OLYMPIA DUKAKIS

(20 June 1931 - 1 May 2021)

The Greek-American actress Olympia Dukakis, who has died aged 89, was also a director, producer, teacher and activist. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Greek immigrant parents, she was a fine sportswoman and fencing champion who attended Boston University to study Physical Therapy and later attained a Master of Fine Arts degree. She began her career in theatre in 1961 in Williamstown but soon arrived in New York where she worked in the theatre in Central Park, but at times returned to Massachusetts for stage work. She ran the Whole Theatre Company in New Jersey with her husband Louis Zorich, directing and performing in plays by Beckett, Tennessee Williams, O’Neill, Albee, Chekhov, Brecht, etc, working with José Ferrer, Blythe Danner, Samuel L. Jackson and Colleen Dewhurst. From 1962, Olympia Dukakis made over a hundred film and television appearances. Her first film was a small role in Robert Rossen’s Lilith (1964) with Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg. She played Dustin Hoffman’s mother in Peter Yates’ John and Mary, followed by Jules Dassin’s The Rehearsal with Melina Mercouri, the first of Michael Winner’s Death Wish films, Philip Kaufman’s The Wanderers, and Taylor Hackford’s The Idolmaker. In Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck she played Cher’s mother and both actresses won Oscars along with screenwriter John Patrick Shanley. More good roles came with Working Girl, Look Who’s Talking (and its sequel), Steel Magnolias with Sally Field and Dolly Parton, and Dad, with Jack Lemmon. She was the star of George Miller’s Over the Hill, made in Australia, and appeared in all kinds of films from heavy drama to light comedy: witness Jeffrey, Mighty Aphrodite, Mr Holland’s Opus, The Event, Charlie’s War, Away From Her, etc. She was also very popular as Anna Madrigal in the TV series Tales of the City. Olympia Dukakis and her husband Louis Zorich, who died in 2018, have three children, Christina, Peter and Stefan.

MICHAEL DARVELL