Lindsay Ann Crouse (born May 12, 1948) is an American actress. She made her Broadway debut in the 1972 revival of Much Ado About Nothing and appeared in her first film in 1976 in All the President's Men. For her role in the 1984 film Places in the Heart, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her other films include Slap Shot (1977), Between the Lines (1977), The Verdict (1982), Prefontaine (1997), and The Insider (1999). She also had a leading role in the 1987 film House of Games, which was directed by her then-husband David Mamet. In 1996, she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for "Between Mother and Daughter", a CBS Schoolbreak Special episode. She is also a Grammy Award nominee.
Early life Crouse was born at Le Roy Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the daughter of Anna (née Erskine) and Russel Crouse, the playwright and librettist. Her maternal grandparents were author and educator John Erskine and his wife Pauline Ives. Lindsay Ann Crouse's full name is an intentional tribute to the Broadway writing partnership of Lindsay and Crouse, which consisted of her father and his writing partner, Howard Lindsay. The two wrote much of The Sound of Music.Killeen, Wendy. "Crouse plays the belle." Boston Globe. July 22, 2007 Their 1946 play State of the Union won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Their last collaboration was Mr. President in 1962. As Crouse has said: "In our family, the work ethic was held up as some kind of byword ... At any hour, somebody's typewriter was going.""Lindsay Crouse keeps up a Family Stage Tradition." New York Times. January 2, 1981.
Career After graduating from the Chapin School in 1966 and Radcliffe College in 1970, Crouse began her performing career as a modern and jazz dancer, but she soon switched to acting and made her Broadway debut in Much Ado About Nothing in 1972.Zucker, Carole (1995). Figures of Light: Actors and Directors Illuminate the Art of Film Acting. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC. p. 12. . She received her acting training at HB StudioHB Studio Alumni in New York City.
Crouse's film career began in 1976, with small roles in television and theatrical movies. In 1977, she appeared as Lily Braden, the discontented wife of hockey player Ned Braden in Slap Shot. In 1982 she appeared as the decisive witness in The Verdict. Crouse was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1984 movie Places in the Heart. Among her films was a starring role in House of Games, the 1987 film directed and written by her then-husband David Mamet, in which she plays Margaret Ford, a psychiatrist who is intrigued by the art of the con. "It's always hard to be directed by someone who's close to you," Crouse says. "Because everybody needs to go home and complain about the director. Everybody."Clements, Warren. "A Master in the Art of the Con." The Globe and Mail. August 31, 2007
Crouse has appeared in featured and guest roles in a number of television series. Notable roles include a recurring portrayal of Kate McBride, a lesbian police officer on Hill Street Blues during its sixth season in 1986. This was the first lesbian recurring character on a major network. Crouse is also known for her role in the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where she was a recurring supporting cast member playing Professor Maggie Walsh. Crouse has also guest-starred on Alias, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Columbo, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, ER, Millennium, and NYPD Blue.
In recent years, Crouse has concentrated on the theater. "Once you get your driver's license, you end your film career," says Crouse. "Look at my generation. Great actresses like Glenn Close and Susan Sarandon—there's nothing written for anyone over a certain age."Beggy, Carol and Mark Shanahan. "Crouse: No complaints." Boston Globe. July 20, 2007. In 2007, Crouse opened a revival of The Belle of Amherst, a one-woman show about the life of poet Emily Dickinson, at the Gloucester Stage in Gloucester, Massachusetts. "You can't stop and recite something," says Crouse. "You have to keep the poetry very, very active, which is pretty easy with Dickinson. She was striving so hard to understand what life was about. It's very dramatic poetry in that way."The 'belle' of Gloucester." Innews Weekly. July 25, 2007.
Crouse appeared in Lee Blessing's Going to St. Ives with the Gloucester Stage Company during the summer of 2008Pope, Jeff. "Gloucester Stage Company plans five plays, Sunday readings for 29th season." Gloucester Times. April 18, 2008.] and provided the narration for Virginia Lee Burton: A Sense of Place, a documentary film about Virginia Lee Burton. "North Shore Film Festival wraps up on May 8 and 9." Wicked Local Manchester. May 7, 2008.] In 2021, she appeared in a limited engagement of Mornings at Seven at Broadway's Theatre at St. Clements.
Personal life After a relationship with Robert Duvall, Crouse married playwright David Mamet in 1977. The two had met during the production on Slap Shot."For Mamet and Crouse, A Movie is a Family Affair." New York Times. October 11, 1987. John Lahr writes in his book Show and Tell: New Yorker Profiles that when Mamet married Crouse in 1977, he "married into show business aristocracy". Lahr also writes that Mamet received his first screenwriting assignment through Crouse. Crouse was on her way to audition for Bob Rafelson's 1981 remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice, and jokingly Mamet told Crouse to tell Rafelson that "he was a fool if he didn't hire me to write the screenplay." But Crouse said this to Rafelson, who called Mamet; when the director asked why he should hire him for the screenplay, Mamet replied, "Because I'll give you a good screenplay or a sincere apology." Mamet received the job. She and Mamet divorced in 1990."David Mamet (1947–)." Theatre Database. Their marriage produced two daughters, Willa and Zosia Mamet.
Crouse's brother is Timothy Crouse, author of The Boys on the Bus about political journalism during the 1972 presidential campaign.
