Two-time Academy Award nominee Melinda Dillon, best known for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and A Christmas Story has passed away. according to a statement from her family. They revealed she passed away on January 9 at age 83. No further details of her death have been shared at this time.
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? She'd get some brief roles on hit television series like Bonanza and The Jeffersons before breaking through on the big screen with Bound for Glory, the 1976 biopic about singer Woody Guthrie which also starred David Carradine and Ronny Cox. She'd earn a few more film roles including the Paul Newman starrer Slap Shot before catching the eye of Stephen Spielberg.
Dillon earned the first of her two Oscar nominations for her role in Close Encounters as Jillian, the mother of a son abducted by aliens who becomes obsessed and, like Richard Dreyfuss's character Roy, is inexplicably drawn to Devils Tower in search of answers. Bound for Glory director Hal Ashby gave her an in with Spielberg, recommending her for the role which she would immediately make iconic. Her second nomination would come a few years later when she re-teamed with Newman for Absence of Malice which also saw her star opposite Sally Field.
Dillon Was a Part of Many Families' Holidays with A Christmas Story
For many families, Dillon entered their homes every Christmas as part of the comedic and heartwarming holiday classic A Christmas Story. She played the loving yet stressed-out mother of young Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) who took part in a number of iconic scenes from the film from rinsing Ralphie's mouth out with soap after he says the mother of all swears to uttering the now-famous line "You'll shoot your eye out!" She's also responsible for the "accidental" destruction of Mr. Parker's (Darren McGavin) fishnet leg lamp. Although she couldn't make it back for the sequel, A Christmas Story Christmas, she was an integral part of the family as Mrs. Parker.
Her influence extended beyond those major roles, however, as she also notably appeared in Harry and the Hendersons, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, The Prince of Tides, The Twilight Zone, F.I.S.T., and Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. She enjoyed a fruitful career working with beloved filmmakers from Anderson and Spielberg to Barbra Streisand, earning plaudits for her varied performances along the way. She'd ultimately retire in 2007, closing out her career with turns in the film Reign Over Me and in three episodes of the series Heartland.
Our condolences go out to Dillon's family, friends, and loved ones.