Jane Alexander

Jane Alexander is an actress, author, and former Chairperson of the National Endowment of the Arts. In 1969, Jane received a Tony Award for her performance as Eleanor Bachman in the Broadway production of The Great White Hope. Jane received her first Emmy nomination for her role as Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin. Over her career, she has received two Primetime Emmy Awards—as well as nominations for eight Tony Awards, four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards—and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994. Today, Jane is involved in conservation efforts and has served on the boards of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the National Audubon Society, and Project Greenhope, among others. She is the author of Wild Things, Wild Places and Command Performance. Today, you’ll hear Jane discuss how she grew up loving the beauty of the land while living in Massachusetts. She shares how watching a ballet performance for the first time sparked her love for theater and the performing arts. She outlines her process for inhabiting a character or a role and describes how she studied her role as Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin . Jane also highlights what it’s like to be an understudy, details her experience serving as the chairperson of the National Endowment of the Arts, and offers advice to young people about pursuing their passion. “The whole business of exploration—which caught me as a child in the outside world, exploring the sunken garden—transitioned to the exploration of the mind and the human body in acting.” - Jane Alexander This week on Kathy Sullivan Explores: ● Jane’s background and early years in Massachusetts ● How Jane’s parents reacted to her pursuit of theater as a career ● Her studies in mathematics and computer programming ● Her time at the University of Edinburgh and performances as Ophelia in Hamlet and as Nora in The Plough and the Stars ● What it was like to hang out with Dudley Moore and John Gleeson as university students ● Jane’s experience as an understudy and what stand-ins do when they’re not performing ● Her first leading roles and focus on the classics ● Jane’s process for inhabiting a role or character ● Why Jane declined to be part of The Actors Studio ● How Jane played Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin ● Handling negative receptions of performances ● Jane’s service as the chairperson of the National Endowment of the Arts ● Today’s public support for the arts and Jane’s work in conservation Our Favorite Quotes: ● “Art is part of everybody’s persona and privilege.” - Jane Alexander ● “We are put on this Earth to witness and experience all the joy that we can give to each other—that includes the things that grow and live.” - Jane Alexander Connect with Jane Alexander: ● Jane Alexander Website ● Book: Command Performance: An Actress In The Theater Of Politics ● Book: Wild Things, Wild Places: Adventurous Tales of Wildlife and Conservation on Planet Earth ● Jane Alexander on Twitter Space

All the President's Minutes is a podcast where conversations about movies, journalism, politics and history meet. Each show we use the seminal and increasingly prescient 1976 film All The President's Men as a portal, to engage with the themes and the warnings of the film resonating since its release. For minute 137, I join four-time Oscar nominee, Tony Award winner and Theatre Hall-of-Famer, Jane Alexander. Jane and I discuss making of the Bookkeeper scene, how this is the only movie of hers that she'll rewatch and a Pakula directed Eleanor Roosevelt movie that might have been. About Jane Alexander ( via Broadway Buzz ) Jane Alexander has a distinguished stage career. She has performed in more than 100 plays, been honoured with numerous awards including her Tony Award for The Great White Hope , and Obie, Drama League, Drama Desk and Theatre World awards, and was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1994. Jane last starred at Long Wharf Theater in the world premiere of Matthew Barber's play Fireflies . A four-time Oscar nominee for Testament, Kramer vs. Kramer, All the President's Men, and The Great White Hope , Ms. Alexander has appeared in over 75 screen and television roles. On television, Jane won Emmy Awards for Playing for Time, and Warm Spring s, and a Television Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years." Jane has been seen most recently in recurring roles on The Blacklist, Elementary, The Good Wife , and The Good Fight . Jane stars in the final episode of the new Amazon series Modern Love , and shot a recurring role on the new Fox 21/Amazon series Tales From the Loop . In 1993, President Clinton appointed Ms. Alexander Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, a position she served for 4 years. Her book Command Performance: An Actress in the Theatre of Politics documents her tenure. Jane has been active as a wildlife conservationist for many years and sits on the national board of the Audubon Society, the BirdLife International Advisory Group, and co-chairs the Conservation Council of Panthera with Glenn Close. In 2012, she received the inaugural Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award from the Indianapolis Prize honoring her work in conservation. Her book Wild Things, Wild Places: Adventurous Tales of Wildlife and Conservation on Planet Earth was published by Knopf in 2016. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Michael Riedel and Christine Nagy chat with Michael Urie about his role in the new play 'Grand Horizons.' He talks about working with the legendary actors Jane Alexander and James Cromwell and his path on becoming an actor. 'Grand Horizons' is playing a limited run at the Hayes Theater. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jane Alexander is the Chief Digital Information Officer at the Cleveland Museum of Art. In this episode of the AMT-Lab podcast series, contributor Michaela Kizershot White asks about the ArtLens app, audience engagement, and social sharing.