A Familiar Face Comes to Vassar


If you don’t know the name, you know the face, the voice, the manner. Frances Sternhagen is a master of eccentric, often Southern and now-and-then aristocratic characters, such as Bunny MacDougal (Trey’s mother) in "Sex and the City,"and Willie Rae Johnson (Brenda’s mother) in "The Closer"(where Sternhagen plays alongside fellow Vassar alumnus Jon Tenney, the FBI guy).

Next week, Sternhagen is coming to Vassar to read selections from Marta Góes’ play, "A Safe Harbor for Elizabeth Bishop," the poet and, yes, Vassar alumna.

Sternhagen — although her long list of film, TV and stage credits, plus two Tony awards, might indicate a youthful and intense interest in theater — did not grow up with the acting bug. She recalls one appearance as a 4th-grade Easter bunny, and another in a high school dining hall reading from Shakespeare’s "Richard II,"(with Sternhagen playing the role of Richard.)

Then Prof. Evalyn Clark, who taught a riveting course on the French revolution at Vassar, called Sternhagen aside.

" ‘Why aren’t you majoring in drama?’ " Clark asked her student.

" I told her I thought you couldn’t or you shouldn’t major in something that was just fun," Sternhagen replied.

Not so, the professor said. History was that kind of fun for her; and Sternhagen promptly signed up for theater and became, by her own admission, "a shameless scene-stealer."

 

After graduating, Sternhagen taught theater at the Milton Academy and started trying out for parts at a nearby playhouse. That’s where one auditioner, a fellow in tweeds with a Groton accent and leather patches on his elbows, told her " ‘If you want to be an actor, leave teaching. You act as though you are leading a bunch of girls to the hockey field.’ " She took this advice too, and left teaching at the end of the semester.

Sternhagen made her Broadway debut in a 1955 revival of "The Skin of Our Teeth," starred later in "Driving Miss Daisy," was acclaimed for her work in "Equus" and "The Good Doctor," and 54 years later she is still making her original mark on movies, plays and television with her face, her voice and her manner.

 

Frances Sternhagen will perform at the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film on Feb. 26, at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free, reservations are requiredCall 845-437-5584 or 5599.

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