Helen Joan Stenborg (January 24, 1925 – March 22, 2011) was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She occasionally acted with her husband, actor

Barnard Hughes Bernard “Barnard” Aloysius Kiernan Hughes (July 16, 1915 – July 11, 2006) was an American TV, theater, and film actor. Hughes became famous for a variety of roles: his most notable came after middle age, and he was often cast as a dith ...

(1915–2006), to whom she was married for 56 years from 1950 until his death in 2006; they had two children.

Career

Stenborg appeared on stage in revivals of ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' (Danish language, Danish and ; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act Play (theatre), play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 De ...

'', '' A Month in the Country'', and ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...

''; the original, belated US production of

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

's '' Waiting in the Wings'', for which she was nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Featured Actress in a Play; and the

Lanford Wilson Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937March 24, 2011) was an American playwright. His work, as described by ''The New York Times'', was "earthy, realist, greatly admired ndwidely performed". Fox, Margalit"Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwrigh ...

plays, '' The Rimers of Eldritch'' and ''

Talley & Son ''Talley & Son'' is a play by Lanford Wilson, the third in his trilogy focusing on the Talley family of Lebanon, Missouri. It is set on July 4, 1944, the same day as '' Talley's Folly'' and thirty-three years prior to the events in ''Fifth of Ju ...

'' winning the

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

for her performance in the latter. She portrayed Helga Lindeman on the soap opera '' Another World'' from 1977 to 1978. Stenborg also appeared in the 1999 film,

My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York ''My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York'' is a 1998 short film directed by Barbara Schock. It was made as a thesis film for the AFI Conservatory. In 2000, it won an Oscar at the 72nd Academy Awards for Best Live Action Short Film ...

, which won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for Best Short Subject in 2000.

Death

She died on March 22, 2011, aged 86, in New York City.

Partial filmography

*''

Three Days of the Condor ''Three Days of the Condor'' is a 1975 American spy thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow. The screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel was based on the ...

'' (1975) - Mrs. Edwina Russell *''

The Europeans ''The Europeans: A sketch'' is a short novel by Henry James, published in 1878. It is a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two visitors from Europe with those of their relatives living in the "new" world of New England. The nov ...

'' (1979) - Mrs. Acton *'' Starting Over'' (1979) - Older Woman *''

The Bonfire of the Vanities ''The Bonfire of the Vanities'' is a 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City, and centers on three main characters: WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish a ...

'' (1990) - Mrs. McCoy *'' Me and Veronica'' (1993) - Woman at Laundromat *'' Marvin's Room'' (1996) - Nun on Phone *''

Isn't She Great ''Isn't She Great'' is a 2000 American biographical comedy-drama film that presents a fictionalized biography of author Jacqueline Susann, played by Bette Midler. An international co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, G ...

'' (2000) - Aunt Abigail *''

Bless the Child ''Bless the Child'' is a 2000 supernatural horror film directed by Chuck Russell, and starring Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Angela Bettis, Rufus Sewell, Christina Ricci, and Holliston Coleman. Based on the 1993 novel by Cathy Cash Spellman, it ...

'' (2000) - Sister Joseph *'' Enchanted'' (2007) - Ballroom Lady #1 *'' The Caller'' (2008) - Jimmy's Mother *''

Doubt Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, and is certainty, uncertain about them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and wikt:disbelief, disbelief. It may i ...

'' (2008) - Sister Teresa (final film role)

References

External links

* *
Barnard Hughes and Helen Stenborg papers, 1880s-2011
held by Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stenborg, Helen 1925 births 2011 deaths Actresses from Minnesota American film actresses American stage actresses American soap opera actresses Obie Award recipients Actresses from Minneapolis Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 21st-century American women