According to a cremation service held in Long Beach, California, actress Melinda Dillon, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for the films “A Christmas Story” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” has passed away. She was 83.
Dillon died on January 9, according to Neptune Society, the cremation provider. No cause of death was given. Her death became widely known on Friday.
According to Neptune Society, which handled the cremation, Dillon passed away on January 9. The reason for death was not disclosed. The news of her passing spread quickly on Friday.
In “A Christmas Story,” a look back at a boy yearning for a toy rifle, she portrayed the mother. After its 1983 premiere, it gained a yearly holiday following on video and television.
She received two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress before that. She looks for her young son in Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters” after aliens kidnap him. She also portrays Paul Newman‘s buddy in the film “Absence of Malice,” who is troubled by a reporter’s portrayal of her abortion.
She also appeared in “Slap Shot,” “Harry and the Hendersons,” and “Bound for Glory” and episodes of the TV series “Judging Amy” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”
“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,” Barbra Streisand wrote.
Lou Diamond Phillips wrote: “I was shocked to learn about Melinda Dillon’s demise. My second film as a director, Sioux City, featured her as my adopted mother. What a Blessing and Light. It was simple to overlook her brilliance since she made her task natural. I’m so grateful I got to know her. RIP.”
