Lois Smith

Lois Smith

1930-11-03 Topeka, Kansas, USA 81 Credits

Biography

Lois Arlene Smith (née Humbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film East of Eden, and later played supporting roles in a number of movies, including Five Easy Pieces (1970), Resurrection (1980), Fatal Attraction (1987), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Dead Man Walking, Twister (1996), Minority Report (2002), The Nice Guys (2016) and Lady Bird (2017). In 2017, Smith received critical acclaim for her lead...

Known For

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Complete Filmography

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address

2025

as Elizabeth Crawford (voice)

Acting

In the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln went to Gettysburg. "The Gettysburg Address" investigates the five extant copies of Lincoln's famous ...

The Uninvited

The Uninvited

2025

as Helen

5.8
Acting

Rose and Sammy enjoy an idyllic life with love, a Hollywood Hills home, and a curious son. During a party, Sammy assigns unusual significance to it, w...

Mack & Rita

Mack & Rita

2022

as Betty

5.5
Acting

A 30-year-old spends a wild weekend in Palm Springs and wakes up to find she has magically transformed into her 70-year-old self.

The French Dispatch

The French Dispatch

2021

as Upshur 'Maw' Clampette

7.0
Acting

The staff of an American magazine based in France puts out its last issue, with stories featuring an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student ri...

Uncle Frank

Uncle Frank

2020

as Aunt Butch

7.3
Acting

In 1973, when Frank Bledsoe and his 18-year-old niece Beth take a road trip from Manhattan to Creekville, South Carolina for the family patriarch's fu...

The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America

The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America

2020

as Harper Pitt

10.0
Acting

An all-star livestream benefit performance of scenes from Angels in America in support of amfAR’s Fund to Fight COVID-19.

Tesla

Tesla

2020

as The Grande Dame

5.8
Acting

The story of the Promethean struggles of Nikola Tesla, as he attempts to transcend entrenched technology—including his own previous work—by pioneering...

Lady Bird

Lady Bird

2017

as Sister Sarah Joan

7.3
Acting

Lady Bird McPherson, a strong willed, deeply opinionated, artistic 17 year old comes of age in Sacramento. Her relationship with her mother and her up...

Marjorie Prime

Marjorie Prime

2017

as Marjorie

6.1
Acting

A service which creates holographic projections of late family members allows an elderly woman to spend time with a younger version of her deceased hu...

The Comedian

The Comedian

2016

as Miriam

5.7
Acting

An aging comic icon, Jackie Burke, has seen better days. Despite his efforts to reinvent himself and his comic genius, the audience only wants to know...

The Nice Guys

The Nice Guys

2016

as Mrs. Glenn

7.1
Acting

A private eye investigates the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.

Run All Night

Run All Night

2015

as Margaret Conlon

6.4
Acting

Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon has seen better days. Longtime best friend of a mob boss, Jimmy is haunted by the sins of his past—...

Showing Up

Showing Up

2014

as Self

9.2
Acting

An unprecedented look at the audition, compiled from more than 50 interviews with notable artists including Kristin Chenoweth, Richard Griffiths, Zoe ...

The Man Who Came Out Only at Night

The Man Who Came Out Only at Night

2013

as The Youngest Daughter (later)

Acting

In this retelling of an Italian folktale, a man marries the youngest of three sisters and shares a very strange secret with her on their wedding night...

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

2012

as Aunt Mel

7.0
Acting

A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all ...

Roadie

Roadie

2012

as Mom

5.7
Acting

After 20 years on the road with Blue Oyster Cult, Jimmy Testagros returns to his hometown to life with his ailing mother. Complications arise when he ...

Please Give

Please Give

2010

as Mrs. Portman

6.2
Acting

In New York City, a husband and wife butt heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives in the apartment the couple owns.

A Dog Year

A Dog Year

2009

as Lois Blair

6.2
Acting

Jon Katz is close to burnout. He's a writer with writer's block; his wife has left for her sister's because he's emotionally distant; he rarely answer...

