Blythe Danner was born on February 3, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is of Dutch descent, and her father was a bank executive. She has two brothers, one of which became an opera singer and the other turned out to be a violin maker. Blythe Danner studied at the George School in Newton, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and eventually at Bard College where she graduated in 1965.

Blythe Danner’s first stage appearance was with the Theater Company of Boston and the Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. At 25, she won the Theatre World Award for her performance in the play The Miser. Blythe Danner then went on to film in 1970 and landed on a role in the TV production of Dr. Cook’s Garden. She was usually cast as an upper-class wife or matriarch due to her husky voice, and among her film roles include To Kill a Clown on 1972, Lovin’ Molly, The Great Santini and the Prince of Tides. She also starred as a Jewish woman in Inside the Third Reich in 1982.

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