List of Westport Country Playhouse performers

Last updated October 05, 2025

Westport Country Playhouse notable performers include^[1]^[2]

1933: Kitty Carlisle in Champagne Sec
1934: Burgess Meredith in Hide and Seek
1935: Ruth Gordon in The Country Wife
1936:
- Eva Le Gallienne in Love for Love and Camille
- Dorothy Gish in Russet Mantle
1937: Henry Fonda in The Virginian
1938: Ethel Barrymore in The Constant Wife
1939:
- Gene Kelly, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green in Magazine Page
- Ruth Gordon in Here Today
1940: Paul Robeson in The Emperor Jones
1941: Tyrone Power in Liliom directed by Lee Strasberg.
1942–1945:The Westport Country Playhouse closed because of World War II
1946:
- June Havoc in They Knew What They Wanted
- Olivia de Havilland in What Every Woman Knows
- Thornton Wilder as the stage manager for Our Town
1947: Tallulah Bankhead in Private Lives
1948: Thornton Wilder in The Skin of Our Teeth
1949:
- Helen Hayes and Mary MacArthur in Good Housekeeping
- Carl Reiner in Pretty Penny
1950:
- Maureen Stapleton in My Fiddle Has Three Strings
- Maurice Evans in The Devil's Disciple
- Franchot Tone in The Second Man
- Basil Rathbone in The Winslow Boy
1951:
- Claudette Colbert in Island Fling
- Olivia de Havilland in Candida
1952: John Forsythe in Dangerous Corner and The Hasty Heart
1953:
- Eva Gabor in Sailor's Delight and The Play's the Thing
- Lillian Gish in The Trip to Bountiful
1954:
- Imogene Coca in Happy Birthday
- Richard Kiley in Candle-Light
1955:
- Richard Kiley in Heaven Can Wait
- Eva Marie Saint in The Rainmaker (play)
1956:
- Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish in The Chalk Garden
- Bea Lillie in Beasop's Fables
1957:
- Eartha Kitt in Mrs. Patterson
- Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn in Man in the Dog Suit
1958:
- Groucho Marx in A Time for Elizabeth
- Bert Lahr in Visit to a Small Planet
1959:
- Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson in The Glass Menagerie
- Tony Randall in Arms and the Man
1960:
- Joan Fontaine in Susan and God
- Jane Fonda in No Concern of Mine
- Mike Nichols and Elaine May in An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May
1961:
- Cyril Ritchard and Cornelia Otis Skinner in The Pleasure of His Company
- Gloria Swanson in Between Seasons
1962:
- Tallulah Bankhead in Here Today
- Sammy Davis Jr. in The Desperate Hours
1963:
- Teresa Wright in Tchin-Tchin
- Carol Channing in The Millionairess
- Hermione Gingold in Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad
1964:
- Joel Grey in Stop the World – I Want to Get Off
- Helen Hayes in The White House
1965:
- Michael Allinson, Dina Merrill, Lois Nettleton, and Bramwell Fletcher in the George Bernard Shaw Repertory Festival
- Tammy Grimes in The Private Ear and the Public Eye
- Joan Fontaine in The Unexpected Guest
1966:
- Cicely Tyson and Alan Alda in The Owl and the Pussycat
- Tom Ewell in Life With Father
1967:
- Barbara Bel Geddes in Wait Until Dark
- E. G. Marshall in A Singular Man
- Betsy Palmer in Luv
1968:
- Geraldine Page in The Little Foxes
- Shirley Booth in Desk Set
1969: Keir Dullea and Maureen O'Sullivan in Butterflies Are Free
1970:
- Noel Harrison in Blithe Spirit
- Shirley Booth in Best of Friends
1971:
- Colleen Dewhurst in The Big Coca Cola Swamp in the Sky
- Geraldine Page and Rip Torn in Marriage & Money
1972:
- Mickey Rooney in See How They Run
- Robert Stack in Remember Me
1973:
- José Ferrer in A Song for Cyrano
- Art Carney in The Prisoner of Second Avenue
1974: Jack Gilford and Lou Jacobi in The Sunshine Boys
1975:
- Lynn Redgrave in The Two of Us
- Theodore Bikel in The Good Doctor
- Tammy Grimes in In Praise of Love
1976: Eva Marie Saint in Fatal Weakness
1977: Jane Alexander and Richard Kiley in The Master Builder
1978:
- Douglas Fairbank, Jr. in Out on a Limb
- Louis Jordan in 13 Rue De L'Amour
1979: Vincent Price in Diversions & Delights
1980:
- Sada Thompson in Children
- Richard Thomas in Whose Life is it Anyway?
1981: Eva Le Gallienne in To Grandmother's House We Go
1982: Eileen Heckart in What I Did Last Summer
1983: Shelley Winters in 84, Charing Cross Road
1984: Betsy Palmer in Breakfast with Les and Bess
1985: Christopher Walken and Katharine Houghton in A Bill of Development
1986: Colleen Dewhurst in Real Estate
1987: George Grizzard in The Perfect Party
1988: Arlene Francis and David Birney in Social Security
1989: Elizabeth Ashley in All the Queen's Men
1990: Fritz Weaver and Elizabeth Wilson in The Cocktail Hour
1991: Juliet Mills in Dangerous Obsession
1992: Tony Roberts in The Fourth Wall
1993: Charles Cioffi in The Substance of Fire
1994: Elaine May and Gene Saks in Intimate Exchanges
1996: Charles Durning, James Handy, and Dan Lauria in Men in Suits
1997: Jean Powell ^{[ verification needed ]}, Anne Meara, Jerry Stiller and Paul Benedict in After-Play
1998: Jean Stapleton in Eleanor - Her Secret Journey
1999:
- James Naughton in Street of Dreams
- Michael Learned and Ralph Waite in Chasing Monsters
2000:
- Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, James Naughton, Swoosie Kurtz, Jane Curtin and Fritz Weaver in Ancestral Voices
- Bronson Pinchot in Nicolette & Aucassin
2001:
- Gene Wilder in Don't Make Me Laugh
- Leslie Uggams and Bruce Weitz in Heaven Can Wait
- Karen Allen and Chad Allen in Temporary Help
2002: Paul Newman, Jayne Atkinson, Frank Converse, Jane Curtin and Jeffrey DeMunn in Our Town
2006: James Earl Jones in Thurgood

Notes

↑ Timeline of Significant Events and Selected Appearances by Notable Artists. Westport, Connecticut: Westport Country Playhouse. July 19, 2002.
↑ Somerset-Ward, Richard. An American Theatre: The Story of Westport Country Playhouse. Yale University Press. (2005)
↑ Hodges, Graham Russell, Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend, p 180, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, ISBN 0-312-29319-4, this footnote and information taken from Anna May Wong article

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[Timeline-1] Timeline of Significant Events and Selected Appearances by Notable Artists. Westport, Connecticut: Westport Country Playhouse. July 19, 2002.

[2] Somerset-Ward, Richard. An American Theatre: The Story of Westport Country Playhouse. Yale University Press. (2005)

[3] Hodges, Graham Russell, Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend, p 180, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, ISBN 0-312-29319-4, this footnote and information taken from Anna May Wong article

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