Diminished Capacity

Diminished Capacity

2008

as Belle

5.4
Acting

A Chicago journalist suffering from memory loss takes leaves from his job and returns to his rural hometown, where he bonds with his Alzheimer's impai...

Turn the River

Turn the River

2008

as Abby

5.3
Acting

A pool shark takes the ultimate gamble when she kidnaps her own son and flees her ex-husband.

Griffin & Phoenix

Griffin & Phoenix

2006

as Dr. Imberman

7.1
Acting

A terminally ill man falls in love with a woman who has a secret that threatens their time spent together.

Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland

2006

as Helen Bessolo

6.1
Acting

When Hollywood superstar George Reeves dies in his home, private detective Louis Simo is hired to investigate his death and gets caught in a web of li...

Little Fugitive

2006

as Elizabeth

5.7
Acting

Set in present day Brooklyn, this film is a remake of the 1953 classic, "Little Fugitive." With his father in jail and his mother working long hours a...

Little Fugitive

2006

as Social Worker

5.7
Acting

Set in present day Brooklyn, this film is a remake of the 1953 classic, "Little Fugitive." With his father in jail and his mother working long hours a...

Sweet Land

Sweet Land

2005

as Inge (as an older woman)

6.4
Acting

Set in 1920, Inge travels from Germany to rural Minnesota in order to meet the man destined to be her husband.

James Dean: Sense Memories

James Dean: Sense Memories

2005

as Self

Acting

Documentary exploring the last 18 months of James Dean's acting career.

P.S.

P.S.

2004

as Ellie Silverstein

5.6
Acting

Louise, an unfulfilled divorced woman with regrets, gets the chance to relive her past when she meets a young man who bears an uncanny resemblance, in...

Iron Jawed Angels

Iron Jawed Angels

2004

as Reverend Anna Howard Shaw

6.9
Acting

Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.

The Best Thief in the World

The Best Thief in the World

2004

as Helen

4.4
Acting

Izzy, the youngest son of a troubled New York family, takes a shine to breaking into people's apartments as a way to get attention.

Red Betsy

Red Betsy

2003

as Helen Rounds

Acting

A close-knit Midwestern farm family deals with loss, change, and social progress during the 1940's.

Minority Report

Minority Report

2002

as Dr. Iris Hineman

7.3
Acting

John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they're committed. But Anderton becomes the ...

The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project

2002

as Lucy Thompson

6.3
Acting

"The Laramie Project" is set in and around Laramie, Wyoming, in the aftermath of the murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard. To create the stage versio...

Powder Keg

Powder Keg

2001

as Mother

6.8
Acting

The Driver is drafted by the UN to rescue a wounded war photographer named Harvey Jacobs from out of hostile territory. While they are leaving Jacobs ...

The Pledge

The Pledge

2001

as Helen Jackson

6.6
Acting

A police chief about to retire pledges to help a woman find her daughter's killer.

Tumbleweeds

Tumbleweeds

1999

as Ginger

6.5
Acting

Whenever trouble strikes in one of her relationships, single mother Mary Jo Walker and her daughter, Ava, pack up and move to another city, a routine ...

The Eternal

The Eternal

1998

as Mrs. Ferriter

4.3
Acting

An alcoholic American couple travel to Ireland with their son so he can meet his grandmother but they walk in on their crazed uncle who is in the mids...

Hudson River Blues

Hudson River Blues

1997

Acting

Hoping to help their marriage, a Manhattan lawyer (Rya Kihlstedt) brings her burned-out husband (Robert Stanton) to her mother's home upstate.

Eye of God

Eye of God

1997

Thanks

5.8

A small Oklahoma town is stripped of its innocence when one of its boys turns up mute and bloodied by the lakeside. Unable to tell his story, the loca...

Larger Than Life

Larger Than Life

1996

as Luluna

5.5
Acting

Motivational Speaker Jack Corcoran is determined to get his career off the ground, but the biggest gigs he can get are the ones nobody wants. One day,...

