Oscar-nominated American actress Sally Kirkland dies aged 84
Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated actress Sally Kirkland has died aged 84.
The beloved American actress’ death comes a day after it was announced that she had entered hospice care in Palm Springs, California. According to her GoFundMe page, Kirkland had suffered several major falls over the past year, all while living with dementia.
Her representative, Michael Greene, told TMZ she had died on Tuesday morning.
Best known for her eponymous performance in 1987’s Anna, for which she earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama and an Academy Award nomination, Kirkland also appeared in Cold Feet, JFK and Bruce Almighty.
Born on 31 October 1941 in New York City, Kirkland started out as a Vogue model before studying at the Actors Studio with acclaimed acting coach / actor Lee Strasberg and German-American theatre practitioner Uta Hagen.
She joined Andy Warhol’s The Factory and was involved in New York’s avant-garde movement, gaining recognition as one of Warhol’s "13 Most Beautiful Women" in 1964. She also became the first actress to ever appear completely nude on stage in an off-Broadway production titled "Sweet Eros" in 1968.
Kirkland made a name for herself on screen in the 70s and 80s, playing mostly secondary roles in films like The Way We Were, The Sting and A Star Is Born, as well as accumulating television credits on Hawaii Five-O, Three’s Company, Kojak, Starsky & Hutch and Charlie’s Angels.
It was in 1987 that she received critical acclaim for her role in Yurek Bogayevicz’s comedy drama Anna, in which she played a Czech actress who travels to New York to find an acting icon from her country.
Kirkland then starred in 90s classics like JFK, The Player and EDtv, and featured in the entire 65-episode run of the 1994 drama series Valley of the Dolls.
Her roles became less frequent during the 2000s and 2010s, and she was diagnosed with dementia last year.
RIP Sally Kirkland