Deanna Dunagan

Although Deanna Dunagan did not begin acting professionally until about the age of 40, she spent the years to follow mounting a healthy résumé of film, television, and stage work. That Dunagan's best known work came in her later years proved all the more that a late start did not prevent the actress' due success. Deanna Dunagan was born May 25, 1940 in Monahans, Texas. She studied music at University of Texas, Austin, and acting at Trinity, University Texas.

Dunagan didn't begin acting until her late 30s, at which point she began to pursue stage performances including "Man and Superman" on Broadway in 1979 and "Children of a Lesser God" in Chicago in 1981. Dunagan also incepted her career on the screen with the TV movie "Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy" (NBC 1982) and several episodes of "American Playhouse" (PBS 1982-1993).

Over the next several years, Dunagan played supporting roles in films like "Running Scared" (1986), "Men Don't Leave" (1990), and "Losing Isaiah" (1995). After this, Dunagan estranged from the big screen to focus on theatrical work, amounting more than a dozen roles over the decade to follow.

The most noteworthy of the lot was Dunagan's portrayal of Violet Wenston in "August: Osage County" between 2007 and 2010, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play. Dunagan eventually returned to the big screen with a major role in director M. Night Shyamalan's horror comedy "The Visit" (2015).