Entertainment

'Graduate' Actress Elizabeth Wilson Passes Away

by Loretta Donelan

Elizabeth Wilson, a film and stage actress best known for The Graduate and The Adams Family, has passed away at age 94. She died in her home in New Haven, Connecticut on May 9, 2015. Though most audiences know her best for her small parts in a variety of famous films, Wilson was a prolific stage actress, who was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007. She was born in Michigan in 1921 and studied theater, attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City before studying the Meisner technique at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. She won a Tony Award for her role in the play Sticks and Bones, as well as an Emmy nomination for her role in the miniseries Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder.

Some of her famous movie credits include her role as Mrs. Braddock, the mother of Dustin Hoffman's character Benjamin. Though not the most famous mother in that film, Braddock became well known for her beautiful and concerned presence in the iconic comedy. She also had a small role in another famous film, the Hitchcock classic The Birds. She might be most recognized, however, for her role as Abigail Craven in The Addams Family or as Roz Keith in 9 to 5. She was still acting as recently as 2012. Her friend Elizabeth Morton revealed the news.

Here's Wilson in The Graduate: