Eileen Heckart Loses Cancer Battle

Eileen Heckart, the lanky, gravel-voiced stage and screen actress whose skill with comedy and drama won her an Oscar for "Butterflies Are Free," two Emmys and a special Tony for career excellence, has died. She was 82.

Heckart, who had been battling cancer for three years, died Monday at her home in Norwalk, Connecticut.

"She was one of the great ladies of stage, TV and movies," said her son, Mark Yankee. "She was just as wonderful a mother, grandmother as an actress and an all-around wonderful woman."

Even in her early career, Heckart played character roles. She first drew attention on Broadway in 1953 as the love-starved Rosemary Sidney in "Picnic." The following year she created the role of Mrs. Daigle in "The Bad Seed," and she repeated it in the 1956 film version, gaining an Academy nomination as supporting actress.

Earlier in 1956 she had made her film debut in "Miracle in the Rain," which starred Jane Wyman and Van Johnson. That year, she also appeared in "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (Paul Newman) and "Bus Stop" (Marilyn Monroe).

In 1969, she created the stage role of the domineering mother of a blind young man in "Butterflies Are Free" and repeated it in the 1972 movie, which starred Goldie Hawn and Edward Albert. Variety commented: "Miss Heckart finally gets another role that enables her to display the versatility that has been evident for a long time in her stage roles." This time she won the supporting actress Oscar.

Heckart created a memorable character on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" as Mary Richards' Aunt Flo, a high-powered, globe-trotting reporter. Mary was overawed by her aunt's achievements, and her boss, Lou Grant (Ed Asner), renewed an old love affair with Flo.

In the 1979 miniseries "Backstairs at the White House," Heckart offered a fresh take on Eleanor Roosevelt, presenting her as bright, intelligent and even a bit sexy. She had experience portraying FDR's First Lady, having toured in 1976 with a one-woman show, "Eleanor."

Because of her tall frame, sad-looking eyes and distinctive voice, Heckart throughout her career was often cast as eccentrics. It was all an act, she explained in a 1989 interview: "I am not one bit an eccentric. I'm always on time. I know my lines. And I've been everything but eccentric for a whole lot of years."

She was awarded Emmys in 1967, for a production called "Save a Place for Me at Forest Lawn" and in 1994, for an episode of "Love & War." In 2000, she won a special Tony award for her lifetime of theater work.

"I kept telling her, stop winning awards, we'll have to build more shelves," her son said.

She was born Anna Eileen Heckart in Columbus, Ohio, in 1919. At Ohio State University she became deeply involved in dramatics, and her instructors encouraged her to pursue an acting career.

At a school dance she met a business student, John Yankee, and they married after graduation. After his service in World War II, they settled in Connecticut. While she took actin jobs in New York, he worked as an insurance broker and later as an investment adviser. Besides Mark, the couple had two other sons, Philip and Luke.

Yankee died in 1995 at 76 after 53 years of marriage, and she remembered him as "the nicest, kindest, sweetest man I ever met in my life."

Heckart's stage work began in 1943 as understudy and assistant stage manager of the long-running "Voice of the Turtle." She made her television debut in 1947 and appeared in many live dramas in such early series as Kraft Suspense Theater and Philco Playhouse.

Her stage career blossomed with "The Bad Seed" and "Picnic," and Hollywood sought her as a reliable character actress. Among her other plays: "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs," "Our Town," "They Knew What They Wanted," "A View from the Bridge," "Barefoot in the Park," "Mother Courage" (her favorite role), and "Time of the Cuckoo."

The movies included: "Hot Spell" (starring Shirley Booth and Anthony Quinn), "Heller in Pink Tights" (Sophia Loren, Quinn), "My Six Loves" (Debbie Reynolds, Cliff Robertson), "Up the Down Staircase" (Sandy Dennis), "No Way to Treat a Lady" (Rod Steiger), "Zandy's Bride" (Gene Hackman), "Heartbreak Ridge" (Clint Eastwood), "Seize the Day" (Robin Williams) and "The First Wives Club" (as Diane Keaton's mother).

Besides "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Heckart also joined the cast of such series as "Out of the Blue," "Trauma Center," "Partners in Crime" and "Murder One." She also made guest appearances in many series including "Gunsmoke" and "The Defenders."

"I don't like sitcoms," she admitted in 1995. "It's instant acting; it has nothing to do with talent. They shoot everything close-up. ... It's very boring. You do television to make money so you can afford to act in the theater."

Heckart said farewell to the theater in 2000. She had been appearing in a play, "The Waverly Gallery," as an Alzheimer's victim, and she told an interviewer: "Look- I'm 81 years old. Eighty-one! And when you're 81 you don't have the energy or the stamina you had when you were 60 or even 70. ... The energy you're asked to do a live performance and keep it sustained - well, it makes doing TV or movies seem easy."

She took a dim view of the institution that had sustained her for 57 years: "Now who can afford (theater)? And people don't want to think. ... You never used to hear them talk during a performance. Now they talk."

But she nonetheless thought there was hope for the future: "Things will turn around again. Greed is a phase."

By Pat-Eaton Robb © MMII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed