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Sally Kirkland, a former model who transitioned into a vibrant career on stage, film, and television, has passed away at the age of 84. She was widely celebrated for her performances alongside cinema legends Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting and for her Oscar-nominated lead role in the 1987 film Anna.
According to Michael Greene, her representative, Kirkland died on Tuesday morning at a hospice facility in Palm Springs, California.
Earlier this fall, friends set up a GoFundMe campaign to assist with her medical expenses, revealing she had sustained significant injuries, including fractures in her neck, right wrist, and left hip. During her recovery, Kirkland faced further health complications, developing infections that necessitated hospitalization and rehabilitation.
Jennifer Tilly, who co-starred with Kirkland in Sallywood, shared her memories on social media platform X, saying, “She was funny, feisty, vulnerable, and self-deprecating.”
Tilly added a poignant farewell, recalling Kirkland’s wish for remembrance: “She never wanted anyone to say she was gone. ‘Don’t say Sally died, say Sally passed on into the spirits.’ Safe passage, beautiful lady.”
Kirkland acted in such films as The Way We Were with Barbra Streisand, Revenge with Kevin Costner, Cold Feet with Keith Carradine and Tom Waits, Ron Howard’s EDtv, Oliver Stone’s JFK, Heatwave with Cicely Tyson, High Stakes with Kathy Bates, Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey and the 1991 TV movie The Haunted, about a family dealing with paranormal activity. She had a cameo in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles.
Her biggest role was in 1987’s Anna as a fading Czech movie star remaking her life in the United States and mentoring to a younger actor, Paulina Porizkova. Kirkland won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination along with Cher in Moonstruck, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, Holly Hunter in Broadcast News and Meryl Streep in Ironweed.
“Kirkland is one of those performers whose talent has been an open secret to her fellow actors but something of a mystery to the general public,” the Los Angeles Times critic wrote in her review.
“There should be no confusion about her identity after this blazing comet of a performance.”
Kirkland’s small-screen acting credits include stints on Criminal Minds, Roseanne, Head Case and she was a series regular on the TV shows Valley of the Dolls and Charlie’s Angels.
Born in New York City, Kirkland’s mother was a fashion editor at Vogue and Life magazine who encouraged her daughter to start modelling at age 5. Kirkland graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and studied with Philip Burton, Richard Burton’s mentor, and Lee Strasberg, the master of the Method school of acting.
An early breakout was appearing in Andy Warhol’s 13 Most Beautiful Women in 1964. She appeared naked as a kidnapped rape victim in Terrence McNally’s off-Broadway “Sweet Eros”.
Some of her early roles were Shakespeare, including the lovesick Helena in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for New York Shakespeare Festival producer Joseph Papp and Miranda in an off-Broadway production of “The Tempest.”
“I don’t think any actor can really call him or herself an actor unless he or she puts in time with Shakespeare,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1991.
“It shows up, it always shows up in the work, at some point, whether it’s just not being able to have breath control, or not being able to appreciate language as poetry and music, or not having the power that Shakespeare automatically instills you with when you take on one of his characters.”
Kirkland was a member of several New Age groups, taught Insight Transformational Seminars and was a longtime member of the affiliated Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, whose followers believe in soul transcendence.
She reached a career nadir while riding nude on a pig in the 1969 film Futz, which a Guardian reviewer dubbed the worst film he had ever seen. “It was about a man who fell in love with a pig, and even by the dismal standards of the era, it was dismal,” he wrote.
Kirkland was also known for disrobing for so many other roles and social causes that Time magazine dubbed her “the latter-day Isadora Duncan of nudothespianism.”
Kirkland volunteered for people with AIDS, cancer and heart disease, fed homeless people via the American Red Cross, participated in telethons for hospices and was an advocate for prisoners, especially young people.
The actors union SAG-AFTRA called her “a fearless performer whose artistry and advocacy spanned more than six decades,” adding that as “a true mentor and champion for actors, her generosity and spirit will continue to inspire.”