Twister

Twister

1996

as Aunt Meg

6.5
Acting

An unprecedented series of violent tornadoes is sweeping across Oklahoma. Tornado chasers, headed by Dr. Jo Harding, attempt to release a groundbreaki...

Dead Man Walking

Dead Man Walking

1995

as Helen's Mother

7.3
Acting

A death row inmate turns for spiritual guidance to a local nun in the days leading up to his scheduled execution for the murders of a young couple.

How to Make an American Quilt

How to Make an American Quilt

1995

as Sophia

6.4
Acting

Soon-to-be-wed graduate student Finn Dodd develops cold feet when she suspects her fiancé is cheating on her. In order to clear her head, Finn visits ...

Truman

Truman

1995

as Madge Wallace Gates

7.6
Acting

Biographical account of America's President for the latter part of WWII. Shows Truman's rise from small-town nobody to leader of the USA, his decision...

Holy Matrimony

Holy Matrimony

1994

as Orna

5.3
Acting

A young Hutterite boy must marry his late brother's wife who comes from outside the community.

Falling Down

Falling Down

1993

as D-Fens' Mother

7.4
Acting

An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.

Skylark

Skylark

1993

as Lou Wheaton

7.2
Acting

Jacob's farm is in trouble from a severe drought. Jacob and Sarah begin to wonder if Sarah can stay, and what will happen to Jacob if she and the chil...

Deadly Matrimony

Deadly Matrimony

1992

5.3
Acting

Alan Masters is a despicable businessman with his hands in organized crime. He marries Diane, a kind and gentle woman, and abuses and batters her vici...

The Donner Party

The Donner Party

1992

as voice

6.8
Acting

Doomed attempt to get to California in 1846. More than just a riveting tale of death, endurance and survival. The Donner Party's nightmarish journey p...

Keep the Change

Keep the Change

1992

as Lureen

6.0
Acting

A struggling artist visits his family on their Montana ranch and finds that his former flame, daughter of a family foe, is now married to an old frien...

Hard Promises

Hard Promises

1992

as Mrs. Bell

5.4
Acting

A man who doesn't like stable work environments has been away for too many years, and finds out his wife has divorced him and is planning to remarry. ...

Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried Green Tomatoes

1991

as Mama Threadgoode

7.7
Acting

Amidst her own personality crisis, a southern housewife meets an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two...

White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd

White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd

1991

as Alice Todd

6.0
Acting

When '30s film star Thelma Todd dies mysteriously, her relationship with New York mobster Lucky Luciano is investigated.

Switched at Birth

Switched at Birth

1991

as Margaret

6.6
Acting

This is the story of the two babies who were switched at birth. A few years later when one of the girls gets sick and tests revealed that she was not ...

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

1991

as Ma Joad

Acting

A stage presentation of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath". The Steppenwolf Theater Company's production featuring the original Broadway cast. De...

Coney Island

Coney Island

1991

as (voice)

6.0
Acting

Before there was Disneyland, there was Coney Island. By the turn of the century, this tiny piece of New York real estate was internationally famous. ...

Green Card

Green Card

1990

as Brontë's Mother

6.1
Acting

Urban horticulturalist Brontë Mitchell has her eye on a gorgeous apartment, but the building's board will rent it only to a married couple. Georges Fa...

Hello Actors Studio

Hello Actors Studio

1988

as Self

6.0
Acting

After Lee Strasberg’s death in 1982, the most prestigious talents from the Actors Studio assumed the leadership of this exceptional organization. For ...

Midnight Run

Midnight Run

1988

as Mrs. Nelson, Mardukas's Friend

7.2
Acting

A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who embezzled $15 million of mob money. He is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I....

Fatal Attraction

Fatal Attraction

1987

as Martha

6.8
Acting

A married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.

Black Widow

Black Widow

1987

as Sara

6.2
Acting

Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But sin...

