Life and career

Widdoes was born in Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

, the daughter of Bernice (née Delapo) and Eugene Widdoes. Widdoes moved to New York City to pursue stage work and studied at the Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

 in Paris under a Fulbright scholarship. From 1964 to 1972 she was married to well known actor Richard Jordan

Richard Jordan

Richard Jordan was an American stage, screen and film actor. A long-time member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, he performed in many Off Broadway and Broadway plays...

, with whom she had her daughter Nina. She is currently married with one child and one grandchild.

Television

Although returning frequently to New York theatre, Widdoes is probably most known for her work in soaps; she was an original cast member of Young Doctor Malone

Young Doctor Malone

Young Doctor Malone is an American soap opera, created by Irna Phillips, which had a long run on radio and television from 1939 to 1963...

, playing Jill Malone from 1958 to 1959. She played Rose Perrini on Another World

Another World (TV series)

Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...

from 1978 to 1980 and appeared for a short time on Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC...

in 1983 as the vindictive villainess Una McCurtain.

In 1985, she began her best known role as Emma Snyder

Emma Snyder

Emma Snyder is a fictional character on the American soap opera As the World Turns. The character was originated in 1985 by actress Kathleen Widdoes, who continued to appear on the program until June 29, 2010.-Character history:...

 on As the World Turns

As the World Turns

As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

. The character of Emma was the matriarch of a new core family, based on the real family of then-head writer Douglas Marland

Douglas Marland

Douglas Marland was an American actor and writer of soap operas.-Career:He began his soap opera career as an actor, appearing on the Irna Phillips series The Brighter Day and As the World Turns. He also did odd jobs on the side as a director for small theatre groups...

. Widdoes is currently a recurring character

Recurring status

In the U.S. soap opera world, recurring status is a term used to describe the status of a performer who consistently performs in less than three episodes out of a five-day work week, and is therefore let out of their multi-year contract in order for the show to save money...

 on the show. She was prominently featured during the show's 50th anniversary program in April 2006 and continued to make regular appearances.

She was menaced in the Dissolve to Black episode of Roald Dahl's Way Out (1961), and in 1967, she appeared in The Invaders TV series as Ellen Woods, supposedly deranged after seeing extraterrestrials in a barn near her town. She had a featured role in the HBO series Oz

Oz (TV series)

Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes . It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons...

.

Films

Her film credits include The Group

The Group (film)

The Group is a 1966 ensemble film directed by Sidney Lumet based on the novel of the same name by Mary McCarthy about a group of female graduates from a Connecticut College-like college during the early 1930s....

(1966), Petulia (1968), Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...

's The Sea Gull

The Sea Gull

The Sea Gull is a 1968 British-American-Greek drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay by Moura Budberg is adapted from Anton Chekhov's classic 1896 play The Seagull....

(1968), The Mephisto Waltz (1971), James Ivory

James Ivory (director)

James Francis Ivory is an American film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala...

's Savages (1972), I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can is a 1982 American biographical film directed by Jack Hofsiss, starring Jill Clayburgh. The screenplay by David Rabe is based on the memoir of the same title by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Gordon, whose addiction to and difficult withdrawal from...

(1982) and Courage Under Fire (1996).

Theater

She received a 1973 Tony Award nomination (Best Actress in a Play) for her work as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....

for the New York Shakespeare Festival

New York Shakespeare Festival

New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...

 in a production which transferred to Broadway from the Delacorte

Delacorte Theater

The Delacorte Theater, established in 1962, is an open-air theater located in Manhattan's Central Park and has a seating capacity of 1,800. The Delacorte is owned by the City of New York and operated by The Public Theater. It is an open-air amphitheater, with the Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle...

 and was also preserved for television. She played other roles for the Festival, including Titania. In 2002, she received the Lucille Lortel Award for Featured Actress for her work in the play "Franny's Way" Off-Broadway.

External links