A cremation service in Long Beach, California, says that actress Melinda Dillon has died. She was nominated for an Oscar twice and is best known for her roles in “A Christmas Story” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” She turned 83.
The company that did the cremation said that Dillon died on January 9. No reason was given for the death. Friday, word spread that she had died.
In “A Christmas Story,” a movie about a boy who wants a toy rifle, she played the mother. It came out in 1983, and since then, people watch it every Christmas on TV and video.
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Before that, she had been nominated for an Oscar twice as Best Supporting Actress. In “Close Encounters,” a movie by Steven Spielberg, she looks for her little boy after aliens take him away. And in “Absence of Malice,” she plays Paul Newman’s friend who is tortured by a reporter’s coverage of her abortion.
She was also in “Slap Shot,” “Harry and the Hendersons,” and “Bound for Glory,” as well as episodes of “Judging Amy” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”
Before he became a movie star, Dillon was in the original cast of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” on Broadway in the 1960s. He was nominated for a Tony Award.
Hollywood workers and fans tweeted tributes.
Barbra Streisand wrote:
“Melinda Dillon was such a great actress, with a wonderful delicacy about her. She was a delight to direct in Prince of Tides. May she rest in peace.”
Lou Diamond Phillips wrote:
“So very, very sad to hear of the passing of Melinda Dillon. She played my adopted mother in Sioux City, my second directorial effort. What a Light and a Blessing. So effortless in her work that it was easy to overlook how brilliant she was. I feel so lucky to have known her. RIP.”
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