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.

Filmography

• 2020Killian & the Comeback Kids — Ms. Hunter (voice)
• 2018Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor — Narrator (voice)
• 2017Truth and Lies: The Family Manson
• 2014Actresses Turned Producer/Directors
• 2006Baghdad ER — Executive Producer
• 2006Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls' — Miriam (archive footage)
• 2005A Father… A Son… Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — Director, Producer
• 2005Going Shopping — Winnie
• 2003The Golden Girls: Lifetime Intimate Portrait Series — Director
• 2001Mulholland Drive — Louise
• 2001The Amati Girls — Aunt Spendora
• 2001The Gun Deadlock — Director
• 2000Dr. T & the Women — Dr. Harper
• 2000Poor Liza — Countess Ekaterina
• 2000Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light — Narrator, Director
• 2000The Loretta Claiborne Story — Director
• 1999Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America — Narrator, Director, Producer
• 1999Intimate Portrait: Lauren Bacall — Director
• 1997Say It, Fight It, Cure It — Narrator/Host, Director, Producer
• 1996It's My Party — Amalia Stark
• 1996The Substance of Fire — Cora Cahn
• 1995Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval — Narrator
• 1994Following Her Heart — Director
• 1994Reunion — Director
• 1994Seasons of the Heart — Director
• 1994Under Heat — Jane
• Intimate Portrait — Self, Director, Writer
• 1992Citizen Cohn — Dora Cohn
• 1992Earth and the American Dream — Reader (voice)
• 1992In My Daughter's Name — Maureen Leeds
• 1992Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story — Carol Gertz
• 1992The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer — Narrator
• 1992Women on Trial — Narrator, Director, Producer
• 1991Defending Your Life — Lena Foster
• 1990She Said No — D.A. Doris Cantore
• 1989Battered — Narrator, Director, Producer
• 1989No Place Like Home — Director
• 1989Staying Together — Director
• 1989The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro — Marilyn Klinghoffer
• Empty Nest
• 1987The Big Town — Ferguson Edwards
• 1986Down and Out in America — Narrator (voice), Director
• 1986Nobody's Child — Director
• 1985Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale — Director
• Mussolini: The Untold Story — Rachele Mussolini
• The Ray Bradbury Theater
• 1985What Sex Am I? — Self, Director
• 1984A Billion for Boris — Sascha Harris
• 1984A Matter of Sex — Director
• 1984Teachers — Dr. Donna Burke
• 1983When Women Kill — Herself, Director
• 1983Will There Really Be a Morning? — Lillian Farmer
• 1982A Crime to Fit the Punishment — Narrator
• American Playhouse — Director
• Bare Essence — Ava Marshall
• 1982Plaza Suite — Norma Hubley / Muriel Tate / Karen Nash
• 1982Thou Shalt Not Kill — Maxine Lochman
• 1982Visiting Hours — Deborah Ballin
• 1981Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen — Mrs. Sylvia Lupowitz
• 1981For Ladies Only — Anne Holt
• 1981The Million Dollar Face — Evalyna
• 1981The Willmar 8 — Narrator, Writer, Director
• 1980Little Miss Marker — The Judge
• 1980Tell Me a Riddle — Flight Attendant (voice), Director
• Backstairs at the White House — Grace Coolidge
• 1979When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? — Clarisse Ethridge
• 1979You Can't Go Home Again — Esther Jack
• 1978Damien - Omen II — Ann Thorn
• 1978The Good Doctor — Various Roles
• 1978The Mafu Cage — Ellen
• 1978The Swarm — Anne MacGregor
• 1977Airport '77 — Karen Wallace
• 1977The Spell — Marion Matchett
• 1976Perilous Voyage — Virginia Monroe
• 1976The Stronger — Writer, Director
• 1976Voyage of the Damned — Lili Rosen
• Fay — Fay Stewart
• 1975For the Use of the Hall — Director
• 1975Shampoo — Felicia Karpf
• 1975The Seagull — Irina Arkadina
• 1974The Internecine Project — Jean Robertson
• 1974Why Me? — Narrator (voice)
• 1973Partners in Crime — Judge Meredith Leland
• 1973What Are Best Friends For? — Adele Ross
• ABC Afterschool Special — Director
• 1972Lieutenant Schuster's Wife — Ellie Schuster
• 1972Portnoy's Complaint — Sophie Portnoy
• 1972Ransom for a Dead Man — Leslie Williams
• Great Performances — Irina Arkadina
• 1971Plaza Suite — Norma Hubley
• 1971The Neon Ceiling — Carrie Miller
• 1970Night Slaves — Marjorie Howard
• 1970The Landlord — Joyce Enders
• 1970There Was a Crooked Man... — Mrs. Bullard
• 1969Marooned — Celia Pruett
• 1969The Big Bounce — Joanne
• 1968Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell — Fritzie Braddock
• 1968The Love Song of Barney Kempinski — Laura
• The Mod Squad
• The Name of the Game — Edwina Booker
• 1967Deadlock — Virginia Cloyd
• 1967Divorce American Style — Dede Murphy
• 1967In the Heat of the Night — Mrs. Leslie Colbert
• Ironside — Francesca Kirby
• Judd, for the Defense
• 1967Valley of the Dolls — Miriam Polar
• ABC Stage 67 — Laura, Ruth
• Mission: Impossible — Susan Buchanan
• The Big Valley — Rosemary
• Peyton Place — Stella Chernak
• 1964Pie in the Sky — Suzy
• 1963An Affair of the Skin — Katherine McCleod
• Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre — Virginia Cloyd
• Festival — Lizzie
• 1963The Balcony — Carmen
• The Fugitive — Millie Hallop
• Ben Casey
• The Defenders — Norma Burgess, Maria Edwards
• 1959Middle of the Night — Marilyn
• 1959The World of Sholom Aleichem — The Goatseller / Avenging Angel
• 1958Three Plays by Tennessee Williams — Jane (Segment "Moony's Kid Don't Cry")
• Playwrights '56
• 1955Storm Fear — Edna
• 1951Detective Story — Shoplifter
• Studio One — Emily Brooks
• The Philco Television Playhouse

Appearances as themselves (29)

• 2026Dangerous Citizen: The Life and Times of Abraham Polonsky — Self
• Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War — Self - Actress
• 2023Sidney Poitier - The Man Who Changed Hollywood — Self
• 2021Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster — Self
• 2019Hal — Self
• 2017Seeing is Believing: Women Direct — Self
• 2014Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women — Self
• 2006Tribute To Burgess Meredith — Self (voice)
• 2003Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist: None Without Sin — Self
• 2003The John Garfield Story — Self
• 2001Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties — Self
• 2001The Omen Legacy — Self
• 1997Who Is Henry Jaglom? — Self
• Inside the Actors Studio — Self
• 1990Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret — Self
• 1988Calling the Shots — Self
• 1988Hello Actors Studio — Self
• Wedden, dat..? — Self
• 1976TVTV Looks at the Oscars — Self
• People's Choice Awards — Self
• Dinah! — Self
• The American Film Institute Salute to ... — Self
• Film '72 — Self
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In — Self
• The Dick Cavett Show — Self - Guest
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• The Mike Douglas Show — Self
• Tony Awards — Self - Presenter
• The Oscars — Self