Voice of America
02 May 2021, 05:35 GMT+10
MAPLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY - Olympia Dukakis, the veteran stage and screen actress whose flair for maternal roles helped her win an Oscar as Cher's mother in the romantic comedy "Moonstruck," has died. She was 89.
Allison Levy, her agent at Innovative Artists, said Saturday that Dukakis died Saturday morning in her home in New York City. A cause of death was not immediately released.
Dukakis won her Oscar through a surprising chain of circumstances, beginning with author Nora Ephron's recommendation that she play Meryl Streep's mother in the film version of Ephron's book "Heartburn." Dukakis got the role, but her scenes were cut from the film. To make it up to her, director Mike Nichols cast her in his hit play "Social Security." Director Norman Jewison saw her in that role and cast her in "Moonstruck."
Dukakis won the Oscar for best supporting actress and Cher took home the trophy for best actress.
She referred to her 1988 win as "the year of the Dukakii" because it was also the year Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, her cousin, was the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. At the ceremony, she held her Oscar high over her head and called out: "OK, Michael, let's go!"
Studied physical therapy
Dukakis had yearned to be an actress from an early age and had hoped to study drama in college. Her Greek immigrant parents insisted she pursue a more practical education, so she studied physical therapy at Boston University on a scholarship from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
After earning her bachelor's degree, she worked at an understaffed hospital in Marmet, West Virginia, and at the Hospital for Contagious Diseases in Boston.
But the lure of the theater eventually led her to study drama at Boston University.
It was a shocking change, she told an interviewer in 1988, noting that she had gone from the calm world of science to one where students routinely screamed at the teachers.
"I thought they were all nuts," she said. "It was wonderful."
Her first graduate school performance was a disaster, however, as she sat wordless on the stage.
After a teacher helped cure her stage fright, she began working in summer stock theaters. In 1960, she made her off-Broadway debut and two years later had a small part in "The Aspen Papers" on Broadway.
After three years with a Boston regional theater, Dukakis moved to New York and married actor Louis Zorich.
During their first years of marriage, acting jobs were scarce, and Dukakis worked as a bartender, waitress and other jobs.
She and Zorich had three children - Christina, Peter and Stefan. They decided it was too hard to raise children in New York with limited income, so they moved the family to a century-old house in Montclair, a New Jersey suburb of New York.
Motherly roles
Her Oscar victory kept the motherly film roles coming. She was Kirstie Alley's mom in "Look Who's Talking" and its sequel "Look Who's Talking Too," the sardonic widow in "Steel Magnolias" and the overbearing wife of Jack Lemmon (and mother of Ted Danson) in "Dad."
But the stage had been her first love.
"My ambition wasn't to win the Oscar," she said after her "Moonstruck" win. "It was to play the great parts."
She accomplished that in such New York productions as Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children," Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and Tennessee Williams' "The Rose Tattoo."
For two decades she ran the Whole Theater Company in Montclair, specializing in classic dramas.
While her passion lay in stage, a line from her Oscar-winning performance as Rose nonetheless seemed fitting: "I just want you to know no matter what you do, you're gonna die, just like everybody else."
Get a daily dose of Afghanistan Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Afghanistan Sun.
More InformationWASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration is in early talks about holding a large military parade in Washington, D.C., this summer—a...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. President Donald Trump's choice to lead NASA, Jared Isaacman, has told lawmakers that sending astronauts back...
FRANKFORT/JACKSON: It is been about 45 years since a U.S. state last got rid of its income tax on wages and salaries. But now, Mississippi...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: As artificial intelligence drives soaring demand for data processing, electric utilities across the United...
FRANKFORT, Kentucky: Heavy rain over several days caused rivers to overflow across Kentucky, flooding homes and threatening a famous...
KYIV, Ukraine: Talks between Ukraine and the United States over a critical minerals agreement are set to continue this week, as officials...
Tashkent [Uzbekistan], April 11 (ANI): Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha Harivansh underlined various steps taken by the Indian government...
XING'AN LEAGUE, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Across the vast grasslands and wetlands of Xing'an League in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous...
An aerial drone photo shows trains for China-Europe freight service at Manzhouli Railway Port in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous...
Islamabad [Pakistan], April 11 (ANI): Leaders of Pakhtun nationalist parties on Wednesday called on Pakistan to halt the deportation...
(250410) -- BEIJING, April 10, 2025 (Xinhua) -- Consumers select products at an exhibition area of an SCO international logistics port...
An aerial drone photo taken on July 16, 2024 shows the scenery of a grassland in West Ujimqin Banner of Xilin Gol League, north China's...