M MyList
Actor · Acting

Lois Smith

Born 1930-11-03
📍 Topeka, Kansas, USA

Lois Arlene Smith (née Humbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film East of Eden, and later played supporting roles in a number of movies, including Five Easy Pieces (1970), Resurrection (1980), Fatal Attraction (1987), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Dead Man Walking, Twister (1996), Minority Report (2002), The Nice Guys (2016) and Lady Bird (2017).

In 2017, Smith received critical acclaim for her leading performance in the science-fiction drama film Marjorie Prime, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards and Saturn Award, and well as won Satellite Award. Smith also has had many roles on television, both daytime and prime time. She was regular cast member in the HBO horror drama True Blood, and well as received Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series nomination for The Americans.

Smith also is known for her extensive work in the theatre, receiving two Tony Award nominations for originating the role of Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1990) and for the role of Halie in a revival of Buried Child in 1996. She also starred in an acclaimed Off-Broadway revival of The Trip to Bountiful in 2005 for which she received an Obie Award for Best Actress, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a Drama Desk Award. Smith is an ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Lois Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography 132

The Gettysburg Address
as Elizabeth Crawford (voice)
2025
Lightning Bug
as Lydia
2025
On the End
as Trudie Ferreira
2025
The Uninvited
as Helen
2025
Elsbeth
as Delores Feinn
2024
Mack & Rita
as Betty
2022
This Fool
as Beverly
2022
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
as Upshur 'Maw' Clampette
2021
Gossip Girl
as Iris Lefferts
2021
Law & Order: Organized Crime
as Doris 'Mama' Boone
2021
Uncle Frank
as Aunt Butch
2020
The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America
as Harper Pitt
2020
Tesla
as The Grande Dame
2020
On Becoming a God in Central Florida
as Mimi Waldenstock
2019
Impulse
as Deirdre 'Dippy' Jones
2018
9JKL
as Wrong Nana
2017
Lady Bird
as Sister Sarah Joan
2017
Marjorie Prime
as Marjorie
2017
The Comedian
as Miriam
2016
The Nice Guys
as Mrs. Glenn
2016
Sneaky Pete
as Reverend Ethel Landry
2015
Grace and Frankie
as Mrs. Hanson
2015
Younger
as Belinda Lacroix
2015
Run All Night
as Margaret Conlon
2015
The Affair
as Mrs. Gunther
2014
Showing Up
as Self
2014
The Man Who Came Out Only at Night
as The Youngest Daughter (later)
2013
Mom
as Claire
2013
The Blacklist
as Lucy Game
2013
Ray Donovan
as Dolores
2013
The Americans
as Betty Turner
2013
Ruth & Erica
as Ruth
2012
The Odd Life of Timothy Green
as Aunt Mel
2012
Roadie
as Mom
2012
Please Give
as Mrs. Portman
2010
A Dog Year
as Lois Blair
2009
True Blood
as Adele Stackhouse
2008
Diminished Capacity
as Belle
2008
Turn the River
as Abby
2008
Army Wives
as Elsie
2007
Griffin & Phoenix
as Dr. Imberman
2006
Hollywoodland
as Helen Bessolo
2006
Sweet Land
as Inge (as an older woman)
2005
James Dean: Sense Memories
as Self
2005
Grey's Anatomy
as Mrs. Dickerson
2005
P.S.
as Ellie Silverstein
2004
Desperate Housewives
as Allison Scavo
2004
LAX
as Rose Sinclair
2004
Iron Jawed Angels
as Reverend Anna Howard Shaw
2004
The Best Thief in the World
as Helen
2004
Cold Case
as Fannie
2003
Red Betsy
as Helen Rounds
2003
Minority Report
as Dr. Iris Hineman
2002
The Laramie Project
as Lucy Thompson
2002
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
as Betty Bennett
2001
Powder Keg
as Mother
2001
The Hire
as Mother
2001
The Pledge
as Helen Jackson
2001
Tumbleweeds
as Ginger
1999
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
as Rebecca Tolliver
1999
A Will of their Own
as Miss Maude
1998
The Eternal
as Mrs. Ferriter
1998
Hudson River Blues
1997
Just Shoot Me!
as Libby
1997
The Practice
as Mary Beth Berluti
1997
Larger Than Life
as Luluna
1996
Twister
as Aunt Meg
1996
Dead Man Walking
as Helen's Mother
1995
How to Make an American Quilt
as Sophia
1995
Truman
as Madge Wallace Gates
1995
Touched by an Angel
as Mildred Mancini
1994
ER
as Gracie
1994
Holy Matrimony
as Orna
1994
Frasier
as Moira
1993
Falling Down
as D-Fens' Mother
1993
Skylark
as Lou Wheaton
1993
Deadly Matrimony
1992
The Donner Party
as voice
1992
Keep the Change
as Lureen
1992
Hard Promises
as Mrs. Bell
1992
Fried Green Tomatoes
as Mama Threadgoode
1991
White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd
as Alice Todd
1991
Switched at Birth
as Margaret
1991
The Grapes of Wrath
as Ma Joad
1991
Coney Island
as (voice)
1991
Good Sports
1991
Green Card
as Brontë's Mother
1990
Law & Order
as Eunice Varick
1990
Hello Actors Studio
as Self
1988
American Experience
as (voice)
1988
Midnight Run
as Mrs. Nelson, Mardukas's Friend
1988
thirtysomething
1987
Fatal Attraction
as Martha
1987
Black Widow
as Sara
1987
Doubletake
as Sarah
1985
The Execution of Raymond Graham
as Mary Neal
1985
Spenser: For Hire
1985
The Equalizer
as Marie Ganucci
1985
The Equalizer
as Dorothy Hermes
1985
Twisted
as Helen Giles
1985
Reckless
as Mrs. Prescott
1984
Reuben, Reuben
as Mare Spofford
1983
Rage of Angels
as Clara
1983
Four Friends
as Mrs. Carnahan
1981
Resurrection
as Kathy
1980
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
as Cornelia
1980
Foxes
as Mrs. Axman
1980
Tales of the Unexpected
as Sara
1979
Next Stop, Greenwich Village
as Anita Cunningham
1976
Up the Sandbox
as Elinore
1972
Particular Men
1972
Dragon Country
as Woman (segment "Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen")
1970
Five Easy Pieces
as Partita Dupea
1970
The Way We Live Now
as Jane Aldridge
1970
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
as Evelyn
1967
Dr. Kildare
as Libby Clayton
1961
The Defenders
as Esther Terranova
1961
Route 66
1960
Route 66
as Dana
1960
Route 66
as Lucy Brown
1960
The Master Builder
as Hilda
1960
Startime
as Cindy
1959
Naked City
as Dawn Garrison
1958
Tony Awards
as Self - Nominee / Performer
1956
Tony Awards
as Self - Nominee
1956
Matinee Theater
1955
Strange Lady in Town
as Spurs O'Brien
1955
East of Eden
as Anne
1955
The United States Steel Hour
as Jeannie
1953
Letter to Loretta
as Jenny Musgrave
1953
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
Studio One
as Lisa Molloy
1948