Cara Duff-MacCormick

Cara Duff-MacCormick is a Canadian actress born on December 12, 1944, in Woodstock, Ontario. She trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and built a career centered primarily in theatre, with Broadway appearances spanning from 1972 to 1990.

Duff-MacCormick made her professional debut Off-Broadway in December 1969, playing Faith Detweiler in Harold J. Chapler's Love Your Crooked Neighbor at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Her Broadway debut came in 1972, when she originated the role of Shelly in Michael Weller's Moonchildren, a production she had first performed at the Arena Stage in 1971. The performance earned her a Theatre World Award and a Tony Award nomination. At the time the Theatre World Award was presented, Duff-MacCormick was appearing in a production at the Wayside Theatre, and her mother accepted the award on her behalf. The following year she returned to Broadway to play Clare in Tennessee Williams's Out Cry at the Lyceum Theatre.

Her regional and Off-Broadway work during the 1970s was extensive. She played Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, and in 1975 received an Obie Award for her performance in Craig's Wife. In 1976, she received a Drama Desk Award nomination for her portrayal of Julia Craven in George Bernard Shaw's The Philanderer with the Roundabout Theatre Company. That same year she played Helen in Kevin O'Morrison's Ladyhouse Blues at the Marymount Manhattan Theatre and appeared in the film All the President's Men as Tammy Ulrich. She appeared frequently at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis throughout the decade, taking on roles including Mrs. Sullen in The Beaux' Stratagem, Bananas in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, Judith Anderson in Shaw's The Devil's Disciple, and Sister Rita in The Runner Stumbles. In 1977, she starred in Albert Innaurato's Earthworms at Playwrights Horizons. The following year she appeared at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in two productions: Ibsen's The Pretenders, in which she portrayed Hakon's wife alongside Randall Duk Kim and Stephen Lang, and Nikolai Gogol's Marriage, in which she played Agafya Tikhonovna.

In 1980, Duff-MacCormick played Monique in Michel Tremblay's Bonjour, La, Bonjour at the Marymount Manhattan Theatre, appearing alongside Veronica Castang and Dianne Wiest. She returned to Broadway in 1981 to appear in Eddie Lawrence's Animals at the Princess Theatre. In 1982 she played Peggy Grant in a revival of The Front Page at the Long Wharf Theater, and the following year portrayed Carrie in Paul Kember's Not Quite Jerusalem, also at Long Wharf. In 1985, she appeared Off-Broadway at the American Theater Exchange as Claire in Heather McDonald's Faulkner's Bicycle and at the Actors Theatre of Louisville as Carolyn Rose in Lee Blessing's War of the Roses. In 1986 she played Barbara Mears in Tom Strelich's Neon Psalms at the American Place Theatre, and in 1987 appeared at the Hartford Stage as Barbara in A. R. Gurney's Children. She returned to Playwrights Horizons in 1989 to play Natalie Bauer Lechner in Innaurato's Gus and Al.

Duff-MacCormick's final Broadway credit was M. Butterfly, which she appeared in during her Broadway run extending to 1990, along with the earlier credit Louie and the Elephant. In 1992, she played Queen Isabella in Christopher Marlowe's Edward II at the Yale Repertory Theatre and made a guest appearance on the television series Law & Order in the episode "Point of View."