Maureen Stapleton

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Birthday:

21 June 1925, Troy, New York, USA

Birth Name:

Lois Maureen Stapleton

Height:

160 cm

Academy Award-winner Maureen Stapleton was born June 21, 1925 in Troy, New York, to Irene (née Walsh) and John P. Stapleton. Her family was of Irish descent. Maureen moved to New York City at the age of eighteen and did modeling to pay the bills. Already a Tony Award-winner, she made her Academy Award-nominated film debut in Lonelyhearts (1958) supporting four-time Academy Award-nominee Montgomery Clift, and Myrna Loy in Lonelyhearts (1958). Maureen was was nominated for an Oscar again for her performance in Airport (1970). She played the wife of D. O. Guerrero (played by Academy Award-winner Van Heflin). Nine years later she went on to earn an Oscar for her performance as Diane Keaton, Kristen Griffith, and Mary Beth Hurt's mother-in-law Pearl, in the Woody Allen drama Interiors (1978). Apparently, four times worked as a charm when Maureen took the Oscar home for her performance in which she portrayed the Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman in Warren Beatty's Reds (1981). Show less «

[when asked, after winning her Oscar, how it felt to be recognized as one of the greatest actresses in the world] Not nearly as exciting as ...Show more »

[when asked, after winning her Oscar, how it felt to be recognized as one of the greatest actresses in the world] Not nearly as exciting as it would be if I were acknowledged as one of the greatest lays in the world. Show less «

[on acting] I do a job. I get paid. I go home.

Watching Manhattan (1979), it almost makes you forget all the dog poop on the streets.

There are many roads to good acting. I've been asked repeatedly what the "key" to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is ...Show more »

There are many roads to good acting. I've been asked repeatedly what the "key" to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake. Show less «

[finishing her acceptance speech after receiving her Oscar for Reds (1981)] I would like to thank everyone I've ever met.

When the curtain went up or the camera rolled, I did the best I could . . . [I loved] the challenge and the opportunity to leave reality beh...Show more »

When the curtain went up or the camera rolled, I did the best I could . . . [I loved] the challenge and the opportunity to leave reality behind and become someone else. Show less «

[referring to her "matronly" casting] I was born old.

[referring to her move to New York] I was 17 years old, I weighed 180 pounds and I had a hundred bucks in my pocket. I was invincible.

[referring to her "beauty"] I never had that problem. People looked at me on stage and said, "Jesus, that broad better be able to act".

[when asked if she thought she was going to win an Oscar for Reds (1981)] Yes, because I'm old and tired and I lost three times before".

Looking back, I don't feel I had a choice. For a fat, struggling kid like me, the only way out was to be someone else -- an actor.

[after eleven years of stagework] I found movies very difficult. I couldn't remember my own name! I kept telling myself, 'You learn three ac...Show more »

[after eleven years of stagework] I found movies very difficult. I couldn't remember my own name! I kept telling myself, 'You learn three acts in plays. Why can't you can't remember one little passage?' But by the time they got to me for my five minute bit, I was exhausted. I'd been gung-ho on Monday, but Thursday it was another story. But you learn how to pace yourself, how to keep up the necessary energy level, and it's not quite as nerve-wracking as performing on stage because somewhere in the back of your mind you know if you make a serious mistake, they can try again. If you do that on stage, you have to depend on your fellow actors to get you out of it. Show less «