Melinda Dillon

Melinda Dillon, Tony and Oscar-nominated actor from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and 'A Christmas Story,' died Jan. 9. She was 83.

She also acted in “Paul Sill’s Story Theater” and “You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running.” Her most recent appearances were in “Heartland” in 2007, and before that in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” (1999) as Rose Gator. Dillon is celebrated for her role as Jillian Guiler in Steven Speilberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), for which she earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actress.

Dillon died at the age of 83 on Jan. 9. According to Variety, her death was reported by the Neptune Society. Oscar and Tony-nominated actor Dillon was known for ...

[ The Hollywood Reporter. Dillon was born on Oct. Dillon’s first feature film was “The April Fools” in 1969. [Variety ](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/melinda-dillon-dead-a-christmas-story-1235512472/)reported. [Variety.](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/melinda-dillon-dead-a-christmas-story-1235512472/) [Variety](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/melinda-dillon-dead-a-christmas-story-1235512472/).

Melinda Dillon has died. An Oscar and Tony-nominated actress whose most enduring part, for many audiences, was as doting (but soap-wielding) mom Mrs. Parker ...

She slowed down in the 2000s before ultimately retiring; her final few roles include an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2005, and then a small part in 2007 Adam Sandler drama Reign Over Me. (The joy she brings to the moment when Mother Parker encourages her reluctant youngest son to eat from his plate like “a little piggy” is an especial highlight.) There are many reasons A Christmas Story has remained in near-permanent holiday rotation for the last 40 years; the authenticity and delight Dillon brought to the part is undeniably one of them. Notable collaborators from the period include Hal Ashby, who cast her in his Woodie Guthrie biopic Bound For Glory, and Sydney Pollack, who filmed her alongside Paul Newman and Sally Field in 1981's Absence Of Malice. Moving to New York, she quickly landed in the limelight when she was cast in the role of young wife Honey in the original Broadway production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf. (Other high-profile roles from the era included Steven Spielberg’s [Close Encounters Of The Third Kind](https://www.avclub.com/film/reviews/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-1977), [Absence Of Malice](https://www.avclub.com/film/reviews/absence-of-malice-1981), [Harry And The Hendersons](https://www.avclub.com/film/reviews/harry-and-the-hendersons-1987), and more.) [Per THR](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/melinda-dillon-dead-close-encounters-christmas-story-1235317335/), Dillon’s death actually happened last month, on January 9, 2023, with [web site Giant Freakin Robot confirming her death](https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/melinda-dillon.html) after contacting family members today. Dillon ultimately left the part (opposite Uta Hagen, Arthur Hill, and George Grizzard) after just nine months—citing the intensity of the material, the grueling schedule, and the sudden pressures of stardom for a subsequent stay in a psychiatric hospital—but not before picking up a Tony nomination for Best Performance By A Featured Actress.

Two-time Oscar nominee, for 'Close Encounters' and 'Absence of Malice,' got her start at Goodman School and Second City.

“It was grand,” she said in “The Second City,” a company history by Sheldon Patinkin. “Wanting to attract the attention of the beautiful Italian actor Richard Libertini, who was sitting nearby, I said, ‘Nobody loves me.’ He heard me and said, ‘Nobody loves me either.’ We smiled, and I left. In Patinkin’s book, she recalled the day she met Libertini, another Second City actor. Four years later, she was nominated for “Absence of Malice” (1981), in which her character was betrayed by an unscrupulous reporter. Dillon performed with the company in the early 1960s. Of her many film and TV roles, the best known was the long-suffering mother of Ralphie Parker, the boy yearning for an air rifle from Santa in the holiday perennial “A Christmas Story” (1983).

Melinda Dillion, the two-time-Oscar nominee, played Ralphie's mom in “A Christmas Story” and earned a Tony nomination.

In 1981 she played Teresa Perrone in the Sydney Pollack-directed thriller [“Absence of Malice” and received a nomination Academy Award nomination](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1982/A?qt-honorees=1) for Best Supporting Actress. Still, generations of viewers will remember the actor best for her role as Mrs. Julie Newmar.”

