Sally Kirkland, Golden Globe Winner, Actress Dies At 84

Actress Sally Kirkland, the daughter of a Vogue fashion editor who studied at the famed Actors Studio and later joined Andy Warhol’s The Factory and enjoyed a prolific stage and screen career, died in Palm Springs Tuesday at the age of 84.

Kirkland died in hospice care following an extended health battle.

Born in New York City, Kirkland was named after her mother, a fashion editor at both Vogue and Life Magazine. She worked as a Vogue model herself before studying at the Actors Studio with famed teachers Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen, embarking on her stage career in 1963.

She became deeply involved in the avant-garde movement in the 1960s, working with Warhol’s experimental films before graduating to more establishment movies in the 1970s.

She had supporting roles in two huge Robert Redford vehicles in 1973, “The Sting” and “The Way We Were.” Other big-screen roles included “The Young Nurses” (1973), “Crazy Mama” (1975), “A Star Is Born” (1976) and “Private Benjamin” (1980).

In 1987, she won a Golden Globe for best actress and earned an Oscar nomination for the drama “Anna,” playing a fading Czech movie star remaking her life in the United States and mentoring to a younger actor, Paulina Porizkova.

Her 1990s film roles included “Bullseye!” (1990), “Revenge” (1990), “JFK” (1991), “The Player” (1992), “Gunmen” (1994), “Excess Baggage” (1997) and “EDtv” (1999).

Later films included supporting work in “Bruce Almighty” (2003), “Adam & Steve” (2005) and “Big Stan” (2007).

Kirkland’s television credits include appearances on “Criminal Minds,” “Roseanne,” “Head Case,” “Valley of the Dolls” and “Charlie*s Angels.”

She also advocated for women harmed by breast implants, painted and taught acting, and was an ordained minister in the church of Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness.

Friends had established a GoFundMe page to help the actress pay for her continuing health battle. Organizers said that despite her successful career as a working actor, she lost a lot of money from bad advice from a former financial adviser-business manager.

TMZ reported that Kirkland began to develop dementia last year.

According to the GoFundMe page, she recently suffered from other health complications, including life-threatening infections and fracturing “four bones in her neck, right wrist and her left hip.”