American stage and film actor Penelope Milford, who earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination in 1979, has died at the age of 77.
According to Variety, Penelope Milford died in Saugerties, New York, as confirmed by her brother, Doug Milford. The cause of her death remains unknown.
Milford, whose professional career began on the New York stage in 1971, co-starred opposite Richard Gere in an Off-Broadway production of Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone, based on the life of musician and novelist Richard Fariña.
In 1972, Milford made her Broadway debut in Julian Barry's Tony Award-winning play Lenny. She also received a Drama Desk nomination for Featured Actress in a Musical for Shenandoah.
Around the same period, she began appearing in films, making her debut with Norman Mailer's 1970 film Maidstone. Milford also portrayed a silent film star in Ken Russell's Valentino.
Her major breakthrough came with Hal Ashby's Oscar-nominated Coming Home, which earned nine Academy Award nominations, including her own for Best Supporting Actress.
Milford played Vi Munson, whose brother had recently returned from Vietnam suffering from severe emotional trauma. She later develops a friendship with Jane Fonda's character, Sally Hyde, which inspires her roommate to volunteer at a Veterans Administration Hospital.
The film went on to win three Oscars, including Best Actress for Jane Fonda and Best Actor for Jon Voight.
Milford also enjoyed a notable television career, appearing in the Emmy-winning TV play The Oldest Living Graduate and the TV movie Seizure: The Story of Kathy Morris. Another major highlight of her television work was The Burning Bed, which received several accolades, including a WGA Award and a Golden Globe.
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