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IMDbPro

Tresa Hughes(1929-2011)

  • Actress
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Mid-Life crisis explored through the hair-loss of New Jersey dry-cleaning magnate Joey Greene (Jay Thomas), who's affair leads to his wife Beth's (Tess Harper) counter-affair with her black chiropractor.  When Beth learns she's pregnant, it's going to be a tough nine months... will the baby be black, or white!?
Play trailer1:54
Dirty Laundry (1996)
Born in 1929 in Washington, Tresa Hughes was raised in Baltimore. She attended Maryland Art Institute and Johns Hopkins and George Washington Universities and graduated from Wayne State University. She was in the acting company at Pennsylvania's Hedgerow Theatre, led by Jasper Deeter; and a member of Playwrights Theater Company in Chicago, with Mike Nichols and Elaine May. She was an emphatic advocate for New York, where she lived for 55 years. She was an accomplished actress who was cast in more than 20 Broadway plays and was nominated for a Tony Award.

On and Off Broadway, Ms. Hughes originated roles in more than 50 plays, including Hogan's Goat, by William Alfred; The Last Analysis, by Saul Bellow, with Sam Levene; The Prisoner of Second Avenue, by Neil Simon, directed by Mike Nichols, with Peter Falk; and The Man in the Glass Booth with Donald Pleasance, written by Robert Shaw and directed by Harold Pinter.

Hughes was nominated for a Tony Award for best supporting actress in 1961 for her performance in The Devil's Advocate, directed by Dory Schary, with Sam Levene, Leo Genn and Edward Mulhare.

Hughes stood by for Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker and Golda, both written by William Gibson and directed by Arthur Penn. She played many performances with Patty Duke.

She originated roles in workshops of new plays for five summers at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, directed by Lloyd Richards, with playwrights including John Guare, Wole Soyinka and Lanford Wilson.

As a young woman, Hughes often convincingly portrayed much older characters. For instance, in 1957 she played Beatrice in the touring company of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge with Luther Adler, Louis Zorich and Kathleen Widdoes. More than 25 years later, Ms. Hughes reprised the same role in a 1983 Broadway revival with Tony Lo Bianco.

Hughes originated roles in plays written by playwrights including John Arden, Saul Bellow, Eduardo Machado, Arthur Miller, John Osborne, Neil Simon and Arnold Wesker. Her directors included Martin Charnin, James Hammerstein, Fred Rolfe and Herman Shumlin.

She married Robert Hughes, the late documentary filmmaker who worked for the United Nations and public television and won an Oscar and an Emmy for best feature documentaries. Their marriage ended in divorce.

Their daughter Rebecca Hughes is a science writer for Group Health Research Institute in Seattle. Her son-in-law Paul Rogat Loeb writes books: Soul of a Citizen and The Impossible Will Take a Little While. Her grandson William Hughes Martin graduated from Brown University.
BornSeptember 17, 1929
DiedJuly 24, 2011(81)
BornSeptember 17, 1929
DiedJuly 24, 2011(81)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
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Known for

Fame (1980)
Fame
6.6
  • Mrs. Finsecker
  • 1980
Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, and Faye Dunaway in Don Juan DeMarco (1994)
Don Juan DeMarco
6.7
  • Grandmother DeMarco
  • 1994
Skylark (1993)
Skylark
7.2
TV Movie
  • Matty Wheaton
  • 1993
Steve Guttenberg in Bad Medicine (1985)
Bad Medicine
4.7
  • Dr. Elisabeth Marx
  • 1985

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress



  • Tom Cavanagh in Ed (2000)
    Ed
    7.6
    TV Series
    • Judge
    • 2001–2002
  • Tony Goldwyn, Maura Tierney, Hugh Dancy, Reid Scott, Mehcad Brooks, and Odelya Halevi in Law & Order (1990)
    Law & Order
    7.8
    TV Series
    • May Peavey
    • Mrs. Sugarman
    • Mrs. Doris Keegan
    • 1991–2001
  • Michelle Forbes, Billy Burke, Joelle Carter, Martin Donovan, Ted Levine, and Michael Jai White in Wonderland (2000)
    Wonderland
    7.4
    TV Series
    • Robert Banger's Mother
    • 2000
  • A Fish in the Bathtub (1998)
    A Fish in the Bathtub
    6.1
    • Ida
    • 1998
  • Dirty Laundry (1996)
    Dirty Laundry
    6.0
    • Betty Greene
    • 1996
  • Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, and Faye Dunaway in Don Juan DeMarco (1994)
    Don Juan DeMarco
    6.7
    • Grandmother DeMarco
    • 1994
  • Malik Yoba in New York Undercover (1994)
    New York Undercover
    7.9
    TV Series
    • Mrs. Santucci
    • 1994
  • NYPD Blue (1993)
    NYPD Blue
    7.8
    TV Series
    • Annette DiLeo
    • 1993
  • Skylark (1993)
    Skylark
    7.2
    TV Movie
    • Matty Wheaton
    • 1993
  • David Ogden Stiers, David McCullough, and Michael Murphy in American Experience (1988)
    American Experience
    8.6
    TV Series
    • Narrator
    • 1993
  • Last Wish (1992)
    Last Wish
    7.0
    TV Movie
    • Shany
    • 1992
  • Jane Alexander and Christopher Plummer in A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz (1991)
    A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz
    7.9
    TV Movie
    • Selma Stieglitz
    • 1991
  • American Playhouse (1980)
    American Playhouse
    7.3
    TV Series
    • Genendel Goldfarb (segment "Yiddish")
    • 1991
  • Intimate Strangers (1986)
    Intimate Strangers
    4.6
    TV Movie
    • Meriam Bierston
    • 1986
  • Steve Guttenberg in Bad Medicine (1985)
    Bad Medicine
    4.7
    • Dr. Elisabeth Marx
    • 1985

Videos1

Dirty Laundry
Trailer 1:54
Dirty Laundry

Personal details

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  • Born
    • September 17, 1929
    • Washington, District of Columbia, USA
  • Died
    • July 24, 2011
    • New York, New York, USA(undisclosed)
  • Spouse
    • Robert Hughes1952 - ? (divorced, 1 child)
  • Other works
    She acted in Paul Osborn's play, "Morning's at Seven," at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut with Emery Battis in the cast. Bill Francisco was director. Steven Rubin was set designer. Bill Walker was costume designer. Jamie Gallagher was lighting designer.

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Was nominated for Broadway's 1961 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for "The Devil's Advocate."

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