Three Films From Lee Grant to be Re-Released to Theatres This Summer by Hope Runs High

Three films from Academy Award winning actor/director Lee Grant have been restored by The Academy Film Archive & Film Foundation, and are being re-released to theatres this summer by Hope Runs High.

Nominated for her first Academy Award only a few months before being blacklisted by HUAC, Grant was one of the few actors able to weather the blacklist years before making a Hollywood comeback. Eventually becoming one of the luminaries of the 70's New Hollywood era, Grant gave beloved performances in Best Picture winners like "In the Heat of the Night" and cult classics like "Valley of the Dolls." Nominated for four Academy Awards, and winning for Best Supporting actress for her role in "Shampoo" alongside Warren Beatty's hairstyling lothario.

Soon after Oscar night, Grant joined the inaugural "Women's Directing Workshop" at AFI, where she made "The Stronger," an adaption of August Strindberg's one-act of the same name. This was followed by "Tell Me a Riddle" an adaptation of Tillie Olsen's acclaimed novella, and the first major American film entirely produced, written, and directed by women. Both of which have recently been restored and are currently being re-released theatrically. Grant continued to act for screen and stage, appearing on Broadway with Peter Falk in "The Prisoner of Second Avenue," and winning the Obie for Jean Genet's "The Maids."

She began a much acclaimed, and recently re-released, series of documentaries in the 1980's exploring topics as wide ranging as women in prison and the trans experience of 1980s America. This run culminated in "Down and Out in America," Grant's exploration of the recession of the Reagan era. The film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary, the first Oscar for HBO. Grant is still the only Oscar winning actor to also direct an Oscar winning "best" film. "Down and Out in America" rounds out the three film series, Lee Grant: RESTORED, currently touring cinemas through the summer. After decades of speculation about her age, obscured by the blacklist years, it now seems she may be the "oldest living director."

Featuring performances by Oscar winners Melvyn Douglas & Lila Kedrova, alongside Tony winner Dinah Manoff, Brooke Adams, Peter Coyote, Zalman King, Dolores Dorn, and Susan Strasberg. This weekend the series comes to LA's Lumiere Cinema. And you can catch a preview from The Film Stage here.

For a full list of updated and ongoing locations click here.