Related to America's most socially prominent families (she was a Whitney on her mother's side), Straight made her Broadway debut in "Bitter Oleander" in 1935 and subsequently acted on stage in "The Possessed" (1939), "Twelfth Night" (1941), as Viola, "The Heiress" (1948), in the title role, and "Heartbreak House" (1952). She won a Tony as featured dramatic actress for her performance as Elizabeth Proctor, a Puritan woman accused of witchcraft, in the original production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" (1953). Straight remained active in the theater into the 70s, earning praise as Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1969-70), the mother in Miller's "All My Sons" (1974) and as Gertrude in "Hamlet" in 1979.
Despite good roles in the prestigious dramas "Patterns" (1956) and, especially, "The Nun's Story" (1959), Straight had made only a handful of features when she was chosen to play the wife of a TV executive (William Holden) who finds out he has fallen for a younger woman (Faye Dunaway) in the dark Sidney Lumet-Paddy Chayefsky satire, "Network". She had basically only one long scene with Holden as her character's world falls apart, but her intensely played few minutes were rewarded with an Academy Award. Straight has subsequently been cast as strong-willed, matriarchs or professionals, in such features as "The Promise" (1979), "Endless Love" (1981), "Poltergeist" (1982), "Power" (1986) and "Deceived" (1991).
Her small screen roles have included guest appearances on such series as "Mission: Impossible" and "Ben Casey". Straight was a butler's wife in 20s-era Boston in the low-rated "Beacon Hill" (CBS, 1975), had the recurring role of the Queen Mother in the comic book-inspired "Wonder Woman" (CBS, 1977-79) and played a socially prominent woman on the short-lived "King's Crossing" (ABC, 1982). In 1978, she earned an Emmy nomination for her turn as the woman whose family may be responsible for "The Dain Curse" (CBS, 1978). Her dignified, quietly skillful, sometimes imperious presence marked nearly all her roles and made her a good choice to play Rose Kennedy in the miniseries "Robert Kennedy and His Times" (CBS, 1985).