Diva/Mensch pair for June 3, 2026

Julie Harris won the 1973 Tony for Best Actress in a Play for The Last of Mrs Lincoln. Who could be less of a diva than Mary Todd Freaking Lincoln?

Are you familiar with I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers? It's a one-woman play that Bette Midler did on Broadway in 2013, playing Hollywood superagent Sue Mengers. One of Mengers's first clients was Julie Harris. Harris was up for the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in a TV movie and the producers gave her a pass, saying they were looking for someone younger and sexier. Mengers's response: "Like that famous sex kitten Mary Todd Lincoln."

Anyway, back to the 1973 Tonys. Another nominee that year was Colleen Dewhurst for Mourning Becomes Electra. I said a few weeks ago that anything by Noel Coward would be in the realm of Diva - -the same goes for O'Neill, but in a totally different way. There's nothing glamorous about O'Neill but the force of personality and the demand for recognition is there.