The stage and screen actress Syvia Sidney, who turns 88 later this year (and by all reports is still as feisty as ever), is to be saluted Mar. 8 at the renowned Players Club on Gramercy Park in NY.

Sidney, who was born in NY and studied at the Theatre Guild School, made her NY stage debut in 1926 in the title role of the Guild School production of the poetic fantasy Prunella or Love in a Garden, with Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times raving about her performance: "Sylvia Sidney in the title role had very definitely the qualities of charm and wistfulness, and endowed her Prunella with them in the proper proportions."

Sidney went on to star in plays ranging from Crossroads to a revival of Auntie Mame to Enter Laughing (as wannabe actor Alan Arkin's conventional Jewish mother) and She Stoops to Conquer.

Her films include An American Tragedy, Dead End, and Les Miserables. She also received much praise for playing Joanne Woodward's mother in the film Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, took on a small role in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice and appeared in the TV film of The Shadow Box.

-- By Rebecca Paller