Margo Martindale
Margo Martindale is a renowned American actress, celebrated for her versatility and impactful performances in film and television. Born on July 18, 1951, in Jacksonville, Texas, she grew up in a family with a rich background in various professions, including her father's work as a lumber company manager and dog trainer. Martindale's passion for acting emerged in her youth, leading her to pursue a theater degree at the University of Michigan after attending Lon Morris College.
Her career began to take shape in the 1970s with stage performances, and she gained notable recognition for her role as Truvy in the off-Broadway play "Steel Magnolias," which later transitioned to a successful film. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Martindale became a familiar face in numerous films and television series, often portraying memorable supporting characters. Her portrayal of Mags Bennett in the series "Justified" earned her an Emmy Award, highlighting her talent.
Martindale has continued to succeed on screen, with significant roles in acclaimed shows like "The Americans" and "The Millers," as well as contributions to animated series like "BoJack Horseman." With a career spanning over four decades, Margo Martindale remains a respected figure in the entertainment industry, known for her ability to embody a wide range of characters.
Subject Terms
Margo Martindale
Actor
- Born: July 18, 1951
- Birthplace: Jacksonville, Texas
Contribution: Margo Martindale is known for her many supporting roles in films and television series. The most notable were her portrayals of Mags Bennett in season 2 of the FX drama series Justified (2010–15) and of Russian intelligence agent Claudia in The Americans(2013–18), for which she won Emmy Awards.
Background
The youngest of three children, Margo Martindale was born on July 18, 1951, to Margaret Pruitt and William Everett Martindale in Jacksonville, Texas. Her father ran and managed a lumber company in Jacksonville and was also a champion dog trainer. Her oldest brother, Billy, is a golf-course designer who used to play on the PGA Tour. Her other brother, Bobby Tim, died in 2004.
Martindale first showed an interest in acting in elementary school, when she put on back-alley plays with her friends. She attended Jacksonville High School, where she acted in plays and musicals, sang in the school choir, and participated in cheerleading and the National Honor Society. During her senior year she was crowned Football Sweetheart and Miss Jacksonville High School.
After graduating from high school in 1969, Martindale attended Lon Morris College, a Methodist junior college in Jacksonville, before receiving a scholarship to study at the University of Michigan. She received her bachelor’s degree in theater and drama from Michigan in 1973.
Career
One of Martindale’s first acting jobs after college came in the summer of 1974, when she performed in a Harvard Summer School Repertory Theatre production of the Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera, alongside future stars Jonathan Frakes and Christopher Reeve. Afterward, she moved to New York City, where she worked a series of odd jobs while struggling to find acting work.
In the late 1970s, Martindale began appearing as the “foot tickler” in a series of popular commercials for Downy fabric softener. She also landed roles in theater productions, among them James McLure’s one-act play Laundry and Bourbon, before being invited to join the Actors Theatre of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1982. She spent four years with the company, during which time she acted in dozens of regional productions and toured abroad in Yugoslavia, Japan, and Ireland.
Martindale’s big break came in 1987, when she originated the role of sassy beauty-salon owner Truvy in Robert Harling’s off-Broadway play Steel Magnolias. The play became a runaway hit, spawning a 1989 film adaptation of the same name— with country singer Dolly Parton in the role of Truvy—and brought Martindale to the attention of Hollywood. Martindale made her small-screen debut in the made-for-television drama The Child Saver in 1988, followed by her big-screen debut in Tony Scott’s NASCAR epic Days of Thunder (1990), starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Martindale enjoyed a steady stream of film and television work, appearing mostly in small but memorable supporting-character roles opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest actors. In 1992, she played the mother of a dying child in the highly acclaimed drama Lorenzo’s Oil, which marked her first of four appearances alongside Susan Sarandon. The two would also work together on the feature films Dead Man Walking (1995) and Twilight (1998) and the HBO movie Earthly Possessions (1999).
Meanwhile, Martindale appeared alongside Cruise again in the legal thriller The Firm (1993), in which she played his secretary. She was also in three more films with Kidman: Practical Magic (1998), The Hours (2002), and The Human Stain (2003). Other film appearances include Nobody’s Fool (1994), starring Paul Newman; Sabrina (1995), starring Harrison Ford; Marvin’s Room (1996), starring Meryl Streep; Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), starring Alec Baldwin; In Dreams (1999), starring Annette Bening; and 28 Days (2000), starring Sandra Bullock.
