Marian Hall Seldes, a renowned American stage actress, was born on August 23, 1928, in Manhattan, New York, to writer and journalist Gilbert Seldes and his socialite wife, Alice Wadhams Hall. Her paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, while her mother came from an Episcopalian family with deep roots in the United States.
Marian Seldes studied drama at the Neighborhood Playhouse under the guidance of Sanford Meisner and dance with Martha Graham. She refined her craft with the legendary Broadway diva Katharine Cornell, appearing alongside her in the play "That Lady" during the 1949-50 season.
Seldes herself taught acting at The Juilliard School from 1967 to 1991 and at Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus since 2002. Her notable students include Oscar winners William Hurt, Kevin Kline, and Robin Williams, Emmy Award winners Kelsey Grammer and Laura Linney, and Tony Award winner Patti LuPone.
She made her Broadway debut in 1948, starring in Robinson Jeffers' adaptation of "Medea," opposite Judith Anderson and directed by John Gielgud. This marked the beginning of a 59-year career that concluded with her final Broadway appearance in 2007, in Terrence McNally's "Deuce." Throughout her illustrious career, Seldes received five Tony Award nominations, winning her first for Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance" in 1973. She has been closely associated with Albee, appearing in three of his plays, starting with "Tiny Alice" in 1962.
Seldes has also enjoyed a successful career in film, television, and radio, taking on a wide range of roles, from Emily Brontë in the 1952 TV movie "Our Sister Emily" to Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1995 film "Truman." She has also appeared in various television shows, including "The Rifleman" and "Sex and the City," as well as doing extensive work as a radio actress, featuring on the CBS Radio Mystery Theater from 1974 to 1982.
In her personal life, Seldes was married twice, first to Julian Claman, with whom she had a daughter, and then to screenwriter Garson Kanin, whom she married in 1990 and survived until his death in 1999.
In 2010, Marian Seldes was honored with a Tony Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing her remarkable career and her reputation as one of America's greatest stage performers.
