Claudette Nevins obit

Claudette Nevins, Stage Actress in 'Plaza Suite' and 'The Great White Hope,' Dies at 82

She was not on the list.

She also worked often on television, with recurring roles on 'Melrose Place' and 'JAG.'

Claudette Nevins, who starred in the original production of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite on Broadway and in a national tour of The Great White Hope, has died. She was 82.

Nevins died Feb. 20 in hospice care at her home in Los Angeles, her family announced.

In recurring roles for television, Nevins portrayed Constance Fielding, the mother of Doug Savant's Matt, on Melrose Place and played Special Agent Clayton Webb's (Steven Culp) mom on JAG.

Years earlier, she portrayed Andy Griffith's wife in 1970-71 on the short-lived CBS show Headmaster, the actor's first series after he quit The Andy Griffith Show.

The daughter of a fur salesman, Claudette Weintraub was born on April 10, 1937, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and raised in Brooklyn. She attended the High School of Performing Arts in New York and graduated from NYU in 1957.

The red-haired Nevins made it to Broadway opposite George C. Scott and Marian Seldes in The Wall in 1960 and a year later starred in the 3D horror feature The Mask.

In 1966, she served as Lee Remick's standby/replacement in the original production of Wait Until Dark, then played several characters alongside Scott, Maureen Stapleton and Bob Balaban in Plaza Suite, directed by Mike Nichols.

Soon after, Nevins starred as Ellie (Jane Alexander's role on Broadway and the 1970 movie) alongside Brock Peters in the national Broadway tour of The Great White Hope. That gig brought her to Los Angeles, where she would become a member of the Matrix Theatre Company.

Nevins also worked on the daytime soap opera Love of Life and the animated Return to the Planet of the Apes, had regular roles on Police Story and Husbands, Wives & Lovers and showed up on other series like The Bob Newhart Show, M*A*S*H, One Day at a Time, Barnaby Jones, Police Squad!, L.A. Law, Picket Fences and Beverly Hills, 90210.

Her film résumé also included Sleeping With the Enemy (1991), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Something's Gotta Give (2003).

Selected filmography

Films

    1961 - The Mask - Pam Albright

    1974 - Mrs. Sundance ... Mary Lant

    1975 - Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Murder Case ... Marilyn Sheppard

    1976 - The Dark Side of Innocence ... Maggie Hancock

    1977 - The Possessed - Ellen Summer

    1981 - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy ... as Janet Bouvier Auchincloss

    1981 - All the Marbles ... as Solly

    1985 - Tuff Turf ... Page Hiller

    1987 - Jake's M.O. ... Sigournet Tompkins

    1991 - Sleeping with the Enemy ... Dr. Rissner

    1991 - Child of Darkness, Child of Light ... Lenore Beavier

    1991 - Dead Silence - Mrs. Stillman

    1998 - Star Trek: Insurrection - Son'a Officer #2

    2000 - Aladdin and the Adventure of All Time ... Voice (animation)

    2004 - Eulogy ... Barbara Collins

Television series

    2005 - Strong Medicine ... Ava Rey (1 episode)

    1997-2004 - JAG ... Porter Web (6 episodes)

    2004 - Without a Trace ... Cathy Payton (1 episode)

    2001-2002 - The Agency ... Audrey Simmons (2 episodes)

    2001-2002 - Providence ... Joyce Sidwell (2 episodes)

    2000 - The District ... as Judge Arlene Sidwell

    2000 - Judging Amy ... as Karen Cassidy (1 episode)

    1998 - Ally McBeal ... Mrs. Hollings (1 episode)

    1992-1998 - Melrose Place ... as Constance Fielding (10 episodes)

    1997 - 7th Heaven ... Mrs. Rainy (2 episodes)

    1996 - ER (1 episode)

    1995 - Coach ... Mrs. DiMateo

    1994 - Thunder Alley ... as Ellen (1 episode)

    1994 - Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman ... Barbara Trevino (1 episode)

    1993 - Beverly Hills, 90210 as Vivian Carson

    1993 - Picket Fences ... Claudia Graham (1 episode)

    1991 - Designing Women - Roseland Price (1 episode)

    1990 - Dallas ... as Lizzie Burns

    1988 - L.A. Law ... as Sarah Schindler (1 episode)

    1988 - Head of the Class ... Mrs. Samuels (1 episode)

    1987 - Hotel ... Myrna Dawson

    1987 - The Tortellis

    1986 - Hardcastle and McCormick ... Judge Sheila Mooney

    1982-1983 - One Day at a Time Marge (3 episodes)

    1982 - Magnum, P.I. ... Phyllis Reardon

    1982 - Police Squad! ... Veronica

    1981 - CHiPs ... Hannah Chadway

    1981 - Hart to Hart ... Señora Piranda

    1981 - Behind the Screen (TV series) ... Angela Aries

    1980 - Family ... Claire Hopkins

    1980 - Knots Landing ... Susan Philby

    1974-1980 Barnaby Jones ... Various roles (6 episodes)

    1979 - M*A*S*H ... Donna Marie Parker

    1979 - Mrs. Columbo ... Sybil

    1979 - Married: The First Year ... as Barbara Huffman (4 episodes)

    1979 - Three's Company ... as Barbara

    1979 - The Lazarus Syndrome (1 episode)

    1976-1978 - Switch ... Alice/Genevieve (2 episodes)

    1978 - Husbands, Wives & Lovers ... Courtney Fielding

    1978 - Barnaby Jones ... Pat Reed (1 episode)

    1977 - Lou Grant ... as Irene Mott (1 episode)

    1977 - The Rockford Files ... Ann Louise Clement

    1976 - Electra Woman and Dyna Girl ... Empress of Evil (2 episodes)

    1976 - Rich Man, Poor Man Book II ... Mrs. Martindale

    1975 - Return to the Planet of the Apes ... as Nova/Judy Franklin (9 episodes)

    1975 - Harry O - and Jessica Shannon / Margin Wayne (2 episodes)

    1973-1974 - Police Story ... Ellen Calabrese - (4 episodes)

    1974 - The Magician ... as Suzanne (1 episode)

    1973 - The Bob Newhart Show (1 episode)

    1972 - The F.B.I.

    1970 - Headmaster ... Margaret Thompson

    1965 - The Defenders ... as Ruth Parker

    1964 - The Nurses ... Grace Kearney