Sarah Siddons Award Recipients
by Sylviastel | created - 17 Jun 2014 | updated - 16 Sep 2018 | Public
1. Helen Hayes
Actress | Airport
Known as "The First lady of the American Theater", Helen Hayes had a legendary career on stage and in films and television that spanned over eighty years. Hayes was born in Washington, D.C., to Catherine Estelle "Essie" Hayes, an actress who worked in touring companies, and Francis van Arnum Brown,...
1953 for "Mrs. McThing;" and in 1969 for "The Show Off."
2. Beatrice Lillie
Actress | Thoroughly Modern Millie
Dubbed "the funniest woman in the world", comedienne Beatrice Lillie was born the daughter of a Canadian government official and grew up in Toronto. She sang in a family trio act with her mother, Lucy, and her piano-playing older sister, Muriel. Times were hard and the ambitious mother eventually ...
1954: "An Evening with Beatrice Lillie."
3. Deborah Kerr
Actress | The King and I
Deborah Jane Trimmer was born on 30 September 1921 in Glasgow, Scotland, the daughter of Captain Arthur Kerr Trimmer. She was educated at Northumberland House, Clifton, Bristol. She first performed at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, London. She subsequently performed with the Oxford ...
1955: "Tea & Sympathy."
4. Nancy Kelly
Actress | The Bad Seed
Coached by her show-business mother, a former actress, brunette Nancy Kelly started her career as a one-year-old model for James Montgomery Flagg. While receiving her education at the Bentley School for Girls she also trained as an actress. From 1926, at age 5, the precociously talented Nancy ...
1956 for "The Bad Seed;" and in 1964 for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
5. Shirley Booth
Actress | Come Back, Little Sheba
Character actress Shirley Booth could play everything in all facets of show business, whether it was Miss Duffy the Tavern Owner's Man Crazy Daughter on "Duffy's Tavern", the sassy maid on TV's Hazel (1961) or the pathetic woman in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952). For those who only know her through...
1957: "The Desk Set."
6. Anne Rogers
Actress | Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World
Anne Rogers was born on July 29, 1933 in Liverpool, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Belle's Magical World (1998), MacGyver (1985) and Solo for Canary (1958).
1958: "My Fair Lady."
7. Ruth Roman
Actress | Strangers on a Train
Ruth Roman was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the youngest of three daughters of Lithuanian-Jewish parents Mary Pauline (Gold) and Abraham Roman. Her father, a carnival barker, died when she was a small child, forcing her mother to support the family by working as a waitress and cleaning woman. Ruth ...
1959: "Two for the Seesaw."
8. Geraldine Page
Actress | Sweet Bird of Youth
Considered by many to be one of the greatest American actresses of all time, Geraldine Page was a master craftswoman who seemed to bring out the most inner detail of the character she was playing. Her dedication to her craft has earned her the respect of many of today's great actors including Meryl...
1960: "Sweet Bird of Youth."
9. Gertrude Berg
Actress | The Goldbergs
Gertrude was born in New York City and her father owned a summer resort hotel. In her teens she wrote dialogues about her father and grandfather and recited them to guests at the hotel. This was the beginning of her writing which eventually led her to write "The Goldbergs." She married British-born...
1961: "A Majority of One."
10. Florence Henderson
Actress | The Brady Bunch
Florence Henderson was considered by protocol executive Jerold Franks, CSA to be "...one of the most generous stars I have ever worked with." Los Angeles, New York and all parts of the country, Florence has helped raise millions of dollars for various charitable organizations.
Jerold Franks, friend ...
1962: "The Sound of Music."
11. Julia Meade
Actress | Presumed Innocent
Julia Meade was born on December 17, 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for Presumed Innocent (1990), Pillow Talk (1959) and Playhouse 90 (1956). She was married to Oliver Worsham Rudd Jr.. She died on May 16, 2016 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
1963: "Mary, Mary."
12. Myrna Loy
Actress | The Thin Man
Myrna Williams, later to become Myrna Loy, was born on August 2, 1905 in Helena, Montana. Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature. Later on her family moved to Radersburg where she spent her youth on a cattle ranch. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of ...
1965: "Barefoot in the Park."
13. Carol Channing
Actress | Thoroughly Modern Millie
Carol Channing was born January 31, 1921, at Seattle, Washington, the daughter of a prominent newspaper editor, who was very active in the Christian Science movement. She attended high school in San Francisco and later worked as a model in Los Angeles. She attended prestigious Bennington College in...
1966: "Hello, Dolly."
