Dana Ivey

Dana Ivey
Ivey in Professional Cuddler, 2018
Born	(1941-08-12) August 12, 1941 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1962–present
Mother	Mary Nell Ivey Santacroce
Website	danaivey.com

Dana Ivey (born August 12, 1941) is an American actress. She is a five-time Tony Award nominee for her work on Broadway, and won the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her work in both Sex and Longing and The Last Night of Ballyhoo. She originated the title role in Driving Miss Daisy and was nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Actress in a Play. Her film appearances include The Color Purple (1985), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), The Addams Family (1991), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Addams Family Values (1993), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), Rush Hour 3 (2007), and The Help (2011).

Early life and family

Ivey was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Her mother, Mary Nell Ivey Santacroce (née McKoin), was a teacher, speech therapist, and actress who appeared in productions of Driving Miss Daisy and taught at Georgia State University; Mary Nell was considered by John Huston to be "one of the three or four greatest actresses in the world." Her father, Hugh Daugherty Ivey, was a physicist and professor who taught at Georgia Tech and later worked at the Atomic Energy Commission. Her parents later divorced. She has a younger brother, John, and a half-brother, Eric Santacroce, and one nephew, Evan Santacroce from her mother's remarriage to Dante Santacroce.

Dana Ivey received her undergraduate degree at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. She was a member of Phi Mu women's fraternity and earned a Fulbright grant to study drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She received an honorary doctorate (humane letters) from Rollins College in February 2008.

Career

Stage

Before making New York City her home in the late 1970s, Ivey appeared in numerous American and Canadian stage productions and served as director of DramaTech in Atlanta from 1974 to 1977, as had her mother before her from 1949 to 1966. In 1981, Ivey made her Broadway debut playing two small roles in a production of Macbeth; the following year, she was cast in a major supporting role in a revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter, for which she received the Clarence Derwent Award as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in the same season (1984) – as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George and Best Featured Actress in a Play for a revival of Heartbreak House – a feat repeated by only three other actresses, Amanda Plummer, Jan Maxwell, and Kate Burton.

Ivey's performances in Quartermaine's Terms and Driving Miss Daisy (creating the title role) earned her Obie Awards, as did that in Mrs. Warren's Profession (2005).

Ivey performed in the New York premiere in 2009 of The Savannah Disputation by Evan Smith at Playwrights Horizons. The comedy co-starred Marylouise Burke, Reed Birney, and Kellie Overbey.

In July 2010, she appeared as Winnie in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett at the Westport Playhouse. She appeared as Miss Prism in the Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 2011. Ivey played Mrs Candour in the 2016 production of The School for Scandal at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

In December 2016, Ivey was invited by the Noël Coward Society to lay flowers on the statue of Sir Noël Coward at the Gershwin Theatre in Manhattan to celebrate the 117th birthday of "The Master".

Film

Ivey's first film appearance was in Joe Dante's 1985 science-fiction fantasy film Explorers with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix. Her first major screen appearance was in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple later that same year. Among her other film credits are Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the 1995 remake of Sabrina, Simon Birch, Postcards from the Edge, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Addams Family,Sleepless in Seattle, Addams Family Values, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Orange County, Rush Hour 3, The Leisure Seeker, The Importance of Being Earnest, and as Sandra Bullock's character's mother, Mrs. Kelson, in Two Weeks Notice. In 2011, she played the role of Grace Higginbotham in the critically acclaimed film, The Help, and starred in Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight.

Television

In 1978, Ivey made her television debut in the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow. Her television credits include a starring role in the sitcom Easy Street opposite Loni Anderson and guest appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Frasier, Oz, The Practice, Sex and the City, Ugly Betty, Boardwalk Empire, and Monk (episode "Mr. Monk and the Other Detective").

