Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell Biography

Mary Eileen McDonnell (born April 28, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in Dances With Wolves and May-Alice Culhane in Passion Fish. McDonnell is well known for her performances as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica, First Lady Marilyn Whitmore in Independence Day, and Rose in Donnie Darko.

She was featured as Captain Sharon Raydor during seasons 5–7 of the TNT series The Closer and starred as Commander Sharon Raydor in the spin-off series Major Crimes on the same network. In 2023, she played Madeleine Usher in the miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mary McDonnell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Mary McDonnell Movies

Broke

Where to Watch

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf

Battlestar Galactica: Razor

Mary McDonnell TV Shows

The Fall of the House of Usher

Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas

Where to Watch

Latest News

'Broke' Interview: Wyatt Russell and Dennis Quaid

TV Review: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’

Trailer for Netflix’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’

Mary McDonnell Quotes

Desire for Freedom in Constrained Environments

Nessa: This shrink school you went to, did you hear about it in an infomercial?

Lilly: I watched 20/20, it was shocking! Did you know the government is wasteful?

Martin Brocket: Have you come across a bigger shithead than my stepfather?

Althea Brockett: Why do I feel so elated? Am I in denial? You know what this feels like? I know my time's up, but I've got to get this out while I've got a hold of it! ... When I was in high school the thing I wanted most when I was stuck in class, the thing that I was desperately in pursuit of, was a hall pass. That's all I ever wanted. I loved moving freely around the school while everybody else was trapped in there. That's how I feel right now. Like I have some giant all day hall pass.

Skip Skipperton: [to Lilly] I may be young, but Doc can tell you — I'm very immature.

Dr. Ernest Delbanco: [[William James] No one can escape the fear of death. It is, as ] put it, "the worm at the core," and try as we may to forget or ignore our own mortality, the skull will grin in at the banquet.

Tragedy of the Number 5 Mine Fire

Elma Radnor: I was putting up blackberries when Trammel Blankenship came shoutin up the holler that the Number 5 had blown. I remember I took the pot off the stovetop and washed my hands before I went down. It took two days to dig through. And then when they brung em up, you couldn't tell which was which. They found blood on the walls from fellas trying to claw their way out. Mrs. Elkins, Mrs. Mounts, Bridey Mae, me ... we all lost our men in that fire. Danny were seven then. Now he's back in that same hole.