Personal life

Knight was born in Goessel in Marion County, east central Kansas, the daughter of Virginia (née Webster) and Noel Johnson Knight, an oil company executive.

Knight was married twice, to actor and producer Gene Persson, from 1959 until they divorced in 1969, and to writer John Hopkins, from 1969 until his death in 1998. She has two daughters, actress Kaitlin Hopkins and elementary school teacher Sophie Hopkins.

Career

Knight's feature films include The Group (1966), The Dutchman (1966), Petulia (1968), The Rain People (1969), As Good as It Gets (1997), and Elevator (2011), in which she plays one of several people trapped in a Wall Street elevator with a bomber.

Knight was cast in 1958 and 1959 as Mrs. Newcomb in twenty of the thirty-nine episodes of the NBC western television series, Buckskin, with Tom Nolan, Sally Brophy, and Mike Road. She became a Warner Brothers Television contract star who while on breaks filming movies appeared in such WB television series as Maverick, Bourbon Street Beat, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, and The Roaring 20s.

A life member of The Actors Studio, Knight's stage credits include Three Sisters (1964), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1966), Kennedy's Children (1975), which earned her the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, and A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1979). She was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play twice, for Landscape of the Body and The Young Man from Atlanta, for which she received another Tony nomination. She also appeared, with Alison Fraser, in Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are, (2009) an original play by playwright Arthur Laurents.

Her television credits include Target: The Corruptors!, The Eleventh Hour, The Outer Limits ("The Man Who Was Never Born"), The Reporter, The Fugitive, The Invaders, The Virginian, Murder, She Wrote, thirtysomething, Law & Order, L.A. Law, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Maggie Winters, ER, House M.D., Crossing Jordan, Cold Case, and Hot in Cleveland, among others, in addition to television movies such as Indictment: The McMartin Trial, for which she won both the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Her guest performance in thirtysomething earned her a 1988 Emmy for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series. She won Emmy in 1995 for her guest performance in the NYPD Blue episode "Large Mouth Bass".

She appeared in the first segment of If These Walls Could Talk. She also had a recurring role on Desperate Housewives.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Five Gates to Hell	Sister Maria
1960	Ice Palace	Grace Kennedy
1960	The Dark at the Top of the Stairs	Reenie Flood	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Nominated—Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress
1962	The Couch	Terry Ames
1962	Sweet Bird of Youth	Heavenly Finley	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1962	House of Women	Erica Hayden
1964	Flight from Ashiya	Caroline Gordon/Stevenson
1966	The Group	Polly
1967	Dutchman	Lula	Volpi Cup for Best Actress
1967	The Outsider	Peggy Leydon
1968	Shadow Over Elveron	Joanne Tregaskis
1968	The Counterfeit Killer	Angie Peterson
1968	Petulia	Polo	Laurel Award for Best Female Supporting Performance
1969	The Rain People	Natalie Ravenna
1971	Secrets	Beatrice
1974	The Country Girl	Georgie Elgin
1974	Juggernaut	Barbara Bannister
1975	Friendly Persuasion	Eliza Birdwell
1975	Medical Story	Phyllis Lenahan	Television series (guest star)
1976	Return to Earth	Joan Aldrin
1976	21 Hours at Munich	Anneliese Graes
1978	The Defection of Simas Kudirka	Genna Kudirka
1979	Champions: A Love Story	Barbara Harlich
1979	Beyond the Poseidon Adventure	Hannah Meredith
1980	Playing for Time	Frau Lagerfuhrerin Maria Mandel	Television film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1981	Prisoners	Virginia
1981	Endless Love	Ann Butterfield	Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress
1982	Kennedy's Children	Carla
1982	The Sender	Jerolyn
1984	With Intent to Kill	Edna Reinecker
1991	Bump in the Night	Katie
1991	Shadow of a Doubt	Mrs. Potter
1991	To Save a Child	Rinda Larson
1993	When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn	Edna Larson
1993	Angel Falls	Edie Wren Cox	Television series
1993	A Mother's Revenge	Bess Warden
1994	The Secret Life of Houses	Aunt Fergie
1994	Benders	Donna
1994	Color of Night	Edith Niedelmeyer
1995	Children of the Dust	Aunt Bertha	Television film
1995	Stuart Saves His Family	Mom - The Smalley Family
1995	Indictment: The McMartin Trial	Peggy Buckey	Television film Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1996	Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden	Sally Ann
1996	Diabolique	Edie Danziger
1996	If These Walls Could Talk	Mary Donnelly
1996	Somebody Is Waiting	Irma Cill
1997	As Good as It Gets	Beverly Connelly	Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1997	Little Boy Blue	Doris Knight
1998	The Wedding	Gram	Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1998	A Father for Brittany	Donna Minkowitz
2000	75 Degrees in July	Jo Beth Anderson
2001	My Louisiana Sky	Jewel Ramsey
2001	Angel Eyes	Elanora Davis
2002	The Salton Sea	Nancy Plummer
2002	P.S. Your Cat Is Dead!	Aunt Claire
2002	Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood	Necie Rose Kelleher
2003	A House on a Hill	Mercedes Mayfield
2005	Sexual Life	Joanna
2006	Grandma's Boy	Bea
2006	Open Window	Ann
2006	Thanks to Gravity	Lea
2008	The Other Side of the Tracks	Helen
2008	Not Fade Away	Diane
2009	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	Margaret Blart
2009	The Private Lives of Pippa Lee	Dot Nadeau
2010	Listen to Your Heart	Grandma Sam
2011	Elevator	Jane Redding
2011	Our Idiot Brother	Ilene Rochlin
2011	The Melancholy Fantastic	Mor
2013	Redwood Highway	Marie Vaughn
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2	Margaret Blart
2015	The Missing Girl

