Kathleen Widdoes

Kathleen Widdoes
Born	Kathleen Effie Widdoes (1939-03-21) March 21, 1939 (age 85) Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Education	Sorbonne
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1958-present
Spouses	Richard Jordan ​ ​ (m. 1964;div. 1972)​ Jerry Senter
Children	1

Kathleen Effie Widdoes ^[1] (born March 21, 1939) ^[2] is an American actress. She is known for playing the role of Emma Snyder on the CBS Daytime soap opera As the World Turns (1985 to 2010). For her work on As the World Turns, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1986, 1987, and 1991. She also received a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1994.

Widdoes was also nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award, as well as winning two Obie Awards and a Lucille Lortel Award.

Early life

Widdoes was born on March 21, 1939 in Wilmington, Delaware. ^{[1] [2]} She is the oldest of six siblings, all raised by their mother. ^[1] She has three brothers and two sisters. In Delaware, she performed in an amateur theater group's production of They Ain't Done Right By Nell. ^[3] Widdoes moved to New York after high school. She continued to study acting in Manhattan. In 1963, she went to Paris to spend a year at the Sorbonne, under a Fulbright scholarship, training as a mime. ^{[3] [2] [4]}

She subsequently taught acting at Yale, where she appeared in productions of the Yale Repertory Theater.^{[ citation needed ]}

Career

Widdoes played Teusret in the original Broadway production of The Firstborn. The play opened at the Coronet Theatre on April 29, 1958. She co-starred with Katharine Cornell. ^{[3] [5]} Widdoes also performed in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge (1958). ^{[1] [3]} She played a Tourist in the original Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong . The play opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 14, 1958. ^[6] On television, Widdoes was cast as Jill Malone on the NBC Daytime soap opera Young Doctor Malone , playing the role from 1958 to 1959. ^[4] In October 1959, she played Irina in Chekhov's Three Sisters at New York's Fourth Street Theater. ^[7]

In 1960, she performed in Henry V and Measure for Measure at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In September 1960, she appeared in Dostoevsky's The Idiot at the Gate Theatre. ^{[8] [4] [2]} Widdoes performed in Richard II, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Romeo and Juliet at the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1961. ^{[4] [2] [3]} She also appeared in The Tempest for the NYSF in 1962. ^[2] Widdoes had a singing role in the musical We Take the Town (1962), but she heard through the dressing room wall that she was going to be fired, so she gave her notice that she was leaving. ^[3]

She appeared in The Maids at the Aldana Theatre in November 1963, co-starring with Lee Grant. ^[9]

Television

In Season 1, Episode 2, "A Crying Need", on the television series Here Come the Brides , she appears as Dr. Allyn Wright, Seattle's first doctor who also happens to be female. The series ran from 1968 to 1970.

She was menaced in the Dissolve to Black (1961) episode of Roald Dahl's Way Out (1961) and appeared in The Invaders TV series as Ellen Woods (1967), supposedly deranged after seeing extraterrestrials in a barn near her town in the episode "Nightmare". She had a featured role in the HBO series Oz (1997, 2000).

Although she often appeared on stage New York theatre, Widdoes may be most widely known for her work in soap operas. She was an original cast member of Young Doctor Malone , playing Jill Malone (1958–59). She played lower middle class matriarch Rose Perrini on Another World (1978–80) and appeared for a short time on Ryan's Hope (1983) as the vindictive villainess Una McCurtain, a character seeking revenge on Maeve Ryan as part of an old family feud.

Her best known work was as Emma Snyder on As the World Turns . Emma was the matriarch of the Snyder family, introduced to the show's canvas in 1985. The Snyders were based on the family of then-head writer Douglas Marland. She was prominently featured during the show's 50th anniversary program in April 2006 and continued to make regular appearances until the series finale year (although she was noticeably absent during the last few months).

Films

Her film credits include The Group (1966), Petulia (1968), The Sea Gull (1968), The Mephisto Waltz (1971), Savages (1972), I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) and Courage Under Fire (1996).

Theater

She received a 1973 Tony Award nomination (Best Actress in a Play) for her performance as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing , ^[10] set at the end of the Spanish–American War (1898), for the New York Shakespeare Festival. The production transferred from the open-air Delacorte Theater in Central Park to Broadway and was preserved for television. She played other roles for the Festival, including Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream . In 2002, she received the Lucille Lortel Award (Featured Actress) for her work in the play Franny's Way Off-Broadway.

