Versatile 'Oldest Working Actress' St. Paule Passes Away

Irma St. Paule - whom some believe was the oldest working actress on the Broadway stage - died on Tuesday, January 9th.

According to a program bio, St. Paule, who was born in Odessa, Ukraine, "trod the boards through theatre history, form ancient Greek classics through Shakespeare and Restoration comedies to modern classics and newly hatched avant-garde."

On Broadway, she appeared in The Rose Tattoo, with Mercedes Ruehl and Anthony LaPaglia, as the Strega.  Off-Broadway, she was seen in Endgame, starring Kathleen Chalfant; Another Part of the Forest, as Maria Josefa; Owners; and Deborah Warners's Angle Project.  Her regional credits include Vigil at The Geva Theatre, 1933 at The Denver Center, Enchanted April at Harford Stage, Griller at The Goodman Theatre, and The Dybbuk at The Pittsburgh Public Theatre.

Most recently, she appeared in the Transport Group's revival of Tad Mosel's All the Way Home.  A New York Times review of the play stated: "Also noteworthy among the large cast is Irma St. Paule as a great-great-grandmother who never says an intelligible word but is half of a particularly memorable stage picture."  Time Out New York wrote: "Among the genuinely affecting passages is an almost primordial encounter with an ancient relative (Irma St. Paule) living on a mountaintop."

St. Paule also appeared in dozens of films and TV shows.  Film credits included In the Blood, Found Money, Fever, Thinner, Twelve Monkeys, Jeffrey and Party Girl, while TV work included "Law & Order" and "Oz."

Photo - Irma St. Paule in Vigil; by Ken A. Huth, courtesy of www.gevatheatre.org