Lisa Eichhorn

Lisa Eichhorn

Lisa Eichhorn, 2010
Born (1952-02-04) February 4, 1952
Glens Falls, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress, writer, producer
Years active 1977present
Spouse(s) John Curless (19761979) (divorced)
Ben Nye Jr. (19811986) (divorced) 1 child
Richard Moxon (2005present)

Lisa Eichhorn (born February 4, 1952) is an American actress, writer and producer. She made her film debut in 1979 in the John Schlesinger film Yanks for which she received two Golden Globe nominations. Her international career has included film, theatre and television.

Early life

Lisa Warren Eichhorn was born in Glens Falls, New York, on February 4, 1952, to Dorothy Elizabeth Golly and Frank Warren Eichhorn, and shortly thereafter moved to Westbury, Long Island, with her older brother and two half-sisters. In 1958, the family moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, where Eichhorn later attended Mt. Penn High School.[1] At the end of her junior year, she left to study in Svolvær, Norway, as a Rotary International Exchange student, and graduated from Mt. Penn in absentia in 1970.

Eichhorn began college at the Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, taking a wide range of subjects. She quickly realized that her passion was in drama and English, and they became her concentration. She left Ontario after two years to study at St. Peter's College, Oxford, on a year-long Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship,[2] though this was not as an admitted member of the University[3] in Statu Pupillari.[4]

While at Oxford, Eichhorn met Alan Rickman at a cocktail party. Rickman encouraged her to audition for London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where she was accepted in 1975.

Career

Early career

Upon graduating from RADA in 1977, Eichhorn immediately began rehearsals for the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, playing Ophelia in Hamlet. This was followed by a wide range of regional work, including Stop the World - I Want to Get Off for the Queen’s Theatre, Rosalind in As You Like It at the Bolton Octagon, The Wings of the Dove for the BBC, and The Fatal Weakness opposite Elaine Stritch at the Theatre Royal, Windsor.

In December 1977, Eichhorn met with John Schlesinger for the role of Lancashire shop-girl Jean Moreton in his wartime romance, Yanks. She convinced him she was British and he gave her a screen test and, subsequently, the part.[5] Although Eichhorn then felt duty-bound to tell Schlesinger she was actually American, he insisted that she was his choice regardless of her nationality. Eichhorn won two Golden Globe nominations for her performance in Yanks: Best Actress and Best New Star.

The day after filming wrapped on Yanks, Eichhorn flew to Boston to play Gertrude Wentworth in Merchant-Ivory’s The Europeans, for which she won a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Eichhorn made a handful of London television appearances, then moved to Hollywood where she collaborated with actor Treat Williams on her first American film, Why Would I Lie? (originally titled The Fabricator). Around this time, Ivan Passer and Paul Gurian enlisted Eichhorn to play Maureen (Mo) Cutter in Cutter's Way (previously Cutter and Bone) with Jeff Bridges and John Heard. Eichhorn’s performance as Alex Cutter’s wistful, alcoholic wife was deemed “the most underrated performance of the decade” by the American Film Institute and earned her the Best Actress Award (American division) at the Deauville Film Festival.

In 1980, Eichhorn was cast opposite Gene Hackman in the low-budget Universal feature, All Night Long. Barbra Streisand’s then-agent, Sue Mengers, wanted a bigger outing for her husband, director Jean-Claude Tramont, and persuaded him to replace Eichhorn with Streisand on the film: three weeks into principal photography Eichhorn was fired from the project.

In the summer, Eichhorn travelled to Poland to shoot the CBS/TimeLife venture The Wall for Harry Sherman. She moved to Connecticut for the birth of her daughter in 1981, then returned to L.A. to play Margaret in The Hasty Heart opposite Kurt Russell. George Cukor came backstage after one performance and told her she was like Greta Garbo.

Eichhorn’s film work at this time included Wildrose and Opposing Force in L.A. and East Lynne, with Martin Shaw, and The Weather in the Streets, with Michael York and Joanna Lumley, for the BBC in London.

In 1984, Eichhorn starred in Golden Boy at the Royal National Theatre, London. She made her New York theatre debut opposite Nathan Lane in The Common Pursuit in 1986, while playing Elizabeth Carlyle on All My Children for a year.

Eichhorn was invited to be a Life Member of the Actors Studio in 1988. She shot the film Moon 44 for Roland Emmerich in Germany, then began a fruitful association with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England, in Alex Finlayson’s award-winning Winding the Ball, under the direction of Greg Hersov.

1990s

In 1990, Eichhorn made her Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre in The Speed of Darkness, with Len Cariou, Stephen Lang and Robert Sean Leonard. She went on to star opposite Sada Thompson and Justin Kirk in Any Given Day at the Longacre Theatre, and in the film A Modern Affair opposite Stanley Tucci.

In 1996, Eichhorn returned to Los Angeles for her daughter’s high school career. She starred in two more Hersov-Finlayson collaborations at the Royal Exchange Manchester: Tobaccoland and Misfits, in which she played Marilyn Monroe. She returned to New York in 2000 to do a variety of theatre, television and teaching.

2000s

In 2003, Eichhorn moved back to London to pursue writing and producing. She returned to the Royal Exchange Manchester in 2004 to play Ouisa in Six Degrees of Separation, and played Joy Gresham opposite Julian Glover’s C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands at Salisbury Playhouse.

Eichhorn continues to live in London where she works in theatre (Women of Lockerbie, Enduring Freedom) and television (Spooks, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, Cracker), while developing several projects for film.

