Legendary stage actress Eva Le Gallienne's life began just as grandly as the daughter of poet Richard Le Gallienne.
Read More... Sarah Bernhardt was her idol growing up and, at age 18, was brought to New York by her mother. A star in every sense of the word, she appeared on Broadway first in "Liliom" and lastly in "The Royal Family" in 1976. Known for her boldness and idealism, she became a director and muse for theatre's top playwrights, a foremost translater of Henrik Ibsen, and a founder of the civic repertory movement in America. For over six decades, she consciously devoted herself to the Art of the Theatre as opposed to the Show Business of Broadway and dedicated herself to upgrading the quality of the stage. She ran the Civic Repertory Theatre for 10 years (1926-1936), producing 37 plays during that time. Sadly, she almost completely avoided film and TV during her lengthy career. However, toward the end of her life, she did appear in a marvelous 1977 stage version of "The Royal Family" on TV and gave a quietly touching performance as Ellen Burstyn's grandmother in Resurrection (1980), for which she received an Oscar nomination.
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