Joanna Roos

Joanna Roos (January 11, 1901 – May 13, 1989) was an American Broadway, radio, and television actress and a playwright. She was born in Brooklyn in 1901 and attended Syracuse University as well as Yvette Guilbert's School in New York and Paris. In 1930 Roos performed the role of Sofya Alexandrovna in a classic performance of the Anton Chekhov play "Uncle Vanya" at the Cort Theatre in New York City, a production that one critic called "unforgettable". The show ran for seventy-one performances. She starred as Elizabeth Stallworth in "The House," written by Art Wallace, a 30-minute episode of a mystery anthology series entitled The Web, broadcast on live television airing on August 29, 1954. The same character was recreated as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (portrayed by Joan Bennett) on the ABC television series Dark Shadows, airing June 27, 1966. She retired in 1978 from her role as Sarah Dale Caldwell McCauley on the soap opera Love of Life. She had played the role from 1968–1978, which marked her second role on the series, which became her best known role. In 1955–1957, she had originally played the role of compassionate Althea Raven, the first mother in-law of heroine, Vanessa Dale. She was a founding member of the New Dramatists Committee. Several of the plays she wrote for the group won awards.