In 2007, Eichhorn produced and co-wrote Defenders of Riga, which was the official Latvian film entry to the 2009 Academy Awards.

Teaching

Eichhorn began teaching Acting and Directing in 1992 at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She has taught at the University of Southern California, Disney, DreamWorks, and London’s National Film and Television School and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She has also been a guest speaker at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, and has taught in Milan, Kosovo and Latvia under the auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Visiting Artists Program.

Personal life

Eichhorn met actor John Curless in 1976 when he substituted for her stage fighting instructor at RADA. They were married for a year and a half. While filming Cutter's Way in 1979, Eichhorn met makeup artist Ben Nye, Jr. They married in 1981, and had a daughter Emily Eichhorn-Nye. They divorced in 1986. In 1990, Eichhorn met Edward M. Ferguson III, whom she lived with in New York and Los Angeles, until 2000. Eichhorn met solicitor Richard Moxon when setting up her company, GiftHorse Productions, in 2003. They married in August 2006 and live outside London.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1978 The Wings of the Dove Milly Theale  
1979 Yanks Jean Moreton Golden Globe Nomination for Best Actress
Golden Globe Nomination for Best New Star
The Europeans Gertrude Wentworth BAFTA Nomination for Best Supporting Actress
1980 Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected Sally TV – 1 episode, “My Lady, My Dove”
Why Would I Lie? Kay  
1981 Cutter's Way Maureen ‘Mo’ Cutter Best Actress Award (American Division), Deauville Film Festival
1982 The Wall Rachel Apt  
East Lynne Lady Isabel Vane  
1983 Feel the Heat Honor Campbell TV
1984 The Weather in the Streets Olivia Curtis  
Wildrose June Lorich  
1986 Miami Vice Danielle Hier TV – 1 episode, “French Twist”
Blind Justice Carolyn Shetland  
Opposing Force Lieutenant Catherine Casey  
Murder in Three Acts Cynthia Dayton  
1986 All My Children Elizabeth Carlyle TV – 1 season
1988 The Equalizer   TV – 1 episode, “Something Green”
1989 Saracen Delphine Grant TV – 1 episode, “Into Africa”
1990 Pride and Extreme Prejudice Claudia  
Moon 44 Terry Morgan  
Grim Prairie Tales Maureen  
Nocturne The Woman  
1991 A Woman Named Jackie Dr. Jordan TV miniseries
1992 Swamp Thing Victoria TV – 1 episode, ‘’Love Lost’’
Devlin Anita Brennan  
Law & Order Mary Kostrinski TV – 1 episode, ‘’Point of View’’
1993 The Vanishing Helene Cousins  
Tribeca Janie TV – 1 episode, ‘’The Rainmaker’’
King of the Hill Mrs. Kurlander  
1994 Law & Order Arnette Fenady TV – 1 episode, ‘’Nurture’’
1995 Lulu Askew Lulu  
A Modern Affair Grace Rhodes  
Murder, She Wrote Annette Rayburn TV – 1 episode, ‘’Unwilling Witness’’
1996 First Kid Linda Davenport  
Sticks and Stones Book’s Mom  
1997 C-16: FBI Catherine Hampton TV pilot – 2 episodes
The Practice Mary Jane Wiggins TV – 2 episodes, ‘’First Degree’’
’’Sex, Lies and Monkeys’’
Touched by an Angel Beth TV – 1 episode, ‘’My Dinner with Andrew’’
1998 Law & Order Arlene Galvin TV – 1 episode, ‘’Scrambled’’
Diana: The People’s Princess Rachel  
Goodbye Lover Mrs. Brodsky  
Judas Kiss Mary-Ellen Floyd  
Chicago Hope Helen Galloway TV – 1 episode, ‘’The Breast and the Brightest’’
Inspector Morse Dr. Millicent ‘Millie’ Van Buren TV – 1 episode, ‘’The Wench is Dead’’
Angel Blue Jill Cromwell  
1999 L.A. Doctors Judith Atcheson TV – 1 episode, ‘’Been There, Done That’’
Judging Amy Mrs. Snowden TV – 1 episode, ‘’The Persistence of Techtonics’’
The Talented Mr. Ripley Emily Greenleaf  
2000 Boys and Girls Shuttle Passenger  
Things Left Unsaid  
2001 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Peyton Kleberg TV – 1 episode, ‘’Tangled’’
2002 Strong Medicine   TV – 1 episode, ‘’Trauma’’
Spooks Mary Kane TV – 1 episode, ‘’Thou Shalt Not Kill’’
Law & Order: Criminal Intent Dr. Leonard TV – 1 episode, ‘’Bright Boy’’
2003 Law & Order Retired M.E. Gail Berardi TV – 1 episode, ‘’Suicide Box’’
2005 Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of Hardcore Mary McCarthy  
Jericho Mrs. Redford TV – 1 episode, ‘’The Killing of Johnny Swan’’
2006 Cracker Jean Molloy TV – 1 episode, ‘’A New Terror’’
2007 Midsomer Murders Faith Alexander TV – 1 episode, ‘’The Animal Within’’
2009 Stolen Maggie  
2013 About Time Mary's Mother, Jean  

Production credits

Film Year Role Notes
Defenders of Riga 2008 Producer and co-writer Latvia's official entry to the 2009 Academy Awards
Unsuitable Wives In development Producer  
When Sparrows Fall In development Producer  
Untitled Henry James Project In development Producer and writer  

References

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