Actor / Director Profile

Actress Margaret Whitton came from the New York stage, performing in off-Broadway gems "Baba Goya" (1973) and "Nourish the Beast" (1973). She made her Broadway debut in "Steaming" in 1982.She impressed in films as well, effectively cast as sexy and strong supporting characters in such movies as the prison drama Love Child (1982), the football dramedy The Best of Times (1986) with Robin Williams and Kurt Russell, and especially her breakout role in The Secret of My Succe$s (1987) in which she nearly stole the movie right from under Michael J. Fox as his hard-as-nails aunt by marriage. She complimented her success with a hilarious role as the widow-cum-baseball-team owner Rachel Phelps in Major League (1989) and its sequel and as the resilient mother to young Nick Stahl in Mel Gibson's directorial debut_The Man Without a Face (1993)_.Margaret's television career includes memorable roles, in "A Fine Romance" (1989) in which she starred as a bickering wife opposite Dynasty's Christopher Cazenove and the soap-opera spoof "Good & Evil" (1991), where she played against type as the "good girl" opposite the more wicked-minded Teri Garr. In made-for-television movies she is best known for her portrayal of the tough-as-nails attorney Leslie Abramson in Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills (1994) (TV).She has more recently appeared on Broadway in "And the Apple Doesn't Fall..." (1995) and the original, award-winning musical "Marlene" (1999), the story of legendary Marlene Dietrich that starred Siân Phillips. She has also made a name for herself as a theater director. Her directing credits include Marina Carr's "Portia Coughlin" (1996) and By the Bog of Cats (1998), and The Public Theater's production of "Dirty Tricks" (2004), starring Judith Ivey as Martha Mitchell.Margaret is the President of independent film producer Tashtego Films, and has directed her first feature film, A Bird of the Air (2011/I), starring Rachel Nichols and Jackson Hurst.