Eva Le Gallienne (January 11, 1899 – June 3, 1991) was a British-born American stage actress, producer, director, translator, and author.

She ran the Civic Repertory Theatre for seven years (1926–1934), producing 37 plays during that time with a company whose actors included Burgess Meredith, John Garfield, Norman Lloyd, J. Edward Bromberg, Paul Leyssac, Florida Friebus, David Manners, Josephine Hutchinson, Alla Nazimova, Joseph Schildkraut, and Leona Roberts.

Meeting "La Grande Sarah" as a young girl inspired Le Gallienne to devote herself to "the power of the Theatre to spread beauty out into life.

She left school to perform in the role of a cockney servant in a West End play called The Laughter of Fools, and "brought down the house", receiving excellent reviews.

"[8] She ran the non-profit Civic Repertory Theatre for seven years (1926–1934), backed by the financial support of Alice DeLamar, a wealthy heiress, as well as several other prominent donors who believed in her work and agreed to subsidize it.

[12] Helen Sheehy, who published an authorized biography in 1996 with the cooperation of Le Gallienne's estate, rejected Schanke's portrait of the actress as a self-hating lesbian.

Sheehy quotes Le Gallienne's words of advice to her close friend May Sarton, who was also gay: "People hate what they don't understand and try to destroy it.

Mimsey also took on the mantle of Business Manager at the Civic Rep.[7] In 1921, Eva went to Hollywood to visit the actress Alla Nazimova, whom she had met in New York several years prior.

[14] Between 1921 and 1926, Le Gallienne had relationships with writer and socialite Mercedes de Acosta and scenic designer Gladys Calthrop, as well as a brief affair with actor Basil Rathbone.

But the love of her young life was actress Josephine Hutchinson, whom Le Gallienne invited to join the Civic Rep company in 1927.

She, Webster, and producer Cheryl Crawford co-founded the American Repertory Theater – no relation to the institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later founded by Robert Brustein – which operated from 1946 to 1948.

[3] In 1964, Le Gallienne was presented with a Special Tony Award in recognition of her 50th year as an actress and in honor of her work with the National Repertory Theatre.

[19] Le Gallienne returned to the Broadway spotlight in 1976, playing the role of Fanny Cavendish in the revival of The Royal Family, directed by Ellis Rabb.

[23] Le Gallienne also wrote the children's book Flossie and Bossie, a tale of two barnyard hens, published by Harper and Row in 1949.

[24] Her other publications include two autobiographies, At 33 (1934, Longmans) and With a Quiet Heart (1953, Viking), as well as The Mystic in the Theatre, a book about Italian actress Eleonora Duse, who mentored Le Gallienne in the early 1920s.