Lois Smith
At 90, the oldest Tony winner in history
Lois Smith has been in the acting business for many decades.
© imago / ZUMA Wire
Lois Smith has set a record with her Tony triumph: At 90, she is the oldest winner of an acting award.
Broadway star Lois Smith (90) made history last Sunday. At 90, she is the oldest person to date to have ever won an acting award at the Tony Awards. Smith had received the award for “Best Supporting Actress in One Piece” at the 74th edition of the Awards for her performance in “The Inheritance”.
“The Inheritance” is a work by Matthew Lopez (44), which is based on EM Forster’s book “Wiedersehen in Howards End”. Another peculiarity of Smith’s performance: She mimes the only female character in the entire play – the supervisor Margaret, who works in a home for seriously ill men. With her impressive performance she prevailed against Jane Alexander (81, “Grand Horizons”), Cora Vander Broek (43, “Linda Vista”) as well as Chalia La Tour and Annie McNamara (both “Slave Play”).
Still active on the screen too
In addition to her engagements on Broadway, Smith has appeared in several Hollywood productions, including “Falling Down” with Michael Douglas (77), “Dead Man Walking” and “Lady Bird”. And this year she will also be on the screen: In Wes Anderson’s (52) star-studded flick “The French Dispatch” (release date: October 21).
The oldest male winner of an acting Tony has been Dick Latessa (1929-2016) since 2003. He was 72 years old when he accepted the award for his part in the musical “Hairspray”. The youngest Tony winners are Frankie Michaels (1966) and Daisy Eagan (1991), both of whom were only eleven years old on the day of their triumph.