Lenka Peterson

Lenka Peterson (born Betty Ann Isacson; October 16, 1925 – September 24, 2021) was an American theater, film, and television actress.

Peterson was born in Omaha, Nebraska, a daughter of Swedish and Hungarian immigrants. Her father was Swedish, and her mother was Hungarian. She majored in drama at the University of Iowa.

Peterson had the role of Corliss Archer in a USO-sponsored troupe that performed on military bases in Japan, the Philippines, and other places in the Pacific. In the mid-1940s, she acted with the Berkshire Playhouse stock theater in New Hampshire. She later acted on stage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; and Providence, Rhode Island.

One of the first members admitted to New York City's Actors Studio, Peterson's Broadway portrayals included Ella in Sundown Beach (1948), Maude in The Grass Harp (1952), Kitty in The Time of Your Life (1955), Sally and Mary in All the Way Home (1960), Rose in Nuts (1980), and Sarah in Quilters (1984).

Peterson was nominated for a 1985 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Quilters. She guest starred in such early television productions as Hallmark Hall of Fame (1952), The Philco Television Playhouse (1955), and Actors Studio (1949 and 1950).

On television, she portrayed Faye Banister on the NBC drama Young Dr. Malone (1958), Martha Skerba on the ABC serial A Time for Us (1964), Doris Bonino on the NBC comedy Bonino (1953) and Eve Morgan on the ABC comedy Love, Sidney (1981) and was a cast member of the series Herb Shriner Time (1951), Search for Tomorrow, playing Isabel Moore in 1962 and Evelyn Reedy in 1977, A Flame in the Wind, Another World as Marie Fenton from 1983 to 1984 and later Lorna Devon's adopted grandmother, and Code of Vengeance. She also played Grandmom in the American Playhouse production of John Updike's story, Pigeon Feathers in 1988.

On May 8, 1948, Peterson married Daniel O'Connor in Omaha, Nebraska. Peterson was the mother of actress Glynnis O'Connor and Darren O'Connor (and three more children) by O'Connor, who died in 2015.

Peterson died at her home in Roxbury, Connecticut. She was 95.