Oscar-, Emmy- and Tony-Winning Maureen Stapleton Dead at 80

Maureen Stapleton, winner of the 1982 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the movie Reds passed away Monday. As well as Reds, Stapleton was also well-known for her roles in Cocoon, Interiors and more recently, Addicted to Love.

Her death was as a result of respiratory ailments, linked to her chronic pulmonary disease. A longtime smoker, Stapleton died in her Massachusetts home in the town of Lenox. Bloomberg's website quoted her daughter, Katharine Bambery, describing her mother's death. "This was not sudden, but it's always a shock," she said, alluding to the two-year long battle Stapleton had been having with her chronic pulmonary disease.

Born on June 21, 1925, Stapleton's film career began in 1958, with her playing the character of Fay Doyle in the film Lonelyhearts. Her performance as Doyle earned her her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. Stapleton went back to her TV career after that, landing spots on shows, such as Car 54, Where Are You? and Bye, Bye Birdie. Then, in 1970, Stapleton went on to another Oscar nomination for her role in Airport, after which she bounced between the big screen and the TV screen. She was once more nominated by the Academy for her role in the 1978 Woody Allen movie, Interiors. Though she had been shut out by the Academy in terms of winning an award for her supporting roles, she would crack that barrier with the character Emma (E.G.) Goldman in the 1981 Warren Beatty movie, Reds. E Online talks about her acceptance speech at those awards. "At the 1982 Academy Awards, she was the undisputed star of the night with the heartfelt blurting out: "I want to thank...everybody I ever met in my entire life."

Before her successes in Hollywood, Stapleton had been a singer. She had left home in 1946, just after finishing high school, to pursue her acting career. Shortly after, still in 1946, she landed her first Broadway role, in the musical The Playboy of the Western World. By the time she reached her mid-20s, Stapleton won her first Tony Award, for her part as Serafina Della Rose in the 1951 musical The Rose Tattoo, a Tennessee Williams production. Later in her career, she would win another Tony award, for her role in the 1971 musical, Neil Simon's The Gingerbread Lady.

Stapleton could also claim widespread success in the TV aspect of her career. In 1967, she earned an Emmy for role as Mary O'Meaghan on the widely-popular show, Among the Paths to Eden. In 1975, she would once again be nominated for an Emmy, this time as Bea Asher in Queen of the Stardust Ballroom. She would garner two more nominations for Emmy Awards, one in 1977 for playing Kate Thornton in The Gathering, and once again in 1992, for Miss Rose White, playing Tanta Perla.

Stapleton released a tell-all autobiography entitled Hell of a Life in which she candidly and straight-forwardly discussed her battle with alcoholism, her two unsuccessful marriages and her several affairs over the years. Stapleton is survived by her daughter, Katharine Bambery, her brother, Jack, and her son, Daniel Allentuck.

Additional Sources: Bloomberg, E Online