Sally Kirkland, Best Actress Oscar Nominee for ‘Anna,’ Dead at 84

Sally Kirkland, the actress, one-time denizen of Andy Warhol’s Factory, and Oscar nominee, died Tuesday, Nov. 11, Variety reports. She was 84.

A rep for Kirkland confirmed that the actress died in Palm Springs, California after being put in hospice last week following a fall in the shower that caused injuries to her ribs and foot. An exact cause of death was not given, though Kirkland had reportedly been battling an array of ailments, including infections and dementia.

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According to a GoFundMe page set up earlier this year to help cover her medical expenses, Kirkland had also fractured bones in her neck, right wrist, and left hip. While recovering, she “developed two separate life-threatening infections,” which required extensive hospitalizations and rehab. (The GoFundMe explained that Kirkland had lost out on SAG-AFTRA supplemental health insurance in 2021, and much of the money she made and invested during her career was lost in the 2008 financial crisis.)

Kirkland was best known for her turn in 1987’s Anna, Yurek Bogayevicz’s celebrated dramatic comedy. She played the titular role, an expat Czech actress living in New York City, who mentors an up-and-coming actress, who travels from Czechoslovakia to meet her idol. Kirkland was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars for her turn and won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama.

Kirkland began her career in the early Sixties, finding work in off-Broadway productions and joining Andy Warhol’s Factory. She made her first film appearance in the pop artist’s 1964 film, The 13 Most Beautiful Women. She continued to appear in independent and avant-garde projects during the Sixties, before taking more mainstream roles in the Seventies. These included guest spots on hit TV shows like Kojak, Hawaii Five-O, Three’s Company, and Charlie’s Angels, and supporting parts in movies like The Way We Were, The Sting, and A Star Is Born.

One of her more out-there roles was Neil Young’s largely forgotten 1982 comedy, Human Highway, in which Kirkland appeared alongside Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, Russ Tamblyn, and the members of Devo. During production, Hopper — who had admitted to using drugs at the time — was doing knife tricks with a real knife when he cut Kirkland’s hand.

The 1984 horror flick Fatal Games was Kirkland’s first starring role, and three years later, she enjoyed her biggest success with Anna. In the coming years, she would make notable appearances in films like The Best of the Best, JFK, and Bruce Almighty. And she received another Golden Globe nomination — this time for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie — for her performance in the horror flick, The Haunted.

Kirkland continued to work tirelessly into her Seventies and Eighties. She made her last film appearance in 2023, when she popped up in three movies, including sports comedy 80 for Brady with Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field.

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