Sarah Siddons Award
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The Sarah Siddons Society is a provincial American non-profit organization founded in 1952 by prominent Chicago theatre patrons with the goal of promoting excellence in the theatre. The Society presents the Sarah Siddons Award annually to an actor for an outstanding performance in a Chicago theatre production. The winner receives a statuette of the Welsh stage actress Sarah Siddons (1775-1831).
The award stems from the fictional award referred to in the opening scene of the 1950 Joseph L. Mankiewicz film All About Eve. The film opens with the image of an award trophy, described by an unseen narrator in a hushed voice as the "highest honour our theater knows - the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement."
Past winners - Actress/Actor of the Year (alphabetically):
- Julie Andrews (1996)
- Eve Arden (1967)
- Lucie Arnaz (1986)
- Lauren Bacall (1972 & 1984)
- Gertrude Berg (1961)
- Shirley Booth (1957)
- Ellen Burstyn (1990)
- Carol Channing (1966)
- Claudette Colbert (1980)
- Irene Dailey (1971)
- Brian Dennehy (1999)
- Colleen Dewhurst (1974)
- Faye Dunaway (1997)
- Julie Harris (1976)
- Helen Hayes (1953 & 1969)
- Heather Headley (2000)
- Florence Henderson (1962)
- Celeste Holm (1968)
- Nancy Kelly (1956 & 1964)
- Deborah Kerr (1955)
- Angela Lansbury (1975 & 1981)
- Cloris Leachman (1978)
- Beatrice Lillie (1954)
- Myrna Loy (1965)
- Dorothy Loudon (1982)
- John Mahoney (2006)
- Julia Meade (1963)
- Ann Miller (1983)
- Liza Minnelli (1987)
- Rita Moreno (1985)
- Geraldine Page (1960)
- Bernadette Peters (1994)
- Stefanie Powers (1993)
- Lynn Redgrave (1977 & 1995)
- Hollis Resnik (1992)
- Chita Rivera (2002)
- Anne Rogers (1958)
- Ruth Roman (1959)
- Barbara Rush (1970)
- Elaine Stritch (2004)
- Loretta Swit (1991)
- Jessica Tandy (1979)
- Sada Thompson (1973 & 1988)
- Lily Tomlin (1989)
