Two-time Oscar nominee Melinda Dillon, who may be best known for her role as the mother in “A Christmas Story” has died at the age of 83.
Her family announced her death in a public obituary. She passed away in Los Angeles on January 9.
Dillon was highly recognized for her fine acting work throughout her career. She was nominated for the Tony Award Best Performance By an Actress in a Featured Role for her work in the original 1963 Broadway production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf”.
She was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jillian Guiler in the 1977 Steven Spielberg film, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. In 1981, she was up for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the Sydney Pollack-directed film “Absence of Malice”.
Other well-known films she appeared in include, “Magnolia”, “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar”, and “How to Make an American Quilt”. But she will best be remembered as the stressed out yet doting mother and housewife in the 1983 classic, “A Christmas Story”.
Early Life
Melinda Dillon was born in Hope, Arkansas on October 13, 1939. Her military family moved around a lot when she was growing up.
With the dream of being an actress, Dillon went on to study acting at DePaul University in Chicago while working the coat room at the improv comedy club, The Second City. Her big break came when a performer fell ill, and she took her place in a skit.
After that, she went on to be featured in several movies, television shows, and Broadway plays.
“I guess I just wasn’t prepared for it all to happen so quickly in New York,” the actress describes of her time studying with famed acting coach Lee Strasburg. “I’m not sophisticated; I hadn’t had any kind of cultural education so when it came to meeting people and presenting any kind of ideas I might have to offer, I would be terrified.”
However, the actress eventually came into herself showing her depth by working in comedies, thrillers, dramas, Broadway plays and more.
“One look at her disheveled hair and shabby robe and exasperated stare and I thought: This women is a damn hero,” author and essayist Dina Gachman wrote of Dillon’s role in “A
Christmas Story”.
Dillon will surely be remembered for her fantastic acting skills. She is survived by her son.