Tony Nominee Anne Meara to Guest on NBC’s LAW & ORDER: SVU Tonight

Tony nominee Anne Meara guest-stars on NBC's LAW & ORDER: SVU tonight, December 5. The episode, titled "Dreams Deferred," also guest-stars Patricia Arquette. 

An armed and dangerous man goes on a killing spree across New York City, and the last person he calls is Jeannie (Arquette), a prostitute with whom he has a long-standing weekly appointment. When Jeannie goes missing, the SVU has to convince their NYPD brothers that hers is a life worth saving. Meara plays Jeannie's mother Irene, who constantly worries for her daughter's health and safety.

Meara is known as half of the comedy team, "Stiller & Meara" but also boasts an impressive solo career. After studying acting with Alfred Linder and Uta Hagen, she appeared with Zero Mostel in "Ulysses In Nighttown" and in the first season of the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park for Joe Papp. Off-Broadway Meara created the role of Bunny in John Guare's "House of Blue Leaves" and starred in Harvey Fierstein's "Spookhouse".

She played the 83-year-old mother in Guare's "Bosom And Neglect" and appeared as the nurse in The Public Theatre's production of "Romeo & Juliet". On Broadway, Meara appeared in Richard Greenberg's "Eastern Standard" and in the Roundabout's production of "Anna Christie" for which she received a Tony Award nomination. In 2011 Meara completed a month-long Off-Broadway run in Nora and Delia Ephron's "Love, Loss, and What I Wore".

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski