Ruth Maleczech

2025-04-01T01:33:48Z

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{{Short description|American actress (1939–2013)}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox person
|image = Ruth Maleczech resize.jpg
| imagesize =
| name = Ruth Maleczech
| birth_name = Ruth Sophia Reinprecht
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|01|08|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Cleveland, Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|09|30|1939|01|30|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Brooklyn, New York]], U.S
| occupation = Actress
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Lee Breuer]]|1978}}
| children = 2}}

'''Ruth Sophia Reinprecht''' (January 8, 1939 – September 30, 2013), professionally known as '''Ruth Maleczech''', was an American avant-garde stage actress.<ref name="nd">[http://www.nd.edu/~jgodmilo/westszeon.html Review of Ruth Maleczech as Lear], University of Notre Dame; accessed October 6, 2013.</ref> She won three [[Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress|Obie Awards for Best Actress]] in her career, for ''Hajj'' (1983), ''Through the Leaves'', (1984) and ''Lear'' (1990) and an Obie Award for Design, shared with Julie Archer, for ''Vanishing Pictures'' (1980), which she also directed. Her portrayal of [[King Lear]] as an imperious Southern matriarch in ''Lear'' was widely acclaimed.<ref name="nd"/>

==Life and career==
{{more citations needed|section|date=May 2017}}
Ruth Sophia Reinprecht was born in [[Cleveland, Ohio]] to Elizabeth ({{née|Maletić}}, later Maletich; 1914–1996) and Frank Reinprecht (1912–1982), who had emigrated from [[Yugoslavia]]. Her parents were a steel worker and seamstress, respectively. She had two siblings, Frank and Patricia, with whom she was raised in [[Phoenix, Arizona]].<ref name="obituary">{{cite news|url=http://thevillager.com/2013/10/17/ruth-maleczech-74-a-founder-of-avant-garde-troupe|newspaper=The Villager|title=Ruth Maleczech, 74, a founder of avant-garde troupe|date=October 17, 2013|last=Amateau|first=Albert|accessdate=September 26, 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140926143016/http://thevillager.com/2013/10/17/ruth-maleczech-74-a-founder-of-avant-garde-troupe|archivedate=September 26, 2014}}</ref>

Maleczech was the first in her family to attend college, beginning theater studies at UCLA at 16 where she met [[Mabou Mines]] co-founder [[Lee Breuer]]. From there they went to San Francisco and worked with Jules Irving and Herb Blau at the Actor's Workshop. In San Francisco, they also met Ronnie Davis and formed the R.G. Davis Mime Troupe which evolved into the San Francisco Mime Troupe. In 1964, Maleczech and Breuer traveled to Europe, spending time in Greece and Turkey and settling in Paris where they remained for six years earning money dubbing films, sufficient to fund their burgeoning theatrical experiments.

In France, Maleczech and [[JoAnne Akalaitis]] studied with the Polish director and drama theorist [[Jerzy Grotowski]]; Maleczech also spent a month in East Berlin studying, observing rehearsals and attending performances by [[Bertolt Brecht]]'s storied [[Berliner Ensemble]]. Returning to the United States, Maleczech co-founded the experimental New York City theater company Mabou Mines, in 1970, along with Akalaitis, Breuer, [[Philip Glass]] and [[David Warrilow]]. Maleczech collaborated on nearly every piece Mabou Mines produced. She adopted a phonetic spelling of her mother's maiden name as her professional name (Maletich → Maleczech).

She directed/adapted several works: ''Wrong Guys'', from the hard-boiled novel by Jim Strahs; ''Vanishing Pictures'', based on Poe's ''Mystery of Marie Roget''; [[Samuel Beckett]]'s ''[[Imagination Dead Imagine]]'' (as a hologram); ''The Bribe'' by Terry O'Reilly; her own ''Sueños'', inspired by the life of [[Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz]]; ''Belén: A Book of Hours'', written by Catherine Sasanov; and ''Song For New York''.

