Lois Nettleton — Page 2

I saw her Blanche at the Kennedy Center, pre or post St. James, when the Stanley was a smoldering Allan Feinstein. She was remarkable -- and the production dared to play the Opera House, not the smaller Eisenhower. She was the most statuesque, and the most 'sane' Blanche you could imagine. She tore into the role with a kind of size and energy that matched Feinstein's. It was as if Stella gotleft ouf of the triangle -- the chemistry between these two was that potent, and it gave the play a very immediate drive.

Aside from her palpable attraction to Stanley, she found a kind of blazing normalcy in Blanche -- you could see the school teacher, this billiant, witty southern woman who channeled all her drive and creativity into the classroom, seemingly her only intellectual option. Her hold on her sanity was more secure, so that she didn't anticipate the breakdown at the ending. I'll never forget it. It was the revamped Lincoln Center production, minus Rosemary Harris.

---

Well, if nothing else, this has become a "Lois Nettleton" thread, even if it doesn't herald her passing.

Glebby---I found that "Night Music" clip again on YouTube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sT0pfb0cNV8

And both posts are right about her character in Best Little Whorehouse. On Broadway, she was called Doatsey Mae, and in the film, the name was changed to Dulcie Mae.

And they cut her song.

---

Thanks Best.
I hope she is OK.

---

I never knew she was married to Jean Shepherd.

---

Best Little Whorehouse is another good Broadway musical butchered by Hollywood.

---

Sorry to hear that she's gone.

Period of Adjustment was one of her better theatrical films. Too bad it's not on DVD yet.

---

Me too, Glebby.

---

She was one my childhood favorites.

---