Carolyn Coates

Carolyn Coates was an American actress whose work spanned theater, film and television, often playing formidable women. Born in Oklahoma City, she studied acting at UCLA and played roles such as Shakespeare's Juliet, Margaret in The Shoemaker's Holiday, and Cybel in The Great God Brown. She also appeared with the Bolton Landing Players in summer productions. In 1954 she played Agatha when Jean Giraudoux's Electra had its American premiere at the Henry Street Playhouse. She later spent about six years as a featured performer with Paul J. Curtis's American Mime Theatre. Her Hecuba in The Trojan Women earned her a Theatre World Award in 1965, and that December she narrated a NET documentary on Sibelius. In 2001 she played Gladys in The Waverly Gallery at Long Wharf Theater, with the Hartford Courant praising the performance. She died in 2005.