Spoiler : Eileen Heckart (born Anna Eileen Herbert, March 29, 1919 – December 31, 2001) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. Primarily known as a character actress, her career spanned nearly 60 years. She first became known for her role as schoolteacher Rosemary Sydney in the original 1953 cast of William Inge's play Picnic on Broadway. She often played mothers, including Rocky Graziano's mother in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956); the mother of a murdered child in the cult classic The Bad Seed (1956); the elderly mother of an estranged son in the PBS production of the one-act play Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn (1966); the mother of reporter Jack Stein on the 1990s television sitcom Love & War; the mother of two separate characters on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live in the 1980s and 1990s; and the meddling mother of a jilted wife (played by Diane Keaton) in The First Wives Club (1996), her last film role. She also had a recurring role on the popular 1970s sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Mary's Aunt Flo Meredith, a famous woman reporter, which she repeated on the subsequent spin-off series, Lou Grant. Heckart began her Broadway career as the assistant stage manager and an understudy for The Voice of the Turtle in 1943. Her many credits include Picnic, The Bad Seed, A View from the Bridge, A Memory of Two Mondays, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, A Family Affair, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, Barefoot in the Park, Butterflies Are Free, You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running, and The Cemetery Club. On television, Heckart had starring roles in The Five Mrs. Buchanans, Out of the Blue, Partners in Crime, and Backstairs at the White House (Emmy nomination as Eleanor Roosevelt). In 1994, she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her appearance as Rose Stein on Love & War. Her other guest spots included The Fugitive (where she appeared in three episodes as a nun, "Sister Veronica"), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (two Emmy nominations as journalist Flo Meredith, a role she carried over to a guest appearance on MTM's spinoff Lou Grant), Love Story, Rhoda, Alice, Murder One, Hawaii Five-O, Gunsmoke, Cybill, The Cosby Show (one Emmy nomination as Mrs. Hickson), and many others. Heckart played two unrelated characters on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live. During the 1980s, she played Ruth Perkins, the mother of Allison Perkins, who had kidnapped the newborn baby of heroine Vicky Lord Buchanan under orders from phony evangelist and mastermind criminal Mitch Laurence. During the early 1990s, she played the role of Wilma Bern, mother of upstate Pennsylvania mob boss Carlo Hesser and his meek twin, Mortimer Bern. She appeared in the 1954 NBC legal drama Justice, based on case files of New York's Legal Aid Society She appeared in 2 episodes of Radio Mystery Theater.

Spoiler : Heckart, Eileen (Anna Eileen Heckart) Born in Columbus. Ohio 3/29/1919; died 12/31/2001 of cancer at her home in Norwalk, Connecticutt. Married to college sweetheart, later an insurance broker, John Harrison (1942-1997 his death). Graduated from the Ohio State University in 1942. Broadway debut as understudy and assistant stage manager for "The Voice of the Turtle." Television character from the late 1940s until 1998. On screen in Bus Stop (1956). Last movie was The Waverly Gallery (2000). 1972 Academy Award for Butterflies Are Free. Recurring role of Mary Richard's Aunt Flo on The Mary Tyler Moore Show for CBS-TV (1970-1977). The Boss Angel on Out of the Blue for ABC-TV (1979). Nurse Decker in the 26 syndicated tele- vison programs, Trauma Center (1983). Jeanine on Partners in Crime for NBC-TV (1984). Emma Block on Annie McGuire for CBS-TV (1988). Mother Emma Buchanan on The Five Buchanans for CBS-TV (1994-1995). Frances Wyler on Murder One for (1995). 1994 Emmy Award for her guest role in You Make Me Feel So Young that was presented on the situation comedy, Love & War for CBS-TV. 2000 Tony Award for her lifetime of theater work.