Olympia Dukakis and me.
We worked together on a Brecht’s MOTHER COURAGE in Montclair. Olympia was a formidable MOTHER with the stirring score by Paul Dessau. Her Whole Theatre Company had moved into a vacant bank building on Bloomfield Ave.
Their work included Genet’s THE MAIDS and Tennessee Williams SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH all starring Olympia that were quite strong and moving. At one point she needed to return a script to an agent in Manhattan and I volunteered to do that for her.
Olympia was also interested in my play FANGS TO RICHES and wrote me a letter of recommendation. Her comments appear in AMERICAN PHANTASMAGORIA (Lulu Books 2020) as does FANGS TO RICHES.
Olympia Dukakis starred in more than 130 stage productions, as well as more than 60 films and 50 television series. She won her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1988 for her role in “Moonstruck” as Rose Castorini. She won a Golden Globe for the film as well, and received Emmy Award nominations for “Lucky Day” (1991), “More Tales of the City” (1998), and “Joan of Arc” (1999). She released an autobiography, “Ask Me Again Tomorrow: A Life in Progress,” in 2003. Last year, a feature-length documentary about her life, titled “Olympia,” was also released in the U.S.
