Oscar-nominated actress Penelope Milford passes away

Penelope Milford, the American film and stage actress who won an Oscar nomination for her 1978 Vietnam war drama performance in Coming Home, is dead. She was 77 years old.

Penelope Milford dies at 77

Penelope died on Tuesday October 14 at an assisted living community in Saugerties New York. Her death was confirmed by her sister Candace Saint though the cause has not been disclosed to the public.

Born Penelope Dale Milford in St Louis Missouri on March 23, 1948 Penelope initially established herself in New York theatre. She featured with Richard Gere in the 1971 off-Broadway production of Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone and was subsequently nominated for a Drama Desk award for the musical Shenandoah in 1975.

Her acting career started with an appearance in Norman Mailer’s Maidstone in 1970. She came into general public view however for her role as Vi Munson in Hal Ashby’s Coming Home. In the movie she played the free-spirited roommate of Jane Fonda’s Sally Hyde and also the sister of a soldier who comes back from Vietnam with psychological issues. Her vivacious scene got her an Academy Award Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Academy Awards with co-stars Fonda and Jon Voight.

Penelope’s other prominent screen appearances were as the silent-film actress Lorna Sinclair in Ken Russell’s Valentino (1977) Don Murray’s fiancée in Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love (1981) and the hippie guidance counsellor Pauline Fleming in the cult classic Heathers (1988). She also made appearances in award-winning telefilms like The Burning Bed (1984) starring Farrah Fawcett and The Oldest Living Graduate (1980) with Henry Fonda.

Later in life Penelope devoted herself to teaching acting in Chicago and Minneapolis and was a passionate preservationist upon relocating to Saugerties in 2003. She acted at regional theatres sang with the Bard Symphonic Chorus and remained engaged in her church. She is preceded in death by her brother Douglas Penelope and sister Candace Saint.

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