Sandra Dale Dennis (April 27, 1937 – March 2, 1992) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the drama Splendor in the Grass (1961). For her performance in the comedy-drama film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Dennis appeared in the films Up the Down Staircase (1967), The Fox (1967), Sweet November (1968), That Cold Day in the Park (1969), The Out-of-Towners (1970), God Told Me To (1976), The Four Seasons (1981), Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), and Another Woman (1988). Her final film appearance came in the crime drama film The Indian Runner (1991).
In a successful career on stage, Dennis appeared in the original stage production of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. For her performance in the play A Thousand Clowns, she received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. For her performance in the play Any Wednesday, she received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.
Dennis was devoted to the cause of animal welfare. She rescued stray cats from the bowels of Grand Central Terminal. At the time of her death in Westport, Connecticut, she lived with more than 20 cats, who were adopted out by longtime friends to new homes.
Early life
Dennis was born in Hastings, Nebraska, the daughter of Yvonne (née Hudson), a secretary, and Jack Dennis, a postal clerk. Her parents divorced in 1966 after 38 years of marriage. She had one brother, Frank, who was eight years older. Dennis grew up in Kenesaw, Nebraska, and Lincoln, Nebraska, graduating from Lincoln High School in 1955; one of her classmates was writer and comedian Dick Cavett. She attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska, appearing in the Lincoln Community Theater Group before moving to New York City at age 19. She studied acting at HB Studio in New York City.
Career
Early career
Dennis made her television debut in 1956 in the soap opera Guiding Light.
She had an early break when cast as an understudy in the Broadway production of William Inge's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957) directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan cast Dennis in her first feature film, a small part in Splendor in the Grass (1961), which starred Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.
Dennis was cast in Face of a Hero (1960) on Broadway alongside Jack Lemmon. The play had only a short run, but Dennis received good notices. The Complaisant Lover (1961–62) by Graham Greene was more successful, running for 101 performances; Michael Redgrave and Googie Withers were also in the cast.
Broadway stardom
Dennis achieved Broadway fame with her leading role in Herb Gardner's A Thousand Clowns (1962–63), for which she won a Tony award for her performance. She was replaced in the 1965 film version by Barbara Harris. The show ran for 428 performances.
Around this time, Dennis guest-starred on episodes of the TV series Naked City ("Idylls of a Running Back", 1962, "Carrier", 1963), The Fugitive ("The Other Side of the Mountain", 1963), Arrest and Trial ("Somewhat Lower Than the Angels" 1964), and Mr. Broadway ("Don't Mention My Name in Sheboygan", 1964). She was the lead of the Broadway comedy Any Wednesday (1964–66), which ran for 983 performances and won her a second Tony.
thumb|left|Dennis in [[Up the Down Staircase (film)|Up the Down Staircase (1967)]]Dennis returned to the stage in a production of The Three Sisters (1966) with Geraldine Page and Kim Stanley that went to London and was filmed.
Dennis' first lead role in a movie was in Up the Down Staircase (1967), directed by Robert Mulligan. In his review for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther cited her for "a vivid performance of emotional range and depth … engagingly natural, sensitive, literate and thoroughly moving." The film was a box-office success, as was The Fox (1967), directed by Mark Rydell, despite its controversial subject matter. In 1967 Dennis was voted the 18th biggest star in the US.
Dennis briefly returned to Broadway to star in Daphne in Cottage D (1967), which had a short run.
She starred in Sweet November (1968) as a woman who takes multiple lovers, and made a TV version of the play A Hatful of Rain (1968).
Dennis went to London to star in A Touch of Love (1969), alternately titled Thank You All Very Much in the USA, which flopped at the box office. That Cold Day in the Park (1969), by Robert Altman, did not fare much better. The Out-of-Towners (1970), a Neil Simon comedy with Jack Lemmon, was a hit.
Dennis guest starred in Police Story ("Day of Terror... Night of Fear", 1978), and starred in the TV movies Perfect Gentlemen (1979) (written by Nora Ephron), and Wilson's Reward (1981). On Broadway she briefly joined the cast of the long-running Same Time, Next Year.
She had a well-received part in Alan Alda's The Four Seasons (1981) and was in The Supporting Cast (1981) on Broadway for Gene Saks. She was in the stage production and film version of Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982).
Personal life
Dennis lived with prominent jazz musician Gerry Mulligan from 1965 to 1974. In October 1965, her hometown newspaper, The Lincoln Star, published an Associated Press article stating she and Mulligan had married in Connecticut in June of that year. In a 1989 interview with People, however, Dennis admitted that they only pretended to be married after she unintentionally became pregnant. Dennis' dog survived the accident. In his 2024 autobiography Runaway Train, Roberts wrote that he too had impregnated Dennis, but she got an abortion.
Dennis' sexual orientation was a matter of public discussion as early as 1968, when the scandal magazine Uncensored ran a story that labeled her a lesbian. In an article published less than four years after Dennis' death, Eric Roberts identified her as bisexual. According to Roberts, Dennis told him she had many lesbian relationships and that she "appreciated the beauty of women. But she also liked and appreciated what a very, very young man could do to a woman, I suppose."
