Tony-winning actress Marian Seldes, regarded as one of the great ladies of the American stage and famous for never missing a single performance during an entire four-year Broadway run of "Deathtrap," died at her Manhattan home on Monday at age 86. Her death, which followed a prolonged illness, was announced by her brother, Timothy Seldes, in a statement issued through her longtime publicist, Sam Rudy.
In a career spanning six decades, Seldes performed in film, television and radio but was most celebrated for her theater work, making her Broadway debut in 1948 in the Robinson Jeffers adaptation of "Medea," directed by John Gielgud and starring Judith Anderson in the title role. Seldes earned five Tony nominations, winning for her supporting role in "A Delicate Balance" by the playwright Edward Albee, with whom she had a long association. She received a Tony Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work in 2010.