14. Eve Arden
Actress | Our Miss Brooks
Eve Arden was born Eunice Mary Quedens in Mill Valley, California (near San Francisco), and was interested in show business from an early age. At 16, she made her stage debut after quitting school to join a stock company. After appearing in minor roles in two films under her real name, Eunice ...
1967: "Hello, Dolly."
15. Celeste Holm
Actress | All About Eve
Celeste Holm was an only child, born into a home where her mother was a painter and her father worked in insurance. She would study acting at the University of Chicago and make her stage debut in 1936. Her Broadway debut came when she was 19 in 'The Time of Your Life'. She appeared in many ...
1968: "Mame."
16. Barbara Rush
Actress | It Came from Outer Space
The epitome of poise, charm, style and grace, beautiful brunette Barbara Rush was born in Denver, Colorado in 1927 and enrolled at the University of California before working with the University Players and taking acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse. It didn't take long for talent scouts to ...
1970: "Forty Carats."
17. Irene Dailey
Actress | Five Easy Pieces
A well-rounded and well-respected actress of the stage, particularly on Broadway and London's West End, actress Irene Dailey was better known, however, as the annoyingly neurotic patrician Liz Matthews on daytime's Another World (1964), a role that made her a household face, if not quite a name.
The...
1971: "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigold."
18. Lauren Bacall
Actress | To Have and Have Not
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a ...
1972 for "Applause, Applause;" and in 1984 for "Woman of Year."
19. Bette Davis
Actress | All About Eve
Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Ruth Augusta (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Her early interest was dance. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but...
1973; "Special 20th Anniversary Award for 'All About Eve."
20. Sada Thompson
Actress | Family
Renowned and highly respected actress Sada Thompson has earned critical acclaim both on stage and TV for her noble, strong-minded matrons, but her more challenging and compelling work has come when her characters have displayed darker, more neurotic tones.
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, she was the ...
1973 for "Twigs;" and in 1988 for "Driving Miss Daisy."
21. Colleen Dewhurst
Actress | Anne of Green Gables
Tall, luminous and leonine, the legendary Colleen Dewhurst must go down as one of the theater's finest contemporary tragediennes of the late 1900s. With trademark dusky tones and a majestically careworn appearance, she possessed an inimitable down-to-earth fierceness that not only earned her the ...
1974: "A Moon for Misbegotten."
22. Angela Lansbury
Actress | The Manchurian Candidate
Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar ...
1975 for "Gypsy;" and 1981 for "Sweeney Todd."
23. Julie Harris
Actress | The Haunting
One of the finest classical and contemporary leading ladies ever to grace the 20th century American stage, five-time Tony Award winner Julie Harris was rather remote and reserved on camera, finding her true glow in front of the theatre lights. The freckled, red-haired actress not only was nominated...
1976: "The Belle of Amherst."
24. Lynn Redgrave
Actress | Gods and Monsters
Actress of both the English and American stage and screen, Lynn Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, England, into one of the world's most famous acting dynasties. As the daughter of Rachel Kempson and Sir Michael Redgrave, sister of Vanessa Redgrave and Corin Redgrave, and granddaughter of Roy...
1977 for "Misalliance;" and 1995 for "Shakespeare for My Father."
25. Cloris Leachman
Actress | The Last Picture Show
The legendary actress set a record when at age 82, she appeared on Dancing with the Stars (2005). Cloris Leachman was born on April 30, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa to Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman and the former Cloris Wallace. Her father's family owned a lumber company, Leachman Lumber Co. She ...
1978: "Twigs."
26. Jessica Tandy
Actress | Driving Miss Daisy
A beloved, twinkly blue-eyed doyenne of stage and screen, actress Jessica Tandy's career spanned nearly six and a half decades. In that span of time, she enjoyed an amazing film renaissance at age 80, something unheard of in a town that worships youth and nubile beauty. She was born Jessie Alice ...
1979: "The Gin Game."
27. Claudette Colbert
Actress | It Happened One Night
One of the brightest film stars to grace the screen was born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint Mandé, France where her father owned a bakery at 57, rue de la République (now Avenue Général de Gaulle). The family moved to the United States when she was three. As Claudette ...
1980: "The Kingfisher."
28. Dorothy Loudon
Actress | Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Kinetic blonde comedienne and delightful mugger Dorothy Loudon had the confidence and talent to make anything or anyone around her funny. The veteran singer/entertainer earned the respect of theatergoers long ago with her hilarious, fully played-out characters on the nightclub and cabaret scene as ...
1982: "The West Side Waltz."
