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Born in 1929 in Washington, Tresa Hughes was raised in Baltimore. She studied at the Maryland Art Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and George Washington University, ultimately graduating from Wayne State University. She joined the acting company at Pennsylvania's Hedgerow Theatre under Jasper Deeter and was part of the Playwrights Theater Company in Chicago alongside Mike Nichols and Elaine May. A passionate advocate for New York, where she lived for 55 years, Hughes was a skilled actress who appeared in over 20 Broadway productions and earned a Tony Award nomination.
On and Off Broadway, Hughes originated roles in more than 50 plays, including William Alfred’s Hogan's Goat; Saul Bellow’s The Last Analysis, featuring Sam Levene; Neil Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue, directed by Mike Nichols with Peter Falk; and The Man in the Glass Booth, written by Robert Shaw and directed by Harold Pinter, starring Donald Pleasance.
In 1961, Hughes received a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Devil's Advocate, directed by Dory Schary and co-starring Sam Levene, Leo Genn, and Edward Mulhare.
She was the standby for Anne Bancroft in William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker and Golda, both directed by Arthur Penn, and performed frequently alongside Patty Duke.
For five summers, Hughes participated in workshops of new plays at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, directed by Lloyd Richards, collaborating with playwrights such as John Guare, Wole Soyinka, and Lanford Wilson.
Early in her career, Hughes often portrayed characters much older than herself. In 1957, she played Beatrice in the touring company of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge with Luther Adler, Louis Zorich, and Kathleen Widdoes. Over 25 years later, she reprised this role in a 1983 Broadway revival alongside Tony Lo Bianco.
Throughout her career, Hughes originated roles in works by playwrights including John Arden, Saul Bellow, Eduardo Machado, Arthur Miller, John Osborne, Neil Simon, and Arnold Wesker. Her directors included Martin Charnin, James Hammerstein, Fred Rolfe, and Herman Shumlin.
She was married to Robert Hughes, a documentary filmmaker known for his work with the United Nations and public television, who won both an Oscar and an Emmy for best feature documentaries. Their marriage ended in divorce.
Their daughter, Rebecca Hughes, is a science writer at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle. Her son-in-law, Paul Rogat Loeb, is an author of books such as Soul of a Citizen and The Impossible Will Take a Little While. Her grandson, William Hughes Martin, graduated from Brown University.