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Explorers	Mrs. Müller
	The Color Purple	Miss Millie
1986	Heartburn	Wedding Speaker
1988	The Appointments of Dennis Jennings	Newscaster	Short film
	Another Woman	Engagement Party Guest
	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Mrs. Reed
1990	Postcards from the Edge	Wardrobe Mistress
1991	The Addams Family	Margaret Alford
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	Desk Clerk
1993	The Adventures of Huck Finn	Widow Douglas
	Guilty as Sin	Judge D. Tompkins
	Sleepless in Seattle	Claire
	Addams Family Values	Margaret Addams
1995	The Scarlet Letter	Meredith Stonehall
	Sabrina	Mack
1998	The Impostors	Mrs. Essendine
	Simon Birch	Grandmother Wenteworth
1999	Mumford	Mrs. Crisp
	Walking Across Egypt	Beatrice Vernon
2000	The Kid	Dr. Alexander
2002	Orange County	Vera Gantner
	Two Weeks Notice	Ruth Kelson
2003	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	Libby Hauser
2006	A Very Serious Person	Betty
2007	Broken English	Elinor Gregory
	Rush Hour 3	Sister Agnes
2008	Ghost Town	Marjorie Pickthall
	Claire	Barbara	Short film
2009	Did You Hear About the Morgans?	Trish Pinger
2011	The Help	Gracie Higginbotham
2013	Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight	Mrs. Paige
2014	We'll Never Have Paris	Francoise
2017	Professional Cuddler	Gloria	Short film
	The Leisure Seeker	Lillian
2018	Ocean's Eight	Diana
2019	Georgica	Dorothy	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	The Beachcomber	Kahlana	Episode: "Tribal Law"
1981	Another World	Clinic Nurse	Episode: "#1.4336"
1982	Little Gloria... Happy at Last		TV mini-series, Episode: "Part I"
	Macbeth	Witch	Television Film
1986	American Playhouse	Yvonne / Naomi Eisen	Episode: "Sunday in the Park with George"
1986–1987	Easy Street	Eleanor Standard	22 episodes
1989	B.L. Stryker	Gabrielle Harwood	Episode: "Die Laughing"
1985–1990	Great Performances	Gertrude / Ariadne	2 episodes
1992	A Child Lost Forever: The Jerry Sherwood Story	Lois Jurgens	Television film
1993	Class of '61	Mrs. Julia Peyton	Television film
	Mama's Back	Maureen	Television film
1995	Homicide: Life on the Street	Margie Bolander	3 episodes
1996	Law & Order	Ms. Shore	Episode: "Girlfriends"
1997	Frasier	Ms. Langer	Episode: "Three Days of the Condo"
1999	A Lesson Before Dying	Edna Guidry	Television film
2000	Oz	Patricia Nathan	2 episodes
2001	100 Centre Street	Dr. Camille Willoughby	Episode: "Bottlecaps"
2003	The Practice	Judge Natalie Brown	Episode: "Cause of Action"
2004	Sex and the City	Trudy Stork	Episode: "Out of the Frying Pan"
2005	Monk	Mrs. Eels	Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Other Detective"
2008	The Return of Jezebel James	Molly	2 episodes
2010	American Experience	Quaker Woman	Episode: "Dolley Madison"
	Ugly Betty	Roberta	Episode: "All the World's a Stage"
	Boardwalk Empire	Mrs. McGarry	4 episodes
2011	The Importance of Being Earnest	Miss Prism	Television film
2013	The Big C	Nan	Episode: "Quality of Death"
2015	Odd Mom Out	Mrs. Hardwick	Episode: "Wheels Up"
2017	Madam Secretary	Nelly Conlon	Episode: "The Beautiful Game"

Broadway credits

• Macbeth (1981)
• Present Laughter (1983)
• Heartbreak House (1984)
• Sunday in the Park with George (1984)
• Pack of Lies (1985)
• The Marriage of Figaro (1985)
• Indiscretions (1995)
• Sex and Longing (1996)
• The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1997)
• Waiting in the Wings (1999/2000)
• Major Barbara (2001)
• Henry IV (2003)
• A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (2003)
• The Rivals (2005)
• Butley (2006)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (2011)

Theatre awards and nominations

• 1983 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Quartermaine's Terms, nominee)
• 1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Present Laughter, nominee)
• 1984 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Sunday in the Park with George, nominee)
• 1984 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Heartbreak House, nominee)
• 1987 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play (Driving Miss Daisy, nominee)
• 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (The Last Night of Ballyhoo, nominee)
• 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Sex and Longing, winner)
• 2005 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (The Rivals, nominee)
• 2007 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Butley, nominee)
• 2008 Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame

External links

• Dana Ivey at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dana Ivey at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Dana Ivey at IMDb
• Playwrights Horizons
• Official website