29. Ann Miller
Actress | Mulholland Dr.
Ann Miller was born Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier on April 12, 1923 in Chireno, Texas. She lived there until she was nine, when her mother left her philandering father and moved with Ann to Los Angeles, California. Even at that young age, she had to support her mother, who was hearing-impaired and ...
1983: "Sugar Babies."
30. Rita Moreno
Actress | West Side Story
Rita Moreno is one of the very few performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, thus becoming an EGOT. She was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in the hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico on December 11, 1931 (but raised in nearby, smaller Juncos, which had no hospital), to seamstress Rosa ...
1985: "The Odd Couple."
31. Lucie Arnaz
Actress | The Jazz Singer
Lucie Arnaz was born on July 17, 1951 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for The Jazz Singer (1980), Here's Lucy (1968) and Smoking Nonsmoking (2011). She has been married to Laurence Luckinbill since June 22, 1980. They have three children. She was ...
1986: "My One and Only."
32. Liza Minnelli
Soundtrack | Cabaret
Liza Minnelli was born on March 12, 1946, the daughter of Judy Garland and movie director Vincente Minnelli. She was practically raised at MGM studios while her parents worked long hours there and she made her film debut at 14 months of age in the movie In the Good Old Summertime (1949). Her ...
1987: "Liza Minnelli Revue."
33. Lily Tomlin
Actress | Nashville
Lily Tomlin was born September 1, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, to Lillie Mae (Ford) and Guy Tomlin, who moved to Michigan from Paducah, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. Her mother was a nurse's aide and her father was a factory worker. She graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1957, and ...
1989: "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe."
34. Ellen Burstyn
Actress | Requiem for a Dream
Ellen Burstyn was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Correine Marie (Hamel) and John Austin Gillooly. She is of Irish, French/French-Canadian, Pennsylvania Dutch (German), and Native American ancestry.. She worked a number of jobs before she became an actress. At 14, she was a short-order cook at a ...
1990: "Shirley Valentine."
35. Loretta Swit
Actress | M*A*S*H
Equally versatile at comedy and drama, Loretta Swit was born on November 4, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey. Her parents, Polish immigrants, were not in favor of her making a stab at a show business career. Performing on stage from age 7, however, nothing and nobody could deter her.
A natural singer ...
1991: "Shirley Valentine."
36. Hollis Resnik
Actress | Backdraft
Hollis Resnik was born on June 1, 1955 in Euclid, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for Backdraft (1991), The Untouchables (1993) and Crime Story (1986). She was married to Thomas Mendel. She died on April 17, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
1992
37. Stefanie Powers
Actress | Hart to Hart
Stefanie Powers began her career as a teenager dancing for the Michele Paniaff Ballet Company and Jerome Robbins. At 16 she was put under contract to Columbia Pictures in the twilight of the Hollywood Studio System where she made 15 motion pictures and was loaned to United Artists for the John Wayne...
1993: "Love Letters."
38. Bernadette Peters
Actress | The Jerk
Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and ...
1994: "The Goodbye Girl."
39. Julie Andrews
Actress | The Sound of Music
Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in England. Her mother, Barbara Ward (Morris), and stepfather, both vaudeville performers, discovered her freakish but undeniably lovely four-octave singing voice and immediately got her a singing career. She performed in music halls throughout her...
1996: "Victor/Victoria."
40. Faye Dunaway
Actress | Bonnie and Clyde
An icy, elegant blonde with a knack for playing complex and strong-willed female leads, enormously popular actress Faye Dunaway starred in several films which defined what many would come to call Hollywood's "second Golden Age." During her tenure at the top of the box office, she was a more than ...
1997: "Master Class."
41. Brian Dennehy
Actor | First Blood
Imposing, barrel-chested and often silver-haired Brian Dennehy was a prolific US actor, well respected on both screen and stage over many decades. He was born in July 1938 in Bridgeport, CT, and attended Columbia University in New York City on a football scholarship. Brian majored in history, ...
1999: "Death of a Salesman."
42. Heather Headley
Actress | Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
Won a 2000 Tony Award for Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Musical for her role in "Aida". Released her debut album in 2002, "This is who I am". Moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana at age 15. As a student in university, she performed at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, in "Dreamgirls" and "The...
2000: "Aida."
43. Chita Rivera
Actress | Chicago
An accomplished and versatile actress/singer/dancer, Chita Rivera has won two Tony Awards as Best Leading Actress in a Musical and received eight additional Tony nominations for an exceptional 10 Tony nominations. She recently starred in The Visit, the final John Kander/Fred Ebb/Terrence McNally ...