In addition to working together for a half century, she and Breuer had two children. They legally married in New York in 1978.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=UWK1&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=Lee+&gsfn_x=0&gsln=Breuer&gsln_x=0&mssng=Ruth&MSAV=1&MSV=0&uidh=57k&pcat=34&h=4185730&dbid=61406&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1|title=Ancestry Library Edition|website=search.ancestrylibrary.com|accessdate=January 19, 2018}}</ref>

Outside of Mabou Mines, Maleczech created Fire Works with Valeria Vasilevski and collaborated and worked with, among others, [[Peter Sellars]], [[Frederick Wiseman]] and [[Martha Clarke]]. She appeared in numerous feature films, commercial and independent, and on television in ''[[Law & Order]]'' and ''[[ER (TV series)|ER]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thevillager.com/2013/10/17/ruth-maleczech-74-a-founder-of-avant-garde-troupe|title=Ruth Maleczech, 74, a founder of avant-garde troupe - The Villager Newspaper|website=thevillager.com|date=17 October 2013 }}</ref>

==Death==
Ruth Maleczech died at age 74 from breast cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at her son's home in [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/theater/ruth-maleczech-beacon-of-stage-avant-garde-dies-at-74.html|title=Ruth Maleczech, Beacon of Stage Avant-Garde, Dies at 74|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 2, 2013|accessdate=October 6, 2013}}</ref> She is survived by her husband, son (Lute Breuer), daughter (Clove Galilee) and a granddaughter (Bella Breuer). She was also survived by two siblings, Frank A. Reinprecht and Mrs. Patricia Adams, and various nieces and nephews.<ref name="obituary"/>

==Selected awards==
===Obie Awards===
* Best Performance, ''Mabou Mines Lear'' - 1990
* Best Performance, ''Hajj'' - 1983
* Best Performance, ''Through the Leaves'' - 1984
* Best Design (shared with Julie Archer), ''Vanishing Pictures'' - 1980
* Sustained Achievement, Mabou Mines - 1986

===Villager Downtown Theater Awards===
*Best Solo Performance, ''Hajj'' - 1990
*Best Director, ''Wrong Guys'' - 1981
*Best Director, ''Vanishing Pictures'' - 1980
*Best Ensemble, Shaggy Dog Animation - 1978

===Other Awards===
* For Lifetime Dedication to Not-For-Profit Theatre (2001)
* Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre: Certificate of Outstanding Merit for her "influential, pioneering role in experimental theatre" (2006)
* Edwin Booth Award: To the Artistic Directors of Mabou Mines for Contributions to Theatre (2007)
* Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2009)
* Otto René Castillo Award for Political Theatre (2010)
* USA Gracie Fellow in Theater Arts by United States Artists (2010)
* Inductee (posthumously) into the Off Broadway Hall of Fame by The Off Broadway Alliance (2014)

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1981|| ''[[Strong Medicine (film)|Strong Medicine]]'' || Eleanor ||
|-
|1984|| ''[[C.H.U.D.]]'' || Mrs. Monroe ||
|-
|1986|| ''Dead End Kids'' || ||
|-
|1987|| ''[[Anna (1987 film)|Anna]]'' || Woman #1 / Woman Named Gloria ||
|-
|1991|| ''The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez'' || Cathy's Mother ||
|-
|1992|| ''[[In the Soup]]'' || Mrs. Rollo ||
|-
|1992|| ''[[Mac (film)|Mac]]'' || Burgess ||
|-
|1993|| ''[[The Ballad of Little Jo]]'' || Shopkeeper ||
|-
|1993|| ''[[Me and Veronica]]'' || Person on Ferry ||
|-
|1995|| ''[[Angela (1995 film)|Angela]]'' || Sleepwalker ||
|-
|1996|| ''[[Sleepers (film)|Sleepers]]'' || Woman at Subway Station ||
|-
|1996|| ''[[The Crucible (1996 film)|The Crucible]]'' || Goody Osborne ||
|-
|1996|| ''[[Tales of Erotica]]'' || || (segment "The Dutch Master")
|-
|1997|| ''Mondo Plympton'' || || Voice
|-
|2008|| ''[[Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist]]'' || Homeless Caroline ||
|-
|2011|| ''Portraits in Dramatic Time'' || Herself || (final film role)
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0539300}}
* {{iobdb name|506}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maleczech, Ruth}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[Category:American television actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from Phoenix, Arizona]]
[[Category:Deaths from breast cancer in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Deaths from emphysema]]
[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:American people of Yugoslav descent]]
[[Category:Obie Award recipients]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]

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Ruth Maleczech