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958-1959	Buckskin	Mrs. Newcomb	20 episodes
1961	The Roaring 20s	Ellie Hollis	Episode: "Big Town Blues"
1962	Naked City	Kathy Meigs	Episode: "Five Cranks for Winter... Ten Cranks for Spring"
1963	The Outer Limits	Noel Anderson	Episode: "The Man Who Was Never Born"
1964	The Fugitive	Janice Pruitt	Episode: "The Homecoming"
1966	The Fugitive	Jane Washburn	Episode: "Echo of a Nightmare"
1974	Nakia	Faye Arnold	Episode: "Pete"
1982	Nurse	Sylvia Dennis	Episode: "Euthanasia"
1984	Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense	Ann Fairfax Denver	Episode: "The Sweet Scent of Death"
1985-1987	Spenser: For Hire	Katie Quirk	2 episodes
1987-1990	Thirtysomething	Ruth Murdoch	2 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1989	Murder, She Wrote	Grace Fenton	Episode: "Smoother Operators"
1989	The Equalizer	Kay	Episode: "Time Present, Time Past" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1990	Matlock	Phyllis Todd	Episode: "The Mother"
1990	Murder, She Wrote	Grace Lambert	Episode: "Always a Thief"
1991	Law & Order	Melanie Cullen	Episode: "The Wages of Love" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
1993	L.A. Law	Belinda Collins	Episode: "Hello and Goodbye"
1995	Fudge	Mrs. A	Episode: "Fudge-a-mania"
1995	NYPD Blue	Agnes Cantwell	Episode: "Large Mouth Bass" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1996	Cybill	Loretta	Episode: "Romancing the Crone"
1998-1999	Maggie Winters	Estelle Winters	16 episodes
1998	Significant Others	Mrs. Callaway	2 episodes
2001	Law and Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. Wharton	Episode: "Repression"
2002	Ally McBeal	Helen Apple	Episode: "Homecoming"
2002	ER	Mrs. Burke	Episode: "Insurrection"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Rose Granville	Episode: '"Tragedy"
2004	Crossing Jordan	Frances Littleton	Episode: "Most Likely"
2005	House	Georgia Adams	Episode: "Poison"
2005-2007	Desperate Housewives	Phyllis Van De Kamp	5 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
2009	Drop Dead Diva	Millie Carlson	Episode: "Dead Model Walking"
2010	Hot in Cleveland	Loretta	Episode: "Meet the Parents"
2012	The Mob Doctor	Ann Wilson	Episode: "Turf War"

	Biography portal
	Kansas portal
	California portal
	Film portal
	Television portal

[ Source: Wikipedia ]