph)	"Frasier-Lite" "Coots and Ladders" "Goodnight, Seattle"
	Strip Search	Roberta Gray
	Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde	Self
2005	Empire Falls	Bea
2013	The Good Wife	Nana Joe	Episode: "What's in the Box?"
2016	Grace and Frankie	Babe	2 episodes