Sally Kirkland, Oscar-Nominated Veteran Actress and ‘Days of our Lives’ Alum, Passes Away at 84
Sad news to report. Earlier this morning at 1:50am, veteran Hollywood actress, Sally Kirkland died after being put in hospice over the weekend in Palm Springs, California. She was 84-years old.
Kirkland’s rep, Michael Greene told TMZ that Sally has developed dementia over the last year. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page noted that she had taken a terrible fall in the shower recently and suffered injuries to her ribs and foot.
Sally’s resume and career is so vast; having been Oscar-nominated for her leading role in 1987’s Anna which earned her an Academy Award Lead Actress nomination in 1988. That year, she also won a Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award for her performance as an aging Czechoslovakian actress forced to take a stand-in job in a horrible off-Broadway play.
The late actress and producer had over 200 acting credits to her name including roles in the motion pictures: The Sting, JFK, The Way We Were, Revenge, A Star is Born, Private Benjamin, Cinderella Liberty, Bruce Almighty, High Stakes and In the Heat of Passion to name but a few.
On television, she played Johnny Galecki’s mother on Roseanne, an art professor on Felicity and an environmentalist on Days of Our Lives and starred on a five-nights-a-week syndicated Valley of the Dolls series and the TV’s version of Steel Magnolias.
When appearing on Days of our Lives, Kirland played the role of Tracey Simpson for 22 episodes back in 1999, and she shared scenes with the likes of Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady), Austin Peck (Austin Reed), the late John Clarke (Mickey Horton) and many more from Salem.
In an interesting beginning to her career, Kirkland gained recognition as one of Andy Warhol’s “13 Most Beautiful Women” in 1964, and became the first actress to ever appear completely nude on stage in an off-Broadway production titled Sweet Eros in 1968.
Kirkland studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and then with Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio, and her classmates included Oscar winners all: Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
She survived by her godson and filmmaker Coty Galloway (Baily), three cousins Brookie, Katherine and Tina Kirkland, and several close friends.
Share you remembrances and condolences for Sally Kirkland via the comment section below, and let us know if you remember her work on Days of our Liv