What you need to know
Oscar-nominated actress Penelope Milford has died at the age of 77.
Mr. Milford passed away on Tuesday, October 14th, at a nursing home in Saugerties, New York. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
Born March 23, 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri, she was best known for her role as Vi Manson in Hal Ashby’s Coming Home. Milford will co-star as a roommate of Jane Fonda’s Sally Hyde. Vi is the younger sister of Bill Manson, played by Robert Carradine, who returns home after two weeks in Vietnam with severe mental health issues. He lives at a Veterans Administration hospital, and Hyde decides to volunteer there.
Milford was one of three actors nominated for an Oscar for the 1978 film. Fonda was nominated for Best Actress and Jon Voight was nominated for Best Actor.
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Milford played many roles during her career, including silent film star Lorna Sinclair in Valentino, Don Murray’s fiancee to director Hugh Butterfield in Endless Love (1981), and high school guidance counselor Pauline Fleming in Heathers (1988). She made her film debut in 1970’s Maidstone, directed by Norman Mailer.
In 1971, she appeared with Richard Gere in the off-Broadway production of the musical A Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone. In 1972, Milford joined the Broadway cast of Lenny, a play about the life of stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce. In 1975, Milford was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance as Jenny Anderson in the Civil War musical Shenandoah. Milford originated the role of Jenny.
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In addition to appearing in films and plays, Milford taught acting in Chicago and Minneapolis throughout the ’90s, performed at local theaters in Saugerties, and sang with the Bard Symphony Orchestra.
Her younger brother Richard Kim Milford died of heart failure in 1980 at the age of 37. She is survived by her brother Douglas Milford and sister Candace Saint.