2002: "The Visit."
44. Elaine Stritch
Actress | 30 Rock
A brash, sharp-tongued, incorrigible actress/singer who led a six decade career that contained many highs and lows, veteran Elaine Stritch's raucous six-decade career certainly lived up well to the Stephen Sondheim song lyrics "I'm Still Here." A popular, magnetic performer, she stole so many ...
2004: "Elaine Stritch at Liberty.
45. John Mahoney
Actor | Frasier
John Mahoney was an award-winning American actor. He was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, the seventh of eight children of Margaret and Reg, a baker. His family was evacuated to the sea-side resort to avoid the Nazi bombing of their native Manchester. The Mancunian Mahoneys eventually ...
2006: Chicago performances
46. Kathleen Turner
Actress | Romancing the Stone
Kathleen Turner was born June 19, 1954 in Springfield, Missouri, to Patsy (Magee) and Allen Richard Turner, a U.S. Foreign Service officer. She graduated from American School in London in 1972. After the death of her father, the Turner family moved back to the United States where Kathleen later ...
2008: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,"
47. William Petersen
Producer | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
William Petersen was born on February 21, 1953 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Manhunter (1986) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). He has been married to Gina Cirone since June 14, 2003. They have two children. He was ...
2009
48. Patti LuPone
Actress | Beau Is Afraid
A fireball of talent and a musical force to be reckoned with, singer/actress Patti LuPone was born on April 21, 1949 in Northport on Long Island, New York, of Italian heritage. Her parents, Orlando Joseph LuPone, a school administrator, and mother Angela Louise (Patti), a librarian, eventually ...
2010
49. John O'Hurley
Actor | Seinfeld
John George O'Hurley Jr. is an American actor, comedian, author, game show host and television personality. He is known for his portrayal of J. Peterman on the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, and was the sixth host of the game show Family Feud from 2006 to 2010. He also hosted To Tell the Truth from 2000 to ...
2011
50. Barbara Cook
Actress | Thumbelina
Barbara Cook is best-loved and remembered for her work on the Broadway stage. An amazing singer and refreshingly impulsive actress, she made her debut at age 23 in the musical "Flahooley". Roles in "Plain and Fancy" and, the most famous flop of all time, "Candide" followed. In 1957, she created her...
2012
51. Audra McDonald
Actress | Beauty and the Beast
Audra McDonald was born on July 3, 1970 in Berlin, Germany as Audra Ann McDonald. She's an actress and singer, best known for her many roles on Broadway. Her mother was a university administrator and her father was a high school principal stationed in West Berlin with the U.S. Army. She has a ...
2013
52. Bebe Neuwirth
Actress | Jumanji
Beatrice "Bebe" Neuwirth is the daughter of Sydney Anne, an artist, and Lee Paul Neuwirth, a mathematician. Born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, she started out as a dancer. Her New York career started out in "A Chorus Line". She won a Tony Award for her part in "Sweet Charity" and two Emmy ...
2014
53. Jessie Mueller
Actress | The Post
Jessica Ruth "Jessie" Mueller, born in Evanston, Illinois, is a Tony Award-winning actress known for her work on Broadway portraying Carole King in Beautiful; the Carole King Musical and Jenna Hunterson in Waitress. She was born into a family of actors. Her parents, Jill (Shellabarger) and Roger ...
2015 for "Beautiful: Carole King Musical."
54. Sutton Foster
Actress | Younger
Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has received two Tony Awards for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern ...
2016
55. Brian d'Arcy James
Actor | Spotlight
Brian d'Arcy James was born on June 29, 1968 in Saginaw, Michigan, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Spotlight (2015), West Side Story (2021) and Shrek the Musical (2013).
2016
56. Kate Shindle
Actress | Capote
Kate Shindle was born on January 31, 1977 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Capote (2005), The Stepford Wives (2004) and Legally Blonde: The Musical (2007).
2017
57. Kate Baldwin
Actress | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Kate Baldwin was born on May 2, 1975 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), Just Beyond (2021) and Live from Lincoln Center (1976). She has been married to Graham Rowat since October 2, 2005. They have one child.
2017
58. Betty Buckley
Actress | Split
Betty Buckley, who has been called "The Voice of Broadway," is one of theater's most respected and legendary leading ladies. She is an actress/singer whose career spans theater, film, television and concert halls around the world. She is a 2012 Theatre Hall of Fame inductee and the 2017 recipient ...
2018
Tell Your Friends