Sandy Dennis was born Sandra Dale Dennis in Nebraska in 1937. An accomplished actress, she starred in such films as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Academy Award, Best Supporting Actress), Up the Down Staircase, and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; and on stage, including A Thousand Clowns (Tony Award, Best Supporting Actress) and Any Wednesday (Tony Award, Best Actress). She spent her last years in Westport, Connecticut, surrounded by her gardens, close friends, and her many, many cats. A quiet, gentle, kind person, she died of ovarian cancer in 1992 at the age of fifty-four.