Lenka Peterson, Actress on Broadway and in ‘The Phenix City Story,’ Dies at 95
A Tony nominee and the mother of actress Glynnis O'Connor, she also appeared in Kazan's 'Panic in the Streets' and on several soap operas.
She was not on the list.
Lenka Peterson, the Tony-nominated actress and charter member of The Actors Studio who also worked in films including Panic in the Streets, The Phenix City Story and Dragnet, has died. She was 95.
Peterson died Sept. 24 in her sleep at her home in Roxbury, Connecticut, her family announced. Survivors include her daughter, actress Glynnis O’Connor (Ode to Billy Joe, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble).
Peterson appeared in 10 Broadway productions over a span of nearly 40 years and received her Tony nom for best featured actress in a musical in 1985 for Quilters.
She also acted in Truman Capote’s The Grass Harp in 1952, starred opposite Shelley Winters in 1956’s Girls of Summer and worked alongside Lillian Gish in 1960 in the Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Way Home.
A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Peterson made her film debut in the Elia Kazan thriller Panic in the Streets (1950) opposite Richard Widmark and portrayed the wife of a crusading attorney (Richard Kiley) bent on cleaning up corruption in his Alabama town in Phil Karlson’s gritty The Phenix City Story (1955).
Later, she played a motorcycle-riding grandmother in the comedy remake of Dragnet (1987).
A daughter of Swedish and Hungarian immigrants, Lenka Isacson was born on Oct. 16, 1925, in Omaha. After attending the University of Iowa, she traveled with the USO to entertain the troops in Japan and the Philippines during World War II, then came to New York to pursue a theater career.
At The Actors Studio, Peterson studied with Lee Strasberg, Arthur Penn and Robert Lewis. “We felt like The Actors Studio was a place where we were free, where we could say anything and do anything and share anything and not have to worry that it’s going to affect us financially,” she once said.
Peterson bowed on Broadway in 1947 in Bathsheba, starring Gloria Swanson and James Mason, then acted on the Great White Way three more times before the decade was out. She went on to appear many times off-Broadway and in regional theater productions throughout the U.S.
Peterson also worked on the daytime dramas Young Doctor Malone, Search for Tomorrow, Another World, Ryan’s Hope and General Hospital and showed up on episodes of The Inner Sanctum, Robert Montgomery Presents, Route 66, The Rookies, Quincy M.E., Kate & Allie, Hill Street Blues and Law & Order, among many other shows.
She assisted her daughter with supporting turns in two telefilms: 1975’s Someone I Touched and 1984’s Why Me?
Her film résumé included Take Care of My Little Girl (1951), Black Like Me (1964), Homer (1970), Lifeguard (1976), Jeffrey (1995) and the remake of All the Kings Men (2006), her final onscreen credit.
When Peterson noticed that that her kids’ elementary school had just one afterschool activity, she started a dramatics club. Three hundred students came out for the first meeting.
That club grew into the Westchester Young Actors Theater, which put on plays for a decade. She then continued her theater work with children in Connecticut after she and her late husband, Daniel O’Connor, moved there in 1979. They co-authored the 2006 book Kids Take the Stage: Helping Young People Discover the Creative Outlet of Theater.
She also directed and taught acting for five years at the Metropolitan Opera Studio.
“Everything used to be scattered — doing the soaps, teaching, directing the children, having dinner ready and fighting for every 15 minutes,” she told The New York Times in 1984.
In addition to her daughter, survivors include her sons, Kevin, Brian, Darren and Sean; daughters-in-law Eileen and Jolene; sons-in-law Douglas and Josh; and grandchildren Daniel, Lindsay, Hana and Jadie.
Her husband of 67 years, an executive producer of NBC News documentaries from the 1950s through the ’80s, died in 2015 at age 93.