In 2001, after having made a handful of small guest appearances on various television shows, Martindale debuted in her first recurring role: a legal-aid supervisor on the A&E courtroom series 100 Centre Street (2001–2), created by five-time Oscar-nominated writer and director Sidney Lumet. Then, in 2003, Martindale made her Broadway debut alongside Ned Beatty and Ashley Judd in a revival of Tennessee Williams’s classic play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Her portrayal of Big Mama earned her a 2004 Tony Award nomination for best featured actress in a play.
Martindale next gave a supporting turn as Hilary Swank’s avaricious mother in Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning boxing drama Million Dollar Baby (2004). She then won her first lead role, as a wandering, middle-aged tourist in Alexander Payne’s short film 14e arrondissement, part of the anthology feature Paris, je t’aime (2006). Her other film roles span a wide range of genres, from comedy (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, 2007) to horror (Orphan, 2009) to family films (Secretariat, 2010).
During this time, Martindale remained a constant presence on television. She had a memorable recurring role on the first three seasons of the Showtime series Dexter (2006–8), as an old family friend of the main character, and also landed regular roles on The Riches (2007–8), Mercy (2009–10), Justified (2011), and A Gifted Man (2011–12). In particular, her portrayal of the villainous backwoods crime matriarch Mags Bennett in the second season of Justified attracted considerable acclaim and earned her an Emmy Award in 2011 for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series.
Following the cancellation of A Gifted Man, Martindale joined the cast of the FX spy series The Americans, which debuted in 2013. On the show, which is set in the early 1980s during the Cold War, she plays the KGB handler of the main characters, a pair of Soviet spies. Martindale was nominated for an outstanding guest actress in a drama series award at the 2013 Emmys and went on to win twice in that category, in 2015 and 2016, for that role. She and the cast of The Americans were also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for best drama ensemble.
Martindale continued to find success mainly on television, joining the main casts of the CBS sitcom The Millers (2013–15) and the Amazon crime drama Sneaky Pete (2015–19). She then landed the recurring role of Ruth Eastman on CBS's The Good Wife from 2014 to 16 and its spin-off, The Good Fight, in 2018. During this period Martindale also provided voice-overs for the Netflix animated drama BoJack Horseman (2014–) and Disney XD's reboot of DuckTales (2017–), and guest-starred on The Act in 2019.
During the mid-to-late 2010s, Martindale performed in a number of films; however, many fared poorly with critics and audiences alike. The most notable and well-received of those movies were the family film August: Osage County (2013), the drama Bluebird (2014), the historical romance Sophie and the Rising Sun (2017), and the adoption comedy Instant Family (2018).
Impact
Equally adept at playing characters both matronly and menacing, Martindale emerged as one of the most recognized and versatile character actors of the early twenty-first century. Her lengthy and prolific career reached a high point in 2011 with her first Emmy Award, for which she was named one of eight actors who turn television into art by New York Times Magazine.
Personal Life
Martindale married musician Bill Boals in 1986. Their daughter, Margaret, was born in 1988.
Principal Works
Film
Lorenzo’s Oil, 1992
The Firm, 1993
Dead Man Walking, 1995
Marvin’s Room, 1996
28 Days, 2000
The Hours, 2002
Million Dollar Baby, 2004
Paris, je t’aime, 2006
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, 2007
Orphan, 2009
Secretariat, 2010
August: Osage County, 2013
Television
100 Centre Street, 2001–2
Dexter, 2006–8
The Riches, 2007–8
Mercy, 2009–10
Justified, 2011
A Gifted Man, 2011–12
The Americans, 2013–18
The Millers, 2013–15
BoJack Horseman, 2014–
Sneaky Pete, 2015–19
Theater
Steel Magnolias, 1987
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 2003
Bibliography
Lacob, Jace. “Emmy’s Stealth Frontrunner.” Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 24 Aug. 2011. Web. 26 July 2013.
“Margo Martindale’s Well-Earned Reward.” Michigan Muse. Regents of the U of Michigan, Spring 2013. Web. 26 July 2013.
Martindale, Margo. Interview by Scott Tobias. AV Club. Onion, 9 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 July 2013.
Martindale, Margo. “Margo Martindale on The Americans and the Spy Life.” Interview by Maureen Ryan. Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 1 May 2013. Web. 26 July 2013.
Oswalt, Patton. “A Gallery of Masters.” New York Times Magazine 11 Sept. 2011: 27. Print.
Resendiz, Marivel. “Hometown Girl at Heart.” Daily Progress. Community Newspaper Holdings, 27 Sept. 2011. Web. 26 July 2013.