The Women Who Have Been Hedda

Hedda Gabler has attracted some of the greatest actresses of the last century. Below are Six portraits spanning generations. When you look at the great actors who’ve fought for this role, you can see just how extraordinary and coveted the role of Hedda has become.

ELEANOR DUSE

Considered. one of the great actresses of the modern stage, Eleanor Duse first presented her interpretation of Hedda Gabler at Lisbon’s Teatro D. Amélia in April 1898. She performed the role in Italian and carried it into her international repertoire;

To the title role in Hedda Gabler she brought a demonic quality, a touch of the fantastic—deeply troubling to Ibsen when he saw her perform it—as though she had gone beyond the frontiers of realism.

Anton Chekhov was astonished by Eleonora Duse’s acting, he remarked,

“I don’t know Italian, but she acted so well that it seemed to me I understood every word. A remarkable actress! I have never seen anything like it before.”

Ingrid Bergman

played Hedda in a celebrated Paris production in 1962, directed by Raymond Rouleau. Bergman brought considerable international attention to the role.

Diana Rigg

played Hedda in London in 1972, later taking the production to Broadway. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the Broadway production.

Cate Blanchett

played Hedda for the Sydney Theatre Company in 2004, directed by Robyn Nevin. The production subsequently traveled internationally, including a highly acclaimed New York engagement at BAM.

Glenda Jackson —

took on Hedda in a major 1975 Royal Shakespeare Company production, directed by Trevor Nunn, subsequently appearing in the production on Broadway.

Ruth Wilson

played Hedda at London’s National Theatre in 2016–17, in Ivo van Hove's radical contemporary production.

Elizabeth Marvel
Elizabeth Marvel played Hedda Gabler at New York Theatre Workshop in New York City in 2004. The production was directed by Ivo van Hove

There are several other remarkable names we could add—

Peggy Ashcroft
Fiona Shaw
Isabelle Huppert
Annette Bening
Rosamund Pike
Mary-Louise Parker

among them.