Irene Worth

Irene Worth

While it's understandable that many people regard Irene Worth as a British actress, she was in fact born in Nebraska and educated at U.C.L.A. A one-time schoolteacher, Worth made her professional acting bow in 1942, touring with Elizabeth Bergner in Escape Me Never. One year later, she was on Broadway, appearing in The Two Mrs. Carrolls. In 1944, she moved to London, where she studied with Elsie Fogarty and "reinvented" herself as a classical actress. She went on to work with the Old Vic and Royal Shakespeare Company, and was prominently cast in the groundbreaking theatrical productions of director Peter Brook. In 1955, she won a British Film Award for her performance in Orders to Kill. Among her many subsequent professional honors were her three Tony awards for Tiny Alice (1964), Sweet Bird of Youth (1975), and Lost in Yonkers. She repeated her performance as Grandma when Yonkers was committed to film in 1992. Irene Worth's other movie roles of note include Goneril in Paul Scofield's King Lear (1971), the Queen Mother in Nicholas and Alexandria (1971), and Dutch psychic Helga Ten Dorp in Deathtrap (1982). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide