Constance Towers

Constance Mary Towers, born May 20, 1933, in Whitefish, Montana, is an American actress whose career has spanned film, stage, and television. The daughter of Harry J. Towers, a pharmacist and Dublin-born immigrant who later became an executive vice president at a pharmaceutical company, and Ardath L. Towers, who was of Irish descent and originally from Nebraska, Towers grew up moving through several communities in western Montana, including Missoula and Kalispell, as well as Moscow, Idaho. In 1940, talent scouts visiting Montana discovered her for child radio work, prompting her family's relocation to Seattle, where she spent three years performing on Pacific Northwest radio programs. Her parents declined a Paramount Pictures contract offered to her at age 11. After her father's career brought the family to New York City, Towers studied music at the Juilliard School and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, also studying singing under voice teacher Beverley Peck Johnson.

Her film career began when an agent discovered her while she was attending Juilliard. A chance encounter led to a singing engagement at the St. Regis Hotel, which in turn brought her to the attention of Columbia Pictures. She made her film debut in a supporting role in Bring Your Smile Along (1955), followed by Over-Exposed (1956). Standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, Towers initially found leading roles difficult to secure because of her height, but in 1958 she was cast as Hannah Hunter in John Ford's Civil War film The Horse Soldiers (1959), opposite John Wayne and William Holden. She appeared again for Ford in Sergeant Rutledge (1960), a racially themed crime Western. Director Samuel Fuller cast her in a supporting role in Shock Corridor (1963) and then in the lead of The Naked Kiss (1964), a thriller in which she plays a prostitute attempting to assimilate into suburban life. She also appeared in the 1964 thriller Fate Is the Hunter and had five guest roles on Perry Mason between 1961 and 1965.

Towers made her Broadway debut in 1965 in the title role of Anya, a short-lived musical. She next appeared as Julie in a 1966 production of Show Boat at Lincoln Center. Her Broadway career continued with Ari and The Engagement Baby before she took on the role of Anna Leonowens opposite Yul Brynner in a revival of The King and I, which ran on Broadway in 1977 and 1978. Her Broadway appearances span the years 1965 to 1979. Away from Broadway during this period, she also performed in Carousel and The Sound of Music in 1966 and 1967 respectively, reprising the latter at the Jones Beach Theater in Long Island on multiple occasions through 1980.

Outside of theater, Towers earned an Emmy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Special Program for the 1974 television film Once in Her Life. She played Marian Hiller on the daytime drama Love is a Many Splendored Thing from 1971 to 1972. From 1982 to 1987, she starred as Clarissa McCandless in Capitol, appearing throughout the show's entire run, and received a Soap Opera Digest nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the role. Beginning in late 1997, she took on the role of the villainous Helena Cassadine on General Hospital, a part she continued in various capacities through 2020. Towers has received two Emmy Award nominations over the course of her career. Her television work has also included guest appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Designing Women, Frasier, The Rockford Files, L.A. Law, and Cold Case, among others. On film, she appeared in The Next Karate Kid (1994) and A Perfect Murder (1998), in which she played the mother of Gwyneth Paltrow's character.