BLYTHE DANNER
Name: Blythe Katharine Danner
Born: 3 February 1943 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Blythe Katharine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an Emmy- and Tony Award-winning
American actress. She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Danner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Katharine and
Harry Earl Danner, a bank executive. She has two brothers: opera singer/actor
Harry Danner and violin maker William Moennig (half-brother). Danner, of part
Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, attended George School, a private Quaker secondary
school in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Bard College, where she
graduated in 1965.
Danner first appeared on stage with the Theater Company of Boston and the
Trinity Square Repertory Company (now Trinity Repertory Company) in Providence,
Rhode Island. She first gained national attention at age 25 by winning the
Theatre World Award for her performance in the Lincoln Center Rep's production
of The Miser. In 1970, she appeared in her first film role, in a television
production of Dr. Cook's Garden. Danner was a close friend of actor Christopher
Reeve and appeared with him in several plays.
With her WASPy appearance and husky voice, Danner has most frequently been cast
as a middle class or upper class wife, or more lately, matriarch; although in
1986 in Brighton Beach Memoirs, she portrayed a middle-aged Jewish woman, and in
the 1982 TV movie Inside the Third Reich, she played the wife of Albert Speer.
Her earliest starring film roles were opposite Alan Alda in To Kill a Clown (1972)
and in the title role of Lovin' Molly (1974), directed by Sidney Lumet. She has
appeared in two films based on the novels of Pat Conroy, The Great Santini (1979)
and The Prince of Tides (1991), as well as two television movies adapted from
books by Anne Tyler, Saint Maybe and Back When We Were Grownups, both for the
Hallmark Hall of Fame.
Danner is more recently known for her roles opposite Robert De Niro in the 2000
comedy hit Meet the Parents and its 2004 sequel, Meet the Fockers (with Barbra
Streisand and Dustin Hoffman). From 2004 to 2006 she starred in the TV series
Huff.
From 2001 to 2006, she regularly appeared on Will & Grace as Will's mother
Marilyn. In 2005, she was nominated for three Emmy Awards, for her work on Will
& Grace, Huff and Back When We Were Grownups. Emmy host Ellen DeGeneres poked
fun at Blythe Danner during the award ceremony, saying that Danner should not be
nervous because she was almost certain to win at least one Emmy. She did, for
Huff. In July 2006, she won a second consecutive Emmy award for Huff. For 25
years, she has been a regular performer at the Williamstown Summer Theater
Festival, where she also serves on the Board of Directors.
In 2006, Danner was awarded an inaugural Katharine Hepburn Medal, alongside
fellow honoree Lauren Bacall, which recognizes "women whose lives, work and
contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence of the four-time-Oscar-winning
actress," by Bryn Mawr College's Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center.
In addition to her acting work, Blythe Danner has been involved in environmental
issues such as recycling and conservation for over 30 years, having seen
firsthand the contrast between her rural youth and her later residence in Los
Angeles and New York. She has been active with INFORM Inc., is on the Board of
Environmental Activists and the Board of Directors of the Environmental Media
Association, and won the 2002 EMA Board of Directors Ongoing Commitment Award.
She was instrumental in implementing curbside recycling in Santa Monica and in
retaining the New York City recycling program despite threatened budget cuts in
1991, has driven an electric car since the first General Motors EV1 was
available, and has installed solar panels at her house. In 2002 Danner, her
husband Bruce Paltrow, and her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow worked together on a
series of public service announcements encouraging use of alternative energy
sources and alternative fuel vehicles.
After the passing of her husband Bruce Paltrow to oral cancer, she became
involved with the Oral Cancer Foundation, a national 501(c)3 non profit
charity. In 2005 she filmed a public service announcement that played on TV
stations around the country about the risks associated with oral cancer, and
through that shared the personal pain associated with the loss of her husband
publicly to further awareness of the disease and the need for early detection.
She continues to donate her time to the foundation, and has appeared on morning
talk shows, and has done interviews in high profile magazines such as People to
further public awareness of the disease and its risk factors. Through The Bruce
Paltrow Oral Cancer Fund, administered by the Oral Cancer Foundation, she
continues to raise awareness and funding for oral cancer issues, particularly
those involving communities in which disparities in health care exist.
