Academy Award winning actress Maureen Stapleton has died at the age of 80. Stapleton had a distinguished lengthy acting career in both theater and films.
According to her son, Daniel Allentuck, Stapleton died of chronic pulmonary disease in her home in Lenox Massachusetts. Stapleton was a long-time heavy smoker according to her son.
Stapleton won her Oscar for portraying anarchist-writer Emma Goldman in Warren Beatty's 1981 film 'Reds.'
Ironically, Stapleton said she had started to read Goldman's autobiography to prepare for her role in 'Reds' but quickly stopped reading it out of sheer boredom.
She also received Oscar nominations for her work in 1958's 'Lonelyhearts'; 'Airport' in 1970; and Woody Allen's 'Interiors' in 1978. Some of her other well-known film roles include 'Bye Bye Birdie' opposite Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke, 'Johnny Dangerously,' 'Cocoon,' 'The Money Pit' and 'Addicted to Love.'
In her 1995 autobiography, 'Hell of a Life,' Stapleton wrote, 'There are many roads to good acting. I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake.'
On Broadway, Stapleton was best known for playing roles in Tennessee Williams plays. She won a Tony Award for her work in 'The Rose Tattoo.' She also starred opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.'
Stapleton is survived by two children and a brother. Funeral arrangements are pending.