Personal life

In 1961, Widdoes met actor Richard Jordan when they played the lead roles in a Shakespeare Festival production of Romeo and Juliet . They were married in Paris in 1964, while she was studying at the Sorbonne. They had a daughter, born the same year. ^[3] They were later divorced. ^[11]

She is married to Jerry Senter. ^[4]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	The Group	Helena
1968	Petulia	Wilma
	The Sea Gull	Masha
1971	The Mephisto Waltz	Maggie West
1972	Savages	Leslie
1982	I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can	Dr. Rawlings
1983	Without a Trace	Ms. Hauser
1996	Courage Under Fire	Geraldine Walden
1998	Hi-Life	Frankie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958–1959	Young Doctor Malone	Jill Malone	5 episodes
1958–1959	Camera Three		3 episodes
1959	The Art Carney Special	Emily Webb	Episode: "Our Town"
1960	Startime	Rachel	Episode: "Jeff McCleod, the Last Reb"
1960–1962	Festival	Joan of Arc; Ondine	3 episodes
1961	Way Out	Bonnie Draco	Episode: "Dissolve to Black"
	Look Up and Live	Elektra	Episode: "The Flies"
	Armstrong Circle Theatre	Anna Halber	Episode: "A Chapter on Tyranny: Dateline Berlin"
1962	The DuPont Show of the Week	Kathy Allen	Episode: "The Movie Star"
1962; 1963	The Defenders	Sandra Mason; Theresa Sullivan	Episodes: "The Benefactor", "The Star Spangled Ghetto"
1963	The Doctors	Charity	5 episodes
1965	The Nurses	Young Woman	Episode: "Sixteen Hours to Chicago"
1966	12 O'Clock High	Lt. Irina Zavanoff	Episode: "Massacre"
1967	The Invaders	Ellen Woods	Episode: "Nightmare"
	A Bell for Adano	Tina Tomasino	Television film
1968	Here Come the Brides	Dr. Allyn Wright	Episode: "A Crying Need"
	The F.B.I.	Margaret Kane	Episode: "The Hero"
1972	Bonanza	Anna Kosovo	Episode: "Frenzy"
	The Return of Charlie Chan	Irene Hadrachi	Television film
1973	Much Ado About Nothing	Beatrice	Television film [12]
	Toma	Marian Dalton	Episode: "The Bambara Bust"
1974	The American Parade	Anne Bradstreet	Episode: "We the Women"
	Punch and Jody	Margaret Howell Grant	Television film
1975	ABC's Wide World of Entertainment	Joan Harper	Episode: "Please Call It Murder"
1977	The Andros Targets	Bonnie Stanik	Episode: "A Currency for Murder"
	Kojak	Sonia	Episode: "Another Gypsy Queen"
1978–1980	Another World	Rose Perrini
1981	Secrets of Midland Heights	Helen Millington Dulles	Episode: "The Birthday Party"
	Great Performances	Edith Wharton	Episode: "Edith Wharton: Looking Back"
	Nurse	Dr. Carol Swanson	Episode: "My Life as a Woman"
1983	Ryan's Hope	Una MacCurtain	Recurring role, 9 episodes
1985–2010	As the World Turns	Emma Snyder	Contract role: 1985–1995, Recurring role: 1995–2010
1986	Mafia Princess	Angelina Giancana	Television film
1991	American Playhouse	Esther Rosenbloom	Episode: "The Hollow Boy"
1997–2002	Oz	Mrs. Beecher	Episodes: "Straight Life", "Works of Mercy", "Impotence"
1999	Law & Order	Judge Childers	Episodes: "Sideshow"

References

1. Kelly, Kevin (May 30, 1982). "Lively Kathleen Widdoes likes to play lighter roles, too". The Boston Globe. p. 68. Retrieved June 26, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
2. "About the Actors: Kathleen Widdoes". Soap Central. Archived from the original on August 5, 2024. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
3. Berkvist, Robert (January 28, 1973). "She'll Do 'Much Ado' on TV". The New York Times . Archived from the original on November 7, 2023. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
4. Rout, Nancy E.; Buckley, Ellen (1992). The Soap Opera Book: Who's Who in Daytime Drama. Todd Publications. p. 287. ISBN   978-0-915344-23-9.
5. "The Firstborn". Playbill . Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
6. "The World of Suzie Wong". Playbill . Archived from the original on March 5, 2024. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
7. Dickstein, Morris (October 14, 1959). "Three Sisters: Compassionate Drama". Columbia Daily Spectator . p. 2. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
8. "Repertory's Members". The Villager . August 11, 1960. p. 12. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
9. "Show Business". New York Daily News . October 31, 1963. p. 65. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
10. "Kathleen Widdoes". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
11. "Richard Jordan, Actor, Director, Producer and Writer, 56, Is Dead". The New York Times . September 1, 1993. Archived from the original on November 27, 2009.
12. The New York Times Biographical Service. New York Times & Arno Press. 1973.

External links

• Kathleen Widdoes at IMDb  
• Kathleen Widdoes at the Internet Broadway Database
• Kathleen Widdoes at the Internet Off-Broadway Database