Elaine May wins first acting Tony Award

The legendary Elaine May has won her first Tony Award playing the Alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother in Kenneth Lonergan's comic drama "The Waverly Gallery."

Elaine May accepts her award on stage at the 2019 Tony Awards on Sunday (June 9) at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The legendary 87-year-old actress won her first-ever acting award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her work in The Waverly Gallery. [Photo: facebook/justjared.com]

The 87-year-old May first made audiences roar with laughter in her 1960 Broadway debut, "An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May."

As the screenwriter who adapted "Heaven Can Wait," ''The Birdcage" and "Primary Colors," and the script doctor who saved "Reds" and "Tootsie," May won a 2016 career achievement award from the Writers Guild of America.

She was also an actress in such films as "A New Leaf," ''Enter Laughing," ''California Suite" and "Small Time Crooks." In 2013, President Barack Obama presented her with a National Medal of Arts.

She beat out Annette Bening, Laura Donnelly, Janet McTeer, Laurie Metcalf and Heidi Schreck.