Early life

Parsons was born in Lynn Hospital, Lynn, Massachusetts. Her mother, Elinor Ingeborg (née Mattsson), was a native of Sweden, and her father, Eben Parsons, was of English descent.

She attended Oak Grove School for Girls in Maine. After graduating from Connecticut College in 1949, Parsons initially studied law at Boston University, and then worked as a singer with a band before settling on an acting career in the early 1950s.

Career

Moving to New York City, Parsons worked as a writer, producer and commentator for The Today Show. She made her Broadway debut in 1956 in the ensemble of the Ethel Merman musical Happy Hunting. She began performing Off-Broadway in 1961, and received a Theatre World Award in 1963 for her performance in Whisper into My Good Ear/Mrs. Dally Has a Lover (1962). In 1964, Parsons won an Obie Award for Best Actress her performance in two Off-Broadway plays, Next Time I'll Sing to You and In the Summer House.

Parsons has received Tony Award nominations for her work in The Seven Descents of Myrtle (1968), And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (1971), Miss Margarida's Way (1978), and Morning's at Seven (2002). She played the Widow Begbick in the American premiere of the Weill-Brecht opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1970), and performed as Mrs. Peacham to Lotte Lenya's Jenny in Threepenny Opera on tour and in New York City. In 1978 she played Lady MacBeth in the Kauai Community Players production. She also played Ruth in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance on Broadway in 1981. From June 17, 2008 through May 17, 2009, she played the role of Violet Weston in August: Osage County. She continued playing the role during the show's national tour beginning July 24, 2009, in Denver.

As a director, Parsons has a number of Broadway credits, including a production of Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and As You Like It in 1986. Off-Broadway, she directed Dario Fo's Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo (1983). She also served as the Artistic Director of the Actors Studio for five years, ending in 2003.

In 2004, Parsons was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Parsons' film career includes an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Blanche Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and a nomination for Rachel, Rachel (1968). She received a BAFTA Award nomination for her role in Watermelon Man (1970), and appeared in I Never Sang for My Father (1970), Two People (1973), A Memory of Two Mondays (1974), For Pete's Sake (1974), Dick Tracy (1990) and Boys on the Side (1995). She was also the original choice to play the part of Pamela Voorhees in the 1980 film Friday the 13th; the part later went to Betsy Palmer.

On television, Parsons played the recurring role of Beverly, on Roseanne. Other television credits include appearances in The Patty Duke Show, Love, American Style, All In The Family, Archie Bunker's Place, Open Admissions, Frasier, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Good Wife, as well as The UFO Incident: The Story of Betty and Barney Hill and the PBS production of June Moon.

She was honored with a Woman of Achievement Award from the Women's Project Theater in 2009. Parsons recently appeared in London playing psychic Helga ten Dorp in Deathtrap at the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End. She was recently seen on Broadway in David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People, and opened 24 April 2012, in Nice Work If You Can Get It.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Ladybug Ladybug	JoAnn's Mother
1967	Bonnie and Clyde	Blanche	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance (2nd place)
1968	Rachel, Rachel	Calla Mackie	Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance Nominated-Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1969	Don't Drink the Water	Marion Hollander
1970	Watermelon Man	Althea Gerber	Nominated-BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1970	I Never Sang for My Father	Alice
1970	I Walk the Line	Ellen Haney
1973	Two People	Barbara Newman
1974	For Pete's Sake	Helen Robbins
1975	Fore Play	1st Lady/Barmaid
1989	The Lemon Sisters	Mrs. Kupchak
1990	Dick Tracy	Mrs. Trueheart
1990	The Blue Men	May
1996	Looking for Richard	Margaret
1995	Boys on the Side	Louise
1997	That Darn Cat	Old Lady McCracken

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	Today	Self	Episode dated 6 September 1954
1963	Defenders !The Defenders	Mrs. Martin	Metamorphosis
1964	DuPont !The DuPont Show of the Week	Carrie Bernice	The Gambling Heart
	Duke !The Patty Duke Show	Mrs. Appleton	The Con Artist
1965	Doctors !The Doctors and the Nurses	Mrs. Meyers	Where There's Smoke
1966	Trials !The Trials of O'Brien	Miss Baines	Alarums and Excursions
1968	Snap Judgment	Self	Episode dated 18 November 1968
	Hemingway's Spain: A Love Affair	Self (voice only)
	Kraft Music Hall	Self	Episode #11.30
	Academy !The 40th Annual Academy Awards	Self	Oscar winner
1970	Front !The Front Page	Mollie Malloy
	Frost !The David Frost Show	Self	Episode #2.240
1971	25th Tony Awards	Self	Nominee
	Great Performances	Agnes	A Memory of Two Mondays
1972	Love, American Style	Bernice	Love and the Clinic/Love and the Perfect Wedding/Love and the President/Love and the Return of Raymond
	Medical Center	Bev	Wall of Silence
1973	Terror on the Beach	Arlene Glynn
1974	Gun !The Gun and the Pulpit	Sadie Underwood
	Great Performances	Lucille	June Moon
1975	UFO !The UFO Incident	Betty Hill
1976	Tenth !The Tenth Level	Crossland
	NBC Special Treat	Edwina Kemp	Big Henry and the Polka Dot Kid
	All in the Family	Dolores Mancheney Fencel	Archie's Secret Passion
1978	All in the Family	Blanche Hefner	Reunion on Hauser Street
	All in the Family	Blanche Hefner	Weekend in the Country
1979	Archie Bunker's Place	Blanche Hefner	Blanche and Murray
	Backstairs at the White House	Bess Truman	Four episodes
1981	Gentleman !The Gentleman Bandit	Marjorie Seebode
	Guests of the Nation	Kate O'Connell
1982	Today	Self	Episode dated 14 January 1982
	American Playhouse	Mabel Lederer/Angela Motorman	Come Along with Me
1987	American Playhouse		Waiting for the Moon (the producers wish to thank)
1988	Open Admissions	Clare Block
1989-1997	Roseanne	Beverly Harris	59 episodes Nominated for TV Land Award
1990	Everyday Heroes	Matty Jennings
1992	Private !A Private Matter	Mary Chessen	Nominated CableACE Award Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1993	American !The American Clock	Older Doris
	Family Feud	Self	Roseanne vs. Jackie Thomas Sitcoms
1994	Inside the Actors Studio	Self
1997	Touched by an Angel	Jeannette Fisher	Sandcastles
1998	Love !The Love Letter	Beatrice Corrigan
	Academy !The 70th Annual Academy Awards	Self
1999	Freak City	Mrs. Stanapolous
2000	Backstory	Self	Bonnie and Clyde
2001	100 Center Street	Esther O'Neill	The Fix
2002	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Rose Rinato	Denial
	Tony !The 56th Annual Tony Awards	Self
2004	Frasier	Celeste's Mother Opal Herself	Frasier-Lite Coots and Ladders Goodnight, Seattle
	Strip Search	Roberta Gray
	Happy Birthday Oscar Wilde	Self
2005	Empire Falls	Bea
2012	Today	Self	Episode dated 13 January 2012
2013	The Good Wife	Nana Joe	Episode 4.22 "What's in the Box?"
2016	Grace and Frankie	Babe	3 episodes

Personal life

Her grandson is Chicago Bears guard/tackle, Eben Britton. Her second husband Peter Zimroth was appointed police monitor for the NYPD in August 2013.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]