Sally Kirkland, Oscar-nominated actor known for roles in “Anna” and “The Sting,” dies at age 84

Sally Kirkland, a onetime model who turned to acting and was best known for sharing the screen with Paul Newman and Robert Redford in “The Sting” and her Oscar-nominated title role in the 1987 movie “Anna,” has died, her representative confirmed to the Associated Press. She was 84.

Her representative, Michael Greene, told the AP that Kirkland died Tuesday morning at a Palm Springs hospice.

Friends established a GoFundMe account this fall for her medical care. They said she had fractured four bones in her neck, right wrist and left hip. While recovering, she also developed infections, requiring hospitalization and rehab.

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,” a Los Angeles Times critic wrote in her review for “Anna.” “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.”

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