Career
During the 1970s, she performed regularly with regional and touring theatrical companies (most notably The Acting Company), and appeared as Desdemona at the Delacorte Theatre in a production of Othello with Richard Dreyfuss and Raul Julia. One of her first film appearances was as a Shakespearean actress in Woody Allen's 1979 classic, Manhattan. In 1980, she made a very well received Broadway debut in Edward Albee's The Lady From Dubuque. She focused primarily on her stage career for the next two decades, appearing in such productions as Our Town, The Little Foxes, and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, receiving one Tony and four Drama Desk Award nominations (including a Drama Desk win for The Secret Rapture). Conroy had a small role in the 1984 movie Falling in Love, as a waitress in a swanky restaurant.
In 1992, Conroy became friends with playwright Arthur Miller, which led to her involvement in many of his productions on both stage and screen. During this period, she also appeared on television shows, miniseries, and made-for-TV movies, and met and married fellow actor Jan Munroe.
She is best known for her critically acclaimed work on HBO's original drama series Six Feet Under, which started in 2001 and ended in 2005, playing the emotional family matriarch Ruth Fisher. For her work on the series, Conroy was nominated for four Emmy Awards (one for every year she was eligible) and won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
In 2008, she landed a guest role in ABC's Desperate Housewives as Virginia Hildebrand, a rich woman who tries to buy the Solis family's love. But Eva Longoria's character, Gabrielle Solis, declines Virginia's motives, despite being open to receiving her entire fortune.
In 2010, Conroy played Madylyn, the wife of Robert De Niro's character Jack Mabrey, in the John Curran thriller Stone. In the same year, Conroy played the recurring role of Peggy Haplin in the short-lived ABC drama series Happy Town created by Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, and Scott Rosenberg.
Conroy appeared in the first season of American Horror Story as one of two actresses (Alexandra Breckenridge played the younger version of Moira) playing the housekeeper Moira O'Hara. For Conroy's performance, she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. In September 2012, series co-creator Ryan Murphy announced via Twitter that Conroy would return for the second season, playing a completely new character.
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