During Dennis' lifetime, in-depth published interviews with her, such as one with The Christian Science Monitor during her stint performing in an ensemble cast at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1981, made no mention of close relationships with women. That interview included the following exchange between journalist Louise Sweeney and Dennis about her marital status:
thumb|upright|Dennis' grave at Lincoln Memorial Park
Dennis also dated actor Gerald S. O'Loughlin.
Death
Dennis died from ovarian cancer on March 2, 1992, at her home in Westport, Connecticut, at age 54. She was cremated and inurned at Lincoln Memorial Park in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1961
| Splendor in the Grass
| Kay
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1966
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
| "Honey"
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress<br>Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance<br>Laurel Award for Top Female New Face<br>Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
|-
| '
| Irina
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1967
| Up the Down Staircase
| Sylvia Barrett
| Moscow International Film Festival Best Actress Award <small>(tied with Grynet Molvig for A Time in the Sun)</small>
|-
| '
| Jill Banford
|
|-
| 1968
| Sweet November
| Sara Deever
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1969
| '
| Rosamund Stacey
|
|-
| That Cold Day in the Park
| Frances Austen
|
|-
| 1970
| The Out of Towners
| Gwen Kellerman
| Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy<br>Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Female Comedic Performance
|-
| 1975
| Mr. Sycamore
| Jane Gwilt
|
|-
| 1976
| God Told Me To
| Martha Nicholas
|
|-
| 1977
| Nasty Habits
| Sister Winifred
|
|-
| 1981
| '
| Anne Callan
|
|-
| 1982
| Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
| Mona
|
|-
| 1986
| Laughter in the Dark
| Unknown
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1988
| Another Woman
| Claire
|
|-
| 976-EVIL
| Aunt Lucy Wilmoth
|
|-
| 1989
| Parents
| Millie Dew
|
|-
| 1991
| '
| Mrs. Roberts
| Final film role
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1956
| Guiding Light
| Alice Holden
| Unknown episodes
|-
| 1962
| Naked City
| Eleanor Ann Hubber
| Episode: "Idylls of a Running Back"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1963
| Naked City
| Lorraine
| Episode: "Carrier"
|-
| '
| Cassie Bolin
| Episode: "The Other Side of the Mountain"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1964
| Arrest and Trial
| Molly White
| Episode: "Somewhat Lower Than the Angels"
|-
| Mr. Broadway
| Patricia Kelsey
| Episode: "Don't Mention My Name in Sheboygan"
|-
| 1968
| '
| Celia Pope
| Television film
|-
| 1970
| Only Way Out Is Dead
| Dr. Enid Bingham
| Television film
|-
| 1972
| Something Evil
| Marjorie Worden
| Television film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1978
| Police Story
| Sharon Bristol
| Episode: "Day of Terror... Night of Fear"
|-
| Perfect Gentlemen
| Sophie Rosenman
| Television film
|-
| 1980
| Wilson's Reward
| Martha James
| Television film
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1985
| '
| Elsa Spahn
| Television film
|-
| '
| Gina Caldwell
| Episode: "Roommates/Heartbreakers/Out of the Blue"
|-
| Alfred Hitchcock Presents
| Helen
| Episode: "Arthur, or the Gigolo"
|-
| Young People's Specials
| Patricia Benson
| Episode: "The Trouble with Mother"
|-
| 1986
| '
| Kay Wesley
| Episode: "Out of the Past"
|}
Theater
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Run
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| Dec 5, 1957 – Jan 17, 1959
| '
| Reenie Flood / Flirt Conroy
| Understudy
|-
| Oct 20, 1960 – Nov 19, 1960
| Face of a Hero
| Millicent Bishop
|Theatre World Award
|-
| Nov 1, 1961 – Jan 27, 1962
| '
| Ann Howard
|
|-
| Apr 5, 1962 – Apr 13, 1963
| A Thousand Clowns
| Sandra Markowitz
| Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
|-
| Feb 18, 1964 – Jun 26, 1966
| Any Wednesday
| Ellen Gordon
| Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
|-
| Oct 15, 1967 – Nov 18, 1967
| Daphne in Cottage D
| Daphne
|
|-
| Mar 29, 1971 – Jun 26, 1971
| How the Other Half Loves
| Teresa Phillips
|
|-
| Jan 16, 1973
| Let Me Hear You Smile
| Hannah Heywood
|
|-
| Oct 8, 1974 – Mar 6, 1976
| Absurd Person Singular
| Eva
|
|-
| Mar 14, 1975 – Sep 3, 1978
| Same Time, Next Year
| Doris
| Replacement
|-
| Aug 6, 1981 – Sep 5, 1981
| '
| Sally
|
|-
| Feb 18, 1982 – Apr 4, 1982
| Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
| Mona
|
|}
References
External links
- Sandy Dennis, Veteran Actress And Prize Winner, Is Dead at 54, New York Times, 5 March 1992