Doubletake

Doubletake

1985

as Sarah

5.2
Acting

Two corpses are found in different locations with their heads severed and exchanged. Frank Janek is called on to head the team of detectives investiga...

The Execution of Raymond Graham

The Execution of Raymond Graham

1985

as Mary Neal

6.4
Acting

A young man, convicted of the murder of a clerk, who has been on death row for five years and now awaits his execution while his family desperately se...

Twisted

Twisted

1985

as Helen Giles

5.1
Acting

One evening the Collins find their maid Mrs. Murdock at the end of their steps: dead, neck broken. Obviously she had an accident. Consequently they ne...

Reckless

Reckless

1984

as Mrs. Prescott

5.8
Acting

Teenager Johnny Rourke is reckless. Born on the wrong side of the tracks, he breaks the law and girls' hearts with equal cool. Cheerleader Tracey Pres...

Reuben, Reuben

Reuben, Reuben

1983

as Mare Spofford

6.5
Acting

A drunken Scottish poet who has not written a word in years feels compelled to regain control of his life and work after meeting a beautiful young wom...

Four Friends

Four Friends

1981

as Mrs. Carnahan

6.9
Acting

A young immigrant comes to America in the 60s and is caught up in the counterculture movement which tests his bonds of friendship and love.

The House of Mirth

1981

as Bertha Dorset

Acting

Lily Bart, a well-born, but penniless woman of the high society of New York City, who was raised and educated to become wife to a rich man. As an unma...

Resurrection

Resurrection

1980

as Kathy

6.5
Acting

The story of a woman who survives the car accident which kills her husband, but discovers that she has the power to heal other people. She becomes an ...

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

1980

as Cornelia

Acting

Granny Weatherall (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is a spunky old lady of eighty who bosses around her doctor and her children. She seems so strong and in cont...

Foxes

Foxes

1980

as Mrs. Axman

5.9
Acting

A group of friends come of age in the asphalt desert of the San Fernando Valley, as set to a blazing soundtrack and endless drinking, drugs and sex.

Next Stop, Greenwich Village

Next Stop, Greenwich Village

1976

as Anita Cunningham

6.4
Acting

An aspiring Jewish actor moves out of his parents' Brooklyn apartment to seek his fortune in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in 1953.

Up the Sandbox

Up the Sandbox

1972

as Elinore

5.8
Acting

Bored with day-to-day life in New York City and neglected by her husband, a young wife and mother slips into increasingly outrageous fantasies: her mo...

Particular Men

Particular Men

1972

Acting

A fictitious but powerful look at the dawn of the nuclear age, this stage performance follows several government scientists as they develop the atomic...

Five Easy Pieces

Five Easy Pieces

1970

as Partita Dupea

7.1
Acting

A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and oth...

The Way We Live Now

The Way We Live Now

1970

as Jane Aldridge

Acting

A mid-life crisis propels a disaffected advertising executive out of his marriage and into a series of disastrous love affairs with a series of women....

Dragon Country

Dragon Country

1970

as Woman (segment "Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen")

5.0
Acting

Producer-director Glenn Jordan brought together two Tennessee Williams plays, written twenty years apart, that examine the theme of isolation with sea...

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

1967

as Evelyn

Acting

Peter Schermann is angry at the world after his children move him into a nursing home. Still physically and mentally strong, he searches for a meaning...

The Master Builder

The Master Builder

1960

as Hilda

Acting

Famed playwright Henrik Ibsen tells the tale of a master builder in the twilight of his career who reaches for love in response to his work's demise.

Strange Lady in Town

Strange Lady in Town

1955

as Spurs O'Brien

4.5
Acting

Julia Garth, a female doctor, plans to introduce modern techniques of medicine to old Santa Fe in 1880, but is opposed by an established doctor, Rourk...

East of Eden

East of Eden

1955

as Anne

7.6
Acting

In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their fath...

The Steel Harp

N/A

Acting