Buddhist beliefs
Crouse is a Buddhist. In 2005, she organized an annual Buddhist educational program, originally held at the Windhover Center for the Performing Arts in Rockport, Massachusetts,McCarthy, Gail. "Actress brings third annual Buddhist retreat to Rockport." Gloucester Daily Times. July 23, 2007. and then in 2010 moved to The Governor's Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts. Crouse has spoken on the relevance of Buddhism in the modern world:
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes1976All the President's MenKay Eddy1977Slap ShotLily Braden1977Between the LinesAbbie1981Prince of the CityCarla Ciello1982Kaitlin Costello1983KrullPrincess Lyssa (voice)1983DanielRochelle Isaacson1984IcemanDr. Diane Brady1984Places in the HeartMargaret Lomaxnomination for Best Supporting Actress Oscar1987House of GamesMargaret Ford1989Brave IreneNarrator (voice)Short subject1989CommunionAnne Strieber1990Desperate HoursBrenda Chandler1994Being HumanJanet1995Bye Bye LoveGrace Damico1995Jane1996Tallow1996Ilana Green1997PrefontaineElfriede Prefontaine1998ProgenyDr. Susan Lamarche1999Stranger in My HousePatti Young1999Sharon Tiller2000One Hell of a GuyJudge Davis2001Almost SalinasAllie2001ImpostorChancellor2002CherishTherapist2007Mr. BrooksCaptain Lister2013Somewhere SlowKatherine Franklin2023Chantilly BridgeRheza
Television Year Title Role Notes1976Eleanor and FranklinMarjorie BennettTV film1976KarenTV film1977Eleanor and Franklin: The White House YearsMarjorie BennettTV film1980Paul's CaseFirst ActressTV film1981Summer SolsticeYoung Maggie BurnsideTV film1982Kennedy's ChildrenRonaTV film1985ABC Afterschool SpecialLouise SandersEpisode: "I Want to Go Home"1986–1987Hill Street BluesKate McBrideRecurring role (5 episodes)1987Sarah McGee Episode: "Solo"1988American PlayhouseRonnieEpisode: "Lemon Sky"1989ColumboDr. Joan AllenbyEpisode: "Sex and the Married Detective"1989CBS Summer PlayhouseAnnie HolscherEpisode: "American Nuclear"1990Everyday HeroesJanet FlorineTV film1990LifestoriesRebecca McManusEpisode: "Rebecca McManus and Steve Arnold"1990L.A. LawSharon CummingsEpisode: "Outward Bound"1992Batman: The Animated SeriesMrs. Grant (voice)Episode: "I've Got Batman in My Basement"1993Murder, She WroteLouise Anderson-CroweEpisode: "Killer Radio"1993Civil WarsDianne RalstonEpisodes: "Captain Kangaroo Court", "A Liver Runs Through It"1993Chantilly LaceRhezaTV film1993Final AppealDana CartierTV film1993Law & OrderDiane MeadeEpisode: "Promises to Keep"1993Additional VoicesTV film1994Out of DarknessKim DonaldsonTV film1994TrapsLaura ParkhurstRecurring role (5 episodes)1994L.A. LawSharon CummingsEpisode: "Finish Line"1994Parallel LivesUna PaceTV film1995CBS Schoolbreak SpecialAnna LeoneEpisode: "Between Mother and Daughter"1996ERDr. Anna CastiglioniEpisode: "Baby Shower"1996Norma Jean & MarilynNatasha LytessTV film1996If These Walls Could TalkFrances WhiteSegment, "1996"1996MillenniumArdis CohenEpisode: "Kingdom Come"1996–1997NYPD BlueJane WallaceEpisodes: "Ted and Carey's Bogus Adventure", "Alice Doesn't Fit Here Anymore"1998BrimstoneDr. Julia MartinEpisode: "Heat"1999Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls WilderCaroline IngallsTV film1999Gwen SawyerEpisode: "Tribunal"1999Touched by an AngelKateEpisode: "Such a Time as This"1999Law & OrderJudge Denise GrobmanEpisode: "DNR"1999–2000Buffy the Vampire SlayerProf. Maggie WalshRecurring role (9 episodes)2001Maureen RedmondTV film2001-2002ProvidenceLauren MacKenzieRecurring role (4 episodes)2002FrasierPegEpisodes: "Juvenilia", "The Proposal"2002Donna B. / Julie M.Episode: "Forgive Me, Father"2002AliasDr. Carson EvansEpisode: "The Prophecy"2002Beyond the Prairie, Part 2: The True Story of Laura Ingalls WilderCaroline IngallsTV film2002ArlissSharon 'Sydney' PerelliEpisode: "The Immortal"2003HackBeth KulvickiEpisodes: "Forgive, But Don't Forget", "Black Eye", "Sinners and Saints", "All Others Pay Cash"2003DragnetCaptain Ruth HagermannRecurring role (6 episodes)2004CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationDr. Mona LavelleEpisode: "Ch-Ch-Changes"2005Law & OrderJudge Deirdre HellstromEpisode: "Red Ball"2005Criminal MindsMary MaysEpisode: "Blood Hungry"2007DriveThe BossEpisode: "Rearview"2009–2011Law & Order: Special Victims UnitJudge AndrewsRecurring role (7 episodes)2010FlashForwardMrs. KirbyEpisodes: "Revelation Zero: Parts 1 & 2"
References
External links
Lindsay Crouse Summer Retreat in Massachusetts web site Lindsay Crouse web site
Lindsay Crouse's additional Buddhist teachings posted online