Filmography
Films Year Title Role Note
2006 All the King's Men Svannah Clerk
2006 Waltzing Anna
2000 Cheaters Mrs. Plecki
1995 Jeffrey Church Lady 2
1992 Live Wire Gwen
1988 Fatal Judgement Martha Busek
1987 Dragnet Granny Mundy
1987 Pals Betty
1985 Code of Vengeance Ione Flowers
1984 Why Me? Leola Mae's Mother
1980 Headin' for Broadway Mrs. Richards
1980 Seizure: The Story of Kathy Morris Music Teacher
1976 Lifeguard Mrs. Carlson
1975 Returning Home Mrs. Parish
1975 First Ladies Diaries: Rachel Jackson Mrs. Robards
1975 The Runaways Mrs. Wilson
1975 Someone I Touched Enid
1973 The Werewolf of Washington Senator Joan
1973 Duty Bound Mrs. Brook
1970 Homer Mrs. Edwards
1964 Black Like Me Lucy Horton
1961 Special for Women: The Glamour Trap Housewife
1955 The Phenix City Story Mary Jo Patterson
1951 Take Care of My Little Girl Ruth Gates
1950 Panic in the Streets Jeanette Uncredited
Television Year Title Role Note
2003 Law & Order: Special Victim Unit Melanie Dunne Episode: Choice
2000 Wonderland Episode: 20/20 Hindsight
1992–1996 Law & Order Ann Schoenberg / Olivia Episodes: Survivor, Star Struck
1994 The Crosby Mysteries Louise Taft Episode: Expert Witness
1992 Civil Wars Byrdie Davies Episode: Ocean White with Phone
1988 L.A. Law Julia Clarent Episode: Chariots of Meyer
1988 American Playhouse Grandmom Episode: Pigeon Feathers
1987 Kate & Allie Street Woman Episode: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1986 Hill Street Blues Marsha Episode: Suitcase
1986 General Hospital Edna
1985 Search for Tomorrow Grace Blake
1985 Code of Vengeance Ione Flowers
1983 Another World Marie Fenton
1981–1982 Love, Sidney Laurie's Mother Episodes: Visitors from Smoot, Just Folks
1981 Ryan's Hope Nurse Grandy
1977 Quincy M.E. Amanda Stoddard Episode: Tissue of Truth
1976 Kingston: Confidential Laura Frazier Episode: Frazier
1974–1975 Kojak Dr. Barbara Kirk / Dr. Kirk Episodes: I Want to Report a Dream, Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die
1975 The Rookies Phyllis Wirl Episode: The Saturday Night Special
1974 Apple's Way Aunt Carol Episode: The First Love
1974 Lucas Tanner Grace Garfield Episode: Winners and Losers
1965 A Flame in the Wind Martha Skerba Driscoll
1963 Look Up and Live Eleanor Collins Episode: The End of the Story
1963 The Doctors and the Nurses Emily Ross Episode: The Third Generation
1962 The Defenders Donna Simmons Episode: The Seven Ghost of Simon Gray
1961 Route 66 Beth Brack Episode: Burning for Burning
1961 The Ed Sullivan Show Sally Follet
1958 Young Dr. Malone Faye Bannister
1957 The Big Story Edna / Linda Gil / Marie Manning Episodes: Make Believe Bandit, Desperate Hunger, Exposure
1957 Decoy Dorothy Boyer Episode: Scape Goat
1957 True Story Judy Episode: Girl in the Hotel
1957 Studio One Carol Bixby Episodes: The Goodwill Ambassadors
1956–1957 Robert Montgomery Presents Nancy Bolen
1956 The Alcoa Hour Marilyn Episode: Finkle's Comet
1952–1955 The Philco Television Playhouse
1954–1955 Armstrong Circle Theatre
1954 The Elgin Hour Marge Episode: Hearts and Holywood
1954 Ponds Theater Evelyn Episode: Guest in the House
1954 Justice Episode: Man on the Hunt
1954 Suspense Episode: Once a Killer
1954 Inner Sanctum Ginny Episode: The Perfect Kill
1953 Bonino
1953 The Gulf Playhouse
1952 Hallmark Hall of Fame Anne Bronte Episode: Our Sister Emily
1952 CBS Televison Workshop Episode: Careless Lover
1951 Lights Out Episode: Beyond the Door
1951 The Web Episode: The House Guests
1949–1950 Actor's Studio Episode: Joe McSween's Atomic Machine
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