Actress Melinda Dillon, known for roles in films like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "A Christmas Story," died Jan. 9 at the age of 83, ...

The two-time Oscar-nominated actress was also known for her roles in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and 'Absence of Malice.'

Melinda Dillon, a 2-time Oscar nominee for 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and 'Absence of Malice' who played the mom in 'A Christmas Story,' is died ...

Her reaction to her husband (Darren McGavin) proudly displaying the campy “leg lamp” — complete with fishnet stocking — he won in a contest, putting it in the front window for all to behold, was priceless. Her next big-screen role was as Mother Parker, the matriarch in A Christmas Story, which has become among the most popular holiday films of the past half-century. The twisty thriller also earned a sixth career Oscar nom for Newman. She would appear in Slap Shot and Close Encounters the following year and then co-starred opposite Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger and Peter Boyle in the trucker-union drama F.I.S.T. That was her Broadway debut, and she was the last surviving principal cast member from the production. She earned a Supporting Actress Oscar nom for the role.

Actress Melinda Dillon, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for the movies "A Christmas Story" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," has died, ...

And in “Absence of Malice,” she plays Paul Newman’s friend tormented by a reporter’s coverage of her abortion. May she rest in peace,” [Lou Diamond Phillips](https://twitter.com/LouDPhillips/status/1621690524984827909) wrote: “So very, very sad to hear of the passing of Melinda Dillon. In Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters,” she searches for her little boy after aliens abduct him. It was released in 1983 and went on to find an annual holiday audience on video and TV. No cause of death was given.

Actress Melinda Dillon, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for the movies "A Christmas Story" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," has died, ...

Melinda Dillon, known for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A Christmas Story, and Absence of Malice, has passed away at the age of 83.

Although she couldn't make it back for the sequel, A Christmas Story Christmas, she was an integral part of the family as Mrs. For many families, Dillon entered their homes every Christmas as part of the comedic and heartwarming holiday classic A Christmas Story. Before gracing screens everywhere, Dillon was a talented actress on Broadway, exploding onto the scene with her Tony-nominated performance as Honey in the original 1963 production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Melinda Dillon was nominated for two Oscars, a Tony Award and a Golden Globe during her career.

Long before she played the role of Mother Parker in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story, Dillon had already been nominated for a Tony Award for the original 1962 production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She is survived by their son, Richard Libertini Jr. Julie Newmar, and Magnolia.

Dillon is celebrated for her role as Jillian Guiler in Steven Spielberg's “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), for which she earned an Oscar ...

She also acted in “Paul Sill’s Story Theater” and “You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running.” Her most recent appearances were in “Heartland” in 2007, and before that in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” (1999) as Rose Gator. Dillon is celebrated for her role as Jillian Guiler in Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), for which she earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actress.

Actress Melinda Dillon, famously known for her role in 'A Christmas Story', died on Jan. 9, People Magazine reported Friday night.

While a lot of the scenes from the film were shot in the area, [obituary](https://obituaries.neptunesociety.com/obituaries/san-pedro-ca/melinda-dillon-11110599) put together by her family which states that Dillon, of Los Angeles, died on Jan. [Are you ‘A Christmas Story’ expert? Test your knowledge of the classic movie](https://www.cleveland.com/movies/2022/12/are-you-a-christmas-story-expert-test-your-knowledge-of-the-classic-movie.html) [‘A Christmas Story Christmas’ review: Sequel nearly 40 years in the making tests the limits of nostalgia](https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2022/11/a-christmas-story-christmas-review-sequel-nearly-40-years-in-the-making-tests-the-limits-of-nostalgia.html) [‘A Christmas Story’ fun facts: 20 things you might not know about the film and its Cleveland connections](https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2022/11/a-christmas-story-fun-facts-20-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-film-and-its-cleveland-connections.html) [Peter Billingsley is back as Ralphie, talking ‘A Christmas Story,’ cold nights in Cleveland, and that new HBO Max sequel](https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2022/11/peter-billingsley-is-back-as-ralphie-talking-a-christmas-story-cold-nights-in-cleveland-and-that-new-hbo-max-sequel.html) No details have been released on the cause of death. Melinda Dillon, who was best known for her role as Mother Parker in the 1983 film “A Christmas Story,” has died at the age of 83,

