Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Friday, September 27, 2024
An Emmy winner, Moore from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Make plans to attend the annual Camp Courageous Waffle Breakfast and Open House Sunday, September 29th from 8am until noon at the Camp Courageous Main Lodge. Enjoy made-to-order Belgian waffles and pork sausage and tour this unique facility. Train rides, live music, zip-line rides and more. See you for the waffle breakfast and open house Sunday, September 29th at Camp Courageous near Monticello, Iowa. Camp Courageous.org. On September 27th, 1927, Hugh and Corless Thompson of Des Moines welcomed a daughter into the world. They named her "Seda Carillon." The family moved to New Jersey where Seda spent much of her years growing up. She had a flair for the stage and after graduating from high school in 1945, Seda earned a bachelor of fine arts in theater degree from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. She worked regularly in regional theater in the 1950s. By 1956, she made her television debut in a Goodyear Television Playhouse production and her Broadway debut in the 1959 musical Juno. She was a true star of the Broadway stage earning a Tony Award and being named to the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2005. But many know her from her television work. She starred as the matriarch of the Lawrence family on the ABC drama called Family from 1976 to 1980. And in 1978 won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Kate Lawrence. The program brought Meredith Baxter and Christy McNichol to prominence. What is not often known is that her career might have taken a different path. She was cast as one of Archie and Edith Bunker's neighbors in All in the Family. But she was replaced after just one episode when she and show creator Norman Lear disagreed about how the character was to be portrayed. All in All, Seda Thompson was nominated for nine Emmy Awards and enjoyed a 61-year marriage to husband Donald Stewart, which ended only with her death from lung disease in 2011. Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Seda Thompson, born in Des Moines on this date in 1927. And that's Iowa Almanac for September 27th. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until Monday, I'm Jeff Stein.