1. Theatre, Film, and Television Biographies
2. Henry Winkler to Paul Zaza

Irene Worth Biography (1916-2002)

Born Hattie Abrams, June 23, 1916, in Nebraska; daughter of a superintendentof schools. Addresses: Agent--Sam Cohn, International Creative Management, 40 West 57th St., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10019.

Nationality

American

Gender

Female

Birth Details

June 23, 1916

Nebraska, United States

Death Details

March 10, 2002

New York, New York

Famous Works

• Credits; Stage Appearances
• (Stage debut) Cecily Hardin, The Two Mrs. Carrolls, Booth Theatre, New York City, 1943.
• (London debut) Elsie, The Time of Your Life, Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith,England, 1946.
• Miss Phillipa Form, This Way to the Tomb!, Mercury Theatre, London, 1946.
• Annabelle Jones, Love Goes to Press, Embassy Theatre, then Duchess Theatre, both London, 1946.
• Donna Pascuala, Drake's Drum, Embassy Theatre, 1946.
• Ilona Szabo, The Play's the Thing, Lyric Theatre, then St. James's Theatre, London, 1947.
• Title role, Iris, Q Theatre, London, 1947.
• Olivia Brown, Love in Idleness, Q Theatre, 1948.
• Mary Dalton, Native Son, Bolton's Theatre, London, 1948.
• Title role, Lucrece, Bolton's Theatre, 1948.
• Eileen Perry, Edward, My Son, His Majesty's Theatre, 1948.
• Lady Fortrose, Home Is Tomorrow, Cambridge Theatre, London, 1948.
• Olivia Raines, Champagne for Delilah, New Theatre, London, 1949.
• Celia Coplestone, The Cocktail Party, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1949, then Henry Miller's Theatre, New York City, 1950, later New Theatre, London, 1950.
• Desdemona, Othello, Old Vic Theatre, London, 1951.
• Helena, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Old Vic Theatre, 1951.
• Catherine de Vausselles, The Other Heart, Old Vic Theatre, 1952.
• Portia, The Merchant of Venice, Old Vic Theatre, 1953.
• Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Old Vic Company, London, 1953.
• Helena, All's Well That Ends Well, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Stratford, Ontario, Canada, 1953.
• Queen Margaret, Richard III, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, 1953.
• Frances Farrar, A Day by the Sea, Haymarket Theatre, London, 1953.
• Argia, The Queen and the Rebels, Midland Theatre, Coventry, England, thenHaymarket Theatre, 1955.
• Alcestis, A Life in the Sun, Edinburgh Festival, 1955.
• Marcella, Hotel Paradiso, Winter Garden Theatre, New York City, 1956.
• Title role, Mary Stuart, Phoenix Theatre, New York City, 1957, then Edinburgh Festival, later Old Vic Theatre, 1958.
• Sara Callifer, The Potting Shed, Globe Theatre, London, 1958.
• Rosalind, As You Like It, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, 1959.
• Albertine Prine, Toys in the Attic, Hudson Theatre, New York City, 1960.
• Marquise de Merteuil, The Art of Seduction, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1962.
• Goneril, King Lear, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, 1962, then Aldwych Theatre, 1962, later New York State Theatre, New YorkCity, 1964.
• Dr. Mathilde von Zahnd, The Physicists, Aldwych Theatre, 1963.
• Clodia Pulcher, The Ides of March, Haymarket Theatre, 1963.
• Miss Alice, Tiny Alice, Billy Rose Theatre, New York City, 1964, then Aldwych Theatre, 1970.
• Hilde Latymer, "A Song at Twilight," Anne Hilgay, "Shadows of the Evening," and Anna-Mary Conklin, "Come into the Garden Maud," Suite in Three Keys, Queen's Theatre, London, 1966.
