- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHarriet Elizabeth Abrams
- Educated at UCLA, she made her Broadway debut in 1943. Primarily a stage actress she moved to Britain in 1944, where she worked at the Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She returned to the US in 1975, continuing her stage work on Broadway, and making occasional films. She has won three Tony Awards for her stage work.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Christopher Mills, chis@craigwel.demon.co.uk
- She was awarded an honorary C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to drama in 1975.
- She made her Broadway debut with "The Two Mrs Carrolls" in 1943, which starred the legendary Elisabeth Bergner. It was Bergner and her film director husband Paul Czinner who persuaded Irene that London was the center of the English-speaking theatre. She moved there and immediately trained at the Old Vic in 1944.
- Changed her professional name to Irene Worth in 1942 just as she was making her stage debut in "Escape Me Never".
- The pronunciation she used for her first name was "I-ree-nee" which consistently threw announcers off as her fame grew.
- Has won three Tony Awards: in 1965, as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Tiny Alice;" in 1976, as Best Actress (Play) for a revival of "Sweet Bird of Youth;" and in 1991, as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for "Lost in Yonkers," a role that she recreated in the movie version with the same name, Lost in Yonkers (1993). She was also nominated for Tony Awards two other times: in 1960, as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Toys in the Attic," and in 1977, as Best Actress (Play) for "The Cherry Orchard."
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