Dillon also earned Oscar nominations for her work in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Absence of Malice.
Steven Spielberghired Dillon forClose Encounterson the advice of fellow filmmaker Hal Ashby shortly before shooting.
“I was inVirginia Woolf, and I just went crazy,” she oncetoldThe New York Times.
Melinda Dillon and Cary Guffey in ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’.Everett Collection
“It was really that simple.”
Born Oct. 13, 1939, in Hope, Ark., Dillon spent much of her childhood in Alabama.
Dillon began her career in improv, working at Chicago’s legendary Second City.
Melinda Dillon in ‘Harry and the Hendersons’.Universal/Everett
The role earned her a Golden Globes nomination for Best Female Acting Debut.
“I love Melinda Dillon in the movie so much,” she said.
Julie Hagerty stepped into the part.
Melinda Dillon in ‘A Christmas Story’.Everett Collection
“I had spoken to her about this.”
Libertini died in 2016, at 82.
