
Lois Smith
Biography
Lois Arlene Smith (née Humbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film East of Eden, and later played supporting roles in a number of movies, including Five Easy Pieces (1970), Resurrection (1980), Fatal Attraction (1987), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Dead Man Walking, Twister (1996), Minority Report (2002), The Nice Guys (2016) and Lady Bird (2017).
In 2017, Smith received critical acclaim for her leading performance in the science-fiction drama film Marjorie Prime, for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards and Saturn Award, and well as won Satellite Award. Smith also has had many roles on television, both daytime and prime time. She was regular cast member in the HBO horror drama True Blood, and well as received Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series nomination for The Americans.
Smith also is known for her extensive work in the theatre, receiving two Tony Award nominations for originating the role of Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1990) and for the role of Halie in a revival of Buried Child in 1996. She also starred in an acclaimed Off-Broadway revival of The Trip to Bountiful in 2005 for which she received an Obie Award for Best Actress, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a Drama Desk Award. Smith is an ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.
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Gallery




Known For
Acting History
2025
The Gettysburg Address as Elizabeth Crawford (voice)
2025Lightning Bug as Lydia
2025On the End as Trudie Ferreira
2025The Uninvited as Helen
2024Elsbeth as Delores Feinn
2022This Fool as Beverly
2022Mack & Rita as Betty
2021The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun as Upshur 'Maw' Clampette
2021Gossip Girl as Iris Lefferts
2021Law & Order: Organized Crime as Doris 'Mama' Boone
2020Uncle Frank as Aunt Butch
2020The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America as Harper Pitt
2020Tesla as The Grande Dame
2019On Becoming a God in Central Florida as Mimi Waldenstock
2018Impulse as Deirdre 'Dippy' Jones
20179JKL as Wrong Nana
2017Lady Bird as Sister Sarah Joan
2017Marjorie Prime as Marjorie
2016The Comedian as Miriam
2016The Nice Guys as Mrs. Glenn
2015Sneaky Pete as Reverend Ethel Landry
2015Grace and Frankie as Mrs. Hanson
2015Younger as Belinda Lacroix
2015Run All Night as Margaret Conlon
2014Showing Up as Self
2013The Man Who Came Out Only at Night as The Youngest Daughter (later)
2013The Blacklist as Lucy Game
2013Mom as Claire
2013Ray Donovan as Dolores
2013The Americans as Betty Turner
2012Ruth & Erica as Ruth
2012The Odd Life of Timothy Green as Aunt Mel
2012Roadie as Mom
2010Please Give as Mrs. Portman
2009A Dog Year as Lois Blair
2008True Blood as Adele Stackhouse
2008Diminished Capacity as Belle
2008Turn the River as Abby
2007Army Wives as Elsie
2006Griffin & Phoenix as Dr. Imberman
2006Hollywoodland as Helen Bessolo
2006Little Fugitive as Elizabeth
2006Little Fugitive as Social Worker
2005Sweet Land as Inge (as an older woman)
2005James Dean: Sense Memories as Self
2005Grey's Anatomy as Mrs. Dickerson
2004P.S. as Ellie Silverstein
2004Desperate Housewives as Allison Scavo
2004LAX as Rose Sinclair
2004Iron Jawed Angels as Reverend Anna Howard Shaw
2004The Best Thief in the World as Helen
2003Cold Case as Fannie
2003Red Betsy as Helen Rounds
2002Minority Report as Dr. Iris Hineman
2002The Laramie Project as Lucy Thompson
2001Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Betty Bennett
2001Powder Keg as Mother
2001The Hire as Mother
2001The Pledge as Helen Jackson
1999Tumbleweeds as Ginger
1999Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Rebecca Tolliver
1998A Will of their Own as Miss Maude
1998The Eternal as Mrs. Ferriter
1997Hudson River Blues
1997The Practice as Mary Beth Berluti
1997Just Shoot Me! as Libby
1996Larger Than Life as Luluna
1996Twister as Aunt Meg
1995Dead Man Walking as Helen's Mother
1995How to Make an American Quilt as Sophia
1995Truman as Madge Wallace Gates
1994Touched by an Angel as Mildred Mancini
1994ER as Gracie
1994Holy Matrimony as Orna
1993Frasier as Moira
1993Falling Down as D-Fens' Mother
1993Skylark as Lou Wheaton
1992Deadly Matrimony as Dianne's Mother
1992The Donner Party as voice
1992Keep the Change as Lureen
1992Hard Promises as Mrs. Bell
1991Fried Green Tomatoes as Mama Threadgoode
1991White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd as Alice Todd
1991Switched at Birth as Margaret
1991The Grapes of Wrath as Ma Joad
1991Coney Island as (voice)
1991Good Sports
1990Green Card as Brontë's Mother
1990Law & Order as Eunice Varick
1988Hello Actors Studio as Self
1988American Experience as (voice)
1988Midnight Run as Mrs. Nelson, Mardukas's Friend
1987thirtysomething
1987Fatal Attraction as Martha
1987Black Widow as Sara
1985Doubletake as Sarah
1985The Execution of Raymond Graham as Mary Neal
1985Spenser: For Hire
1985The Equalizer as Marie Ganucci
1985The Equalizer as Dorothy Hermes
1985Twisted as Helen Giles
1984Reckless as Mrs. Prescott
1983Reuben, Reuben as Mare Spofford
1983Rage of Angels as Clara
1981Four Friends as Mrs. Carnahan
1981The House of Mirth as Bertha Dorset
1980Resurrection as Kathy
1980The Jilting of Granny Weatherall as Cornelia
1980Foxes as Mrs. Axman
1979Tales of the Unexpected as Sara
1976Next Stop, Greenwich Village as Anita Cunningham
1972Up the Sandbox as Elinore
1972Particular Men
1970Dragon Country as Woman (segment "Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen")
1970Five Easy Pieces as Partita Dupea
1970The Way We Live Now as Jane Aldridge
1967Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night as Evelyn
1966CBS Playhouse
1961Dr. Kildare as Libby Clayton
1961The Defenders as Esther Terranova
1960Route 66
1960Route 66 as Dana
1960Route 66 as Lucy Brown
1960The Master Builder as Hilda
1959Startime
1958Naked City as Dawn Garrison
1956Tony Awards as Self - Nominee
1956Tony Awards as Self - Nominee/Performer
1955Matinee Theater
1955Strange Lady in Town as Spurs O'Brien
1955East of Eden as Anne
1953The United States Steel Hour as Jeannie
1953Letter to Loretta as Jenny Musgrave
1950Robert Montgomery Presents
1948Studio One as Lisa Molloy
—The Steel Harp as Hanna









