Award makes Steppenwolf’s Lois Smith the oldest actor to win a TonyDarel Jevenson September 26, 2021 at 11:45 pm

Stage and screen veteran Lois Smith, a Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member, won her first Tony Award on Sunday for her brief but memorable performance in “The Inheritance.”

At 90, she is the oldest person ever to win a Tony for acting, according to the New York Times.

In “The Inheritance,” Smith plays a major featured role that doesn’t appear onstage until late in the play’s two-show, seven-hour running time. Matthew Lopez’s epic uses “Howards End” as a starting point for a play that looks at gay life in the early 21st century

In her acceptance speech, Smith said, “There’s a famous two-word message from ‘Howards End,’ which is so apt, I think, tonight for all of us who are here celebrating the importance, the functions, of live theater: ‘Only connect.’ “

Lois Smith appears opposite Samuel H. Levine in “The Inheritance” on Broadway.Polk & Co.

“The Inheritance” ran on Broadway from September 2019 and March 2020. Smith played a role originated by Vanessa Redgrave in the show’s premiere in London.

This was Smith’s third Tony nomination. Her first came in 1990 for work as Ma Joad in “The Grapes of Wrath,” an acclaimed production directed by Frank Galati that originated at Steppenwolf in Chicago.

She joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 1993.

Lois Smith won her first Tony Award nomination for starring with Gary Sinise (left) and Terry Kinney in “The Grapes of Wrath.”Sun-Times file

Another Steppenwolf production, of Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child,” earned Smith her second nomination after its Broadway transfer in 1996.

Smith’s movie career dates back to 1955, which she made her film debut in the classic “East of Eden.” Her later credits included “Five Easy Pieces,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Dead Man Walking” and “Lady Bird.”

Two other artists with local roots were honored for their work on “Jagged Little Pill,” based on Alanis Morissette’s 1995 breakthrough album.

Lauren Patten from Downers Grove won the featured actress in a musical Tony, and Lemont native Diablo Cody was honored for writing the show’s book.

Other big winners early in the Tony telecast were Danny Burstein, whose featured actor in a musical award was one of several for “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” and “A Christmas Carol,” which won multiple technical awards.

David Alan Grier won featured actor in a play for his role in a “A Soldier’s Play.” “To my other nominees: Tough banana, I won,” he said.

Contributing: AP

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