• Io, Prometheus Bound, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 1967.
• Hesione Hushabye, Heartbreak House, Chichester Festival, Chichester, England, then Lyric Theatre, 1967.
• Jocasta, Oedipus, Old Vic Theatre, 1968.
• Title role, Hedda Gabler, Stratford Theatre, Stratford, Ontario, 1970.
• Dora Lang, Notes on a Love Affair, Globe Theatre, London, 1972.
• Madame Arkadina, The Seagull, Chichester Festival, 1973, and Greenwich Theatre, London, c. 1973.
• Gertrude, Hamlet, Greenwich Theatre, 1974.
• Mrs. Alving, Ghosts, Greenwich Theatre, 1974.
• Sweet Bird of Youth, Festival Theatre at Barat College, Lake Forest IL, and Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY, 1975.
• Princess Kosmonopolis, Sweet Bird of Youth, Harkness Theatre, New York City, 1975-76.
• Lina, Misalliance, Lake Forest, IL, 1976.
• Kate, Old Times, Lake Forest, 1977.
• Lyobiv Andreyevna, The Cherry Orchard, New York Shakespeare Festival, Vivian Beaumont Theatre, New York City, 1977.
• After the Season, Lake Forest, 1978.
• Winnie, Happy Days, New York Shakespeare Festival, Public/Newman Theatre,New York City, 1979.
• Letters of Love and Affection (solo reading), Roundabout Theatre/Stage One, New York City, 1979.
• Elizabeth, The Lady from Dubuque, Morosco Theatre, New York City, 1980.
• Miss Ella Rentheim, John Gabriel Borkman, Circle in the Square, New YorkCity, 1980-81.
• Miss Madrigal, The Chalk Garden, Roundabout Theatre/Stage One, 1982.
• L'Olimpiade, Edinburgh Festival, 1982.
• The Physicists, Washington, DC, 1983.
• Isabel Hastings Hoyt, The Golden Age, Jack Lawrence Theatre, New York City, 1984.
• Volumnia, Coriolanus, National Theatre, 1984, then New York Shakespeare Festival, Public/Anspacher Theatre, 1988-89.
• The Bay at Nice, National Theatre, London, 1986.
• You Never Can Tell, Haymarket Theatre, 1987.
• Lost in Yonkers, Richard Rodgers Theatre, New York City, 1991-92.
• Irene Worth's Portrait of Edith Wharton (solo), Susan Stein Shiva Theater, New York City, 1994, then Author's Theatre, New York City, 1997.
• Gives solo recitals and dramatic readings.
• Credits; Major Tours
• (Stage debut) Fenella, Escape Me Never, U.K. cities, 1942.
• Ilona Szabo, The Play's the Thing, U.K. cities, 1946.
• Return Journey, U.K. cities, 1947.
• Lady Fortrose, Home Is Tomorrow, U.K. cities, 1948.
• Desdemona, Othello, Old Vic Company, South African cities, 1952.
• Catherine de Vausselles, The Other Heart, Old Vic Company, South Africancities, 1952.
• Helena, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Old Vic Company, South African cities,1952.
• Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Old Vic Company, South African cities, 1952.
• Goneril, King Lear, Royal Shakespeare Company, world tour, 1964.
• Men and Women of Shakespeare, U.S. universities and South American cities, 1966-67.
• Credits; Film Appearances
• Another Shore, General Films Distributors/Ealing, 1948.
• Lina Linari, One Night with You, Universal, 1948.
• Miss Jackson, Secret People, Lippert, 1952.
• Herself, The Stratford Adventure, 1954.
• Leonie, Orders to Kill, United Motion Picture, 1958.
• Francoise De Gue, The Scapegoat, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959.
• Queen Elizabeth, Seven Seas to Calais (also known as Il Dominatore dei Sette Mari), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963.