Ms. Dillon appeared on Broadway in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and in films including "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

The whole kitchen blew up.” “And the kitchen flew apart. A break came when a performer fell ill and Ms. Dillon said the kitchen bedlam scene in “Close Encounters” was a one-take wonder. [ “Slap Shot,” ](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076723/)a 1977 hockey comedy starring Paul Newman, and alongside John Lithgow in [“Harry and the Hendersons” ](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093148/)(1987) as a family with a Sasquatch in tow. [Chinese restaurant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTq20prt0K8), she was not told the Peking duck would come with its head. Gachman urged viewers of the Christmas watch-list staple to give more due to Ms. “I’ll be rooting for the mom, and imagining a deleted scene where she kicks up her feet, has that Tom Collins and gets a quiet moment all to herself,” she wrote. “They got him,” Ms. “One look at her disheveled hair and shabby robe and exasperated stare and I thought: This woman is a damn hero,” she wrote in the New York Times in 2020. (Another famous scene is Dreyfuss’s character piling [mashed potatoes ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdkS0TgEG30)into a glob resembling Devil’s Tower.) “I guess I just wasn’t prepared for it all to happen so quickly in New York,” she said.

Dillon was best-known for playing the mother whose young son is abducted by the aliens in Spielberg's 1977 epic Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She and Roy ...

“She was a wonderful actor, and as gifted in dramas – including her unforgettable turn in Absence of Malice – as she was in beloved comedies like A Christmas Story, Harry and the Hendersons, and Slapshot. She earned a Supporting Actress Oscar nom for the role. “Melinda was generous of spirit and lent such kindness to the character she played in Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” said Spielberg.

Actor Melinda Dillon has passed away at the age of 83. Raised in both Arkansas and Alabama, Dillon made the move to Hollywood in the 1960s, launching her ...

Deadline has reported that Dillon passed away on January 9 at the age of 83 in Los Angeles. Dillon has been nominated for numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe for her depiction of Memphis Sue in 1976’s Bound for Glory, while her portrayals of Jillian Guiler in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Teresa in 1981’s Absence of Malice garnered her two Academy Award nominations. Dillon is best known for her roles in the Steven Spielberg sci-fi staple Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the holiday classic A Christmas Story.

"A Christmas Story" star Melinda Dillon died at the age of 83 on Jan. 9. She was a two-time Academy Award nominee for her roles in "Close Encounters of the ...

I’m so grateful she decided to give her artistry to the world." "Every moment of her performance in Close Encounters was perfection. So effortless in her work that it was easy to overlook how brilliant she was. May she rest in peace," The Arkansas native also received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for playing Teresa Perrone in Sydney Pollack's 1981 neo-noir thriller "Absence of Malice." He continued, "She played my adopted mother in Sioux City, my second directorial effort. When it debuted in 1983, the film only earned $20 million at the box office, and was neither a runaway hit or total flop. [Steve Doocy on "Fox & Friends"](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/peter-billingsley-returns-ralphie-a-christmas-story-christmas-we-had-get-right) about the original’s longevity, saying it’s "like comfort food for us. [Oscar nomination](https://www.foxnews.com/category/entertainment/events/oscars) for her role in Steven Spielberg's classic 1977 science fiction film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." ['A CHRISTMAS STORY' SEQUEL IS ON THE HORIZON WITH PETER BILLINGSLEY RETURNING AS RALPHIE](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/christmas-story-sequel-horizon-peter-billingsley-returning-ralphie) In one of her most well-known roles, Dillon played Ralphie's mother Mrs. We will all miss her," Spielberg said in a statement to Variety.