Background
Stickney was born in Dickinson, North Dakota, but because of a medical condition, she was unable to go into bright places and spent most of her childhood indoors to protect her sensitive eyes.
Stickney was born in Dickinson, North Dakota, but because of a medical condition, she was unable to go into bright places and spent most of her childhood indoors to protect her sensitive eyes.
Stickney attended the North Western Dramatic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Her introduction to reading came from family members who read the classics to her. Because she had difficulty reading, she focused on skills like dancing and elocution. She was also fond of going to the theater with her family, and this sparked her interest in being an actress.
Thanks to several eye surgeries, by her teens, Stickney was able to continue her education and pursue a career in the theater.
In 1927, Stickney and Lindsay were married, and the two stayed married until Lindsay"s death in 1968. Stickney made her Broadway debut in 1926 in The Squall and had a string of hits, frequently playing eccentric characters.
She was Liz, the mad scrubwoman, in the original nonmusical version of Chicago, and Mollie Molloy, who dives out of the pressroom window, in The Front Page. With increasingly important roles, she moved on to Philip Goes Forth, Another Language, On Borrowed Time, The Small Hours, To Be Continued and The Honeys.
The award was presented to her by Eleanor Roosevelt.
She also appeared in some films and television programs, and wrote several poems including "You"re Not the Type" and "My Dressing Room". In 1961 she was the second inductee of the North Dakota Roughrider Award. On November 16, 1966, Stickney appeared on American Broadcasting Company"s Stage 67 anthology program in Stephen Sondheim"s macabre television musical, "Evening Primrose", as Mistress
Monday, the leader of the mannequins who come to life every evening in a department store.
One of her last stage roles was as Berthe in the original Broadway run of Pippin in 1976-1977. She took over the role from Irene Ryan who died during the run.
She created the role of Emily Baldwin, one of the Baldwin sisters, in the television film The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, which was the pilot for The Waltons television series. In 1979, Stickney published her memoir, Openings and Closings, which chronicled her long career as well as her secret battle with stage fright.
She died a few weeks before her 102nd birthday in New York City.
She had no children and was survived by no immediate family members.
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