Claudette Nevins

Claudette Nevins, born Claudette Weintraub on April 10, 1937, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was an American actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television across six decades. She died on February 20, 2020, in hospice care at her Los Angeles home. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, she was the daughter of Joseph Weintraub, a merchant, and Anna Lander, a garment worker, both of whom had emigrated from small towns in Austria. Nevins graduated from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia School of Performing Arts and earned a degree in English from New York University in 1957, completing her studies as a Phi Beta Kappa honoree.

Her Broadway career ran from 1960 to 1968, beginning with The Wall in 1960. She subsequently appeared in Danton's Death in 1965 and Plaza Suite in 1968. She also performed off-Broadway in In White America alongside Gloria Foster and Moses Gunn. Her involvement with The Great White Hope came through the National Company production, in which she starred opposite Brock Peters, a run that brought her to Los Angeles and marked a turning point toward television work.

On television, Nevins spent two and a half years as Laurie Krakauer on the daytime soap opera Love of Life. She held series regular roles on Headmaster, opposite Andy Griffith, as well as on Husbands, Wives, and Lovers and Married: the First Year, a project developed by David Jacobs. Her guest appearances included M*A*S*H, Beverly Hills 90210, Barnaby Jones, Melrose Place, JAG, Three's Company, Lou Grant, Without a Trace, Hart to Hart, and Trial and Error, among others.

Nevins made her film debut in the 1961 3D feature The Mask, which later acquired cult classic status. Subsequent film credits included All the Marbles with Peter Falk, Tuff Turf with James Spader, and Sleeping with the Enemy with Julia Roberts. She also appeared in Star Trek: Insurrection in 1998.

Her stage work extended well beyond Broadway. Regional theater credits included productions at Arena Stage and the Atlanta Repertory, where she appeared in The Cherry Orchard, The Iceman Cometh, Major Barbara, and Ring Round the Moon, among others. In Los Angeles, she was a member of the Matrix Theatre Company, performing in works by Alan Bennett, J. B. Priestley, and Caryl Churchill. She also appeared in productions at the Taper, the Pasadena Playhouse, and the Court Theatre, and was a member of the Antaeus Company, with whom she participated in staged readings of works by Noël Coward, Eugene O'Neill, and Shakespeare.

Nevins married Benjamin L. Pick and had two daughters, Jessica and Sabrina.