• Narrator, To Die in Madrid (also known as Mourir a Madrid), 1963.
• Goneril, King Lear, Altura, 1971.
• Queen Mother Marie Fedorovna, Nicholas and Alexandra, Columbia, 1971.
• Madeleine's mother, Rich Kids, United Artists, 1979.
• Mrs. Sokolow, Eyewitness (also known as The Janitor), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1981.
• Helga Ten Dorp, Deathtrap, Warner Bros., 1982.
• Ida Sabol, Fast Forward, Columbia, 1985.
• Grandma Kurnitz, Lost in Yonkers (also known as Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers), Columbia, 1993.
• Credits; Television Appearances; Specials
• Hazel Crawford, Myself a Stranger, BBC, 1949.
• Leslie, Counsel's Opinion, BBC, 1949.
• Title role, Antigone, BBC, 1949.
• Title role, The Duchess of Malfi, BBC, 1949.
• The American, 1950.
• Dawn, Day, and Night, BBC, 1951.
• Anne, William's Other Anne, BBC, 1953.
• Stella, The Lake, BBC, 1953.
• Ellida Wangel, The Lady from the Sea, BBC, 1953.
• Title role, Candida, BBC, 1955.
• Nurse Wayland, The Sacred Flame, BBC, 1955.
• Mrs. Moon, Mr. Kettle and Mrs. Moon, ATV, 1957.
• Mrs. Gunhild Borkman, John Gabriel Borkman, ATV, 1958.
• Clytemnestra, Prince Orestes, 1959.
• Jocasta, Oedipus, 1960.
• Inez, Other People's Houses, ATV, 1960.
• Rachel Verney, The Offshore Island, CBC, 1961.
• White lady, Stray Cats and Empty Bottles, BBC, 1964.
• Rose Fish, Variations on a Theme, ITV, 1966.
• Mrs. Railton-Bell, Separate Tables, HBO, 1983.
• The 45th Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 1991.
• The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts, CBS, 1996.
• Also appeared in as Miss Collins, Portrait of a Madonna, BBC, and in TheWay of the World.
• Credits; Television Appearances; Movies
• The Displaced Person, 1977.
• Volumnia, The Tragedy of Coriolanus (also known as Cariolanus), 1983.
• Ruth Friedlander, Forbidden, HBO, 1985.
• Credits; Television Appearances; Episodic
• Patty Benedict, "The Big Knife," American Playhouse, PBS, 1988.
• Dolly Keeling, "The Shell Seekers," Hallmark Hall of Fame, ABC, 1989.
• "A Rock and a Soft Place," Remember WENN, AMC, 1996.
• Also appeared on Girl Talk, ABC, and in "The Poems of Edith Sitwell," Camera Three, CBS.
• Credits; Radio Appearances
• Appeared in British radio productions as Lady Fortrose, Home Is Tomorrow,1949; Celia, The Cocktail Party, 1951; Cleopatra, Goddess and God, 1953; Anna Petrovna, Ivanov, 1954; title role, Major Barbara, 1954; Helena, All's WellThat Ends Well, 1954; Argia, The Queen and the Rebels, 1954; Karen Selby, The Flashing Stream, 1955; Laurencia, Fuente Ovejuna, 1955; the Marquise, A Door Must Be Kept Open or Shut, 1955; Charlotte, The Golden Bowl, 1955; IsabellaAndreini, The Great Desire I Had, 1955; Mrs. Porella, Man, Beast, and Virtue, 1957; Lady Godiva, Scandal at Coventry, 1958; Baroness Munster, The Europeans, 1958; Portia, The Merchant of Venice, 1958; Rebecca West, Rosmersholm, 1958; Dr. Mathilde von Zahnd, The Physicists, 1963; Lucile, Duel of Angels, 1964; and Eve, The Tree.
• Also appeared on London Forum, 1954; What Goes On, 1956; This Is Britain,1956; and Woman's Hour: Guest of the Week, 1963.
• Writings;Plays
• Irene Worth's Edith Wharton, 1997.

Further Reference

Books:

• International Dictionary of Theatre, edited by David Pickering, St.
• James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

Periodicals:

• New York Times, February 5, 1976.
• Times (London), July 1, 1990.
• Variety, January 24, 1994, p. 68.