Name: Blythe Katharine Danner
Born: 3 February 1943 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Blythe Katharine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an Emmy- and Tony Award-winning
American actress. She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Danner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Katharine and
Harry Earl Danner, a bank executive. She has two brothers: opera singer/actor
Harry Danner and violin maker William Moennig (half-brother). Danner, of part
Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, attended George School, a private Quaker secondary
school in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Bard College, where she
graduated in 1965.
Danner first appeared on stage with the Theater Company of Boston and the
Trinity Square Repertory Company (now Trinity Repertory Company) in Providence,
Rhode Island. She first gained national attention at age 25 by winning the
Theatre World Award for her performance in the Lincoln Center Rep's production
of The Miser. In 1970, she appeared in her first film role, in a television
production of Dr. Cook's Garden. Danner was a close friend of actor Christopher
Reeve and appeared with him in several plays.
With her WASPy appearance and husky voice, Danner has most frequently been cast
as a middle class or upper class wife, or more lately, matriarch; although in
1986 in Brighton Beach Memoirs, she portrayed a middle-aged Jewish woman, and in
the 1982 TV movie Inside the Third Reich, she played the wife of Albert Speer.
Her earliest starring film roles were opposite Alan Alda in To Kill a Clown (1972)
and in the title role of Lovin' Molly (1974), directed by Sidney Lumet. She has
appeared in two films based on the novels of Pat Conroy, The Great Santini (1979)
and The Prince of Tides (1991), as well as two television movies adapted from
books by Anne Tyler, Saint Maybe and Back When We Were Grownups, both for the
Hallmark Hall of Fame.
Danner is more recently known for her roles opposite Robert De Niro in the 2000
comedy hit Meet the Parents and its 2004 sequel, Meet the Fockers (with Barbra
Streisand and Dustin Hoffman). From 2004 to 2006 she starred in the TV series
Huff.
From 2001 to 2006, she regularly appeared on Will & Grace as Will's mother
Marilyn. In 2005, she was nominated for three Emmy Awards, for her work on Will
& Grace, Huff and Back When We Were Grownups. Emmy host Ellen DeGeneres poked
fun at Blythe Danner during the award ceremony, saying that Danner should not be
nervous because she was almost certain to win at least one Emmy. She did, for
Huff. In July 2006, she won a second consecutive Emmy award for Huff. For 25
years, she has been a regular performer at the Williamstown Summer Theater
Festival, where she also serves on the Board of Directors.
In 2006, Danner was awarded an inaugural Katharine Hepburn Medal, alongside
fellow honoree Lauren Bacall, which recognizes "women whose lives, work and
contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence of the four-time-Oscar-winning
actress," by Bryn Mawr College's Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center.
In addition to her acting work, Blythe Danner has been involved in environmental
issues such as recycling and conservation for over 30 years, having seen
firsthand the contrast between her rural youth and her later residence in Los
Angeles and New York. She has been active with INFORM Inc., is on the Board of
Environmental Activists and the Board of Directors of the Environmental Media
Association, and won the 2002 EMA Board of Directors Ongoing Commitment Award.
She was instrumental in implementing curbside recycling in Santa Monica and in
retaining the New York City recycling program despite threatened budget cuts in
1991, has driven an electric car since the first General Motors EV1 was
available, and has installed solar panels at her house. In 2002 Danner, her
husband Bruce Paltrow, and her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow worked together on a
series of public service announcements encouraging use of alternative energy
sources and alternative fuel vehicles.
After the passing of her husband Bruce Paltrow to oral cancer, she became
involved with the Oral Cancer Foundation, a national 501(c)3 non profit
charity. In 2005 she filmed a public service announcement that played on TV
stations around the country about the risks associated with oral cancer, and
through that shared the personal pain associated with the loss of her husband
publicly to further awareness of the disease and the need for early detection.
She continues to donate her time to the foundation, and has appeared on morning
talk shows, and has done interviews in high profile magazines such as People to
further public awareness of the disease and its risk factors. Through The Bruce
Paltrow Oral Cancer Fund, administered by the Oral Cancer Foundation, she
continues to raise awareness and funding for oral cancer issues, particularly
those involving communities in which disparities in health care exist.