Beatrice Straight was born on August 2, 1914, in Old Westbury, New York, into the prominent Whitney family. Her father, Willard Dickerman Straight, was an investment banker and diplomat, and her mother, Dorothy Payne Whitney, was an heiress.

When Beatrice was just four years old, her father passed away from influenza during World War I. Following her mother's remarriage to British agronomist Leonard K. Elmhirst in 1925, the family moved to Devon, England, where Beatrice was educated at Dartington Hall and began acting in amateur theater productions.

Beatrice Straight made her Broadway debut in 1939 with the play "The Possessed" and went on to perform in several classic productions, including "Twelfth Night" (1941), "The Heiress" (1947), and "Macbeth" (1948). She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Elizabeth Proctor in "The Crucible" (1953).

She was also a member of the Actors Studio, where she studied alongside future stars like Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift.

In addition to her theater work, she appeared in several films, including "The Nun's Story" (1959) and "Poltergeist" (1982). However, she is perhaps best known for her role as Louise Schumacher in the 1976 film "Network," for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her performance in "Network" is the shortest ever to win an Academy Award, with just five minutes and two seconds of screen time.

Beatrice Straight was also active in television, earning an Emmy Award nomination for her role in the miniseries "The Dain Curse" (1978). She married twice, first to Louis Dolivet in 1942, with whom she had three children, and later to actor Peter Cookson in 1949, who passed away in 1990.

She spent her final years in Beverly Hills, California, and passed away on April 7, 2001, at the age of 86.