Anne Jackson, Stage and Screen Actress, Dead at 90
Anne Jackson, the consummate actress whose career in theater, films, and television, like her marriage to Eli Wallach, her frequent co-star, spanned more than six decades, died at her Manhattan home on April 12. She was 90.
While Ms. Jackson and Mr. Wallach were long considered theatrical royalty, having met in 1946 while acting in a production of Tennessee Williams’s “This Property Is Condemned,” a lesser known fact is that, in 1998, at the Welcome Back to Brooklyn Homecoming Festival, they were named king and queen of that borough, where he was born and they both grew up.
Peter Wallach, the couple’s son, recalled the family’s long connection to East Hampton, where, until two years ago, they had a house on Cottage Avenue. “We used to come out here back in the 1950s, and we had a beautiful house on Three Mile Harbor Road. They absolutely adored the Hamptons, and they had so many friends ,there. East Hampton really was my mom’s place to rest and relax from the rigors of the theater life she led.”
That life included a 1956 Tony Award nomination for her role in Paddy Chayefsky’s “Middle of the Night,” an Obie Award for her role in Murray Schisgal’s Off Broadway double bill “The Typists” and “The Tiger,” and performances in plays by George Bernard Shaw, Jean Anouilh, Eugene Ionesco, Anton Chekhov, Shakespeare, and countless other playwrights.
Her many notable films included “The Tiger Makes Out,” “Lovers and Other Strangers,” and “The Shining,” and her television credits ranged from “Gunsmoke” to “ER” and “Law and Order.”
While East Hampton provided a respite from Broadway and Hollywood, both Ms. Jackson and Mr. Wallach were active participants in the life of the community. According to Ruth Appelhof, executive director of Guild Hall, “In 1992, Anne and Eli were awarded the Guild Hall Lifetime Achievement Award in the Performing Arts. They had been on the John Drew Theater stage numerous times and were especially beloved by our community. Their presence onstage will not be forgotten.”
The couple were regulars at local restaurants, among them Nichols, Duryea’s Deck, and Gosman’s. “My mom was a huge fan of Roberta Gosman,” said their son, “and Gosman’s was the place we’d go for everybody’s birthday. Roberta would always have a fantastic place for us to sit on the deck. My mom also loved to take her grandchildren to the duck pond.”
Ms. Jackson was born on Sept. 3, 1925, in Millvale, Pa., to John Jackson and the former Stella Murray. When she was 7, the family moved to Brooklyn, where she attended Franklin K. Lane High School. She subsequently studied drama at the New School and, for many years, with Lee Strasberg, among whose students was Marilyn Monroe, whom Peter Wallach remembers as his baby-sitter.
Ms. Jackson and Mr. Wallach’s many Guild Hall appearances included A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters”; “In Persons,” an evening of readings and reminiscences by the couple, and “Eli’s Comin’: A Life in Film,” during which they presented clips from their films. In 1998, they did readings of Joe Pintauro’s “Money” at Mulford Farm in East Hampton and at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center.
Mr. Pintauro, who was a close friend of theirs, said, “It was in Anne’s work on my play ‘Cacciatore’ that I saw her swing from crack-up humor to lyrical realism to tragic ferocity onstage, and all of it with true human appeal and all instantaneously. She and Eli performed a lot of Tennessee Williams, and in those roles Anne displayed coolness and fire all at once. I wished there were more opportunities for her to display her acting strength, but none of it was lost to us who saw it on stage and again in real life. . . . Their lives were all compassion and fun, and Anne was always the maker.”
In addition to her son, she is survived by two daughters, Roberta and Katherine, both of whom live in New York City; a sister, Beatrice Marz, of Madison, Conn., three grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
She was cremated at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. According to her son, “We will have a small family gathering, but nothing fancy like a real service.” The family suggested memorial contributions to the East Hampton Library, 159 Main Street, East Hampton 11937, or the Bucks County Playhouse, 70 South Main Street, New Hope, Pa. 18938.