Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-winning 'Moonstruck' star, dies at 89

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Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-winning 'Moonstruck' star, dies at 89
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JUST IN: Olympia Dukakis, the stage and screen actress who won an Oscar as Cher’s mother in 'Moonstruck,' has died. She was 89.

Olympia Dukakis portrays Anna Madrigal in the television series'Tales Of The City', 2019.

Dukakis won her Oscar through a surprising chain of circumstances, beginning with author Nora Ephron’s recommendation that she play Meryl Streep’s mother in the film version of Ephron’s book “Heartburn.” Dukakis got the role, but her scenes were cut from the film. To make it up to her, director Mike Nichols cast her in his hit play “Social Security.” Director Norman Jewison saw her in that role and cast her in “Moonstruck.

After a teacher helped cure her stage fright, she began working in summer stock theaters. In 1960, she made her off-Broadway debut and two years later had a small part in “The Aspen Papers” on Broadway. She and Zorich had three children — Christina, Peter and Stefan. They decided it was too hard to raise children in New York with limited income, so they moved the family to a century-old house in Montclair, a New Jersey suburb of New York.

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Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-winning 'Moonstruck' star, dies at 89Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-winning 'Moonstruck' star, dies at 89MAPLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) — Olympia Dukakis, the veteran stage and screen actress whose flair for maternal roles helped her win an Oscar as Cher’s mother in the romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” has died. She was 89. Dukakis died Saturday morning in her home in New York City, according to Allison Levy, her agent at Innovative Artists. A cause of death was not immediately released. Dukakis won her Oscar through a surprising chain of circumstances, beginning with author Nora Ephron’s recommendation that she play Meryl Streep’s mother in the film version of Ephron’s book “Heartburn.” Dukakis got the role, but her scenes were cut from the film. To make it up to her, director Mike Nichols cast her in his hit play “Social Security.” Director Norman Jewison saw her in that role and cast her in “Moonstruck.”
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