Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Sandy Dennis won back-to-back Tonys - Best Featured Actress for of 1962/63 for A Thousand Clowns over Dillon and Best Actress of 1963/64 for Any Wednesday. She lost the film versions of those to Barbara Harris and Jane Fonda, respectively. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was only her second film following a small role in Splendor in the Grass five years earlier.

Dillon's film career took longer to get off the ground and she never had a starring role in a major film, unlike Dennis, but like Dennis, she stood out in practically everything she did. I hadn't seen her in so long I was surprised to find out she was 83 when she died. I would have thought she was a good ten years younger.

Ironically, Dillon lost the Tony for Virginia Woolf to Sandy Dennis, who of course got the role in the film and won the Oscar for it. I do love those kinds of connections.

I am of the age where her role in A Christmas Story is definitely the main point of reference for me, but she was one of those actresses who was always a welcome presence, although it's worth noting her filmography is thinner (in terms of quantity) than you might expect. Worth noting she gave the first Oscar-nominated performance from a Steven Spielberg film.

I was surprised to see a recent photo of hers at age 80 plus. Had no idea she was that old. She did Virginia Woolf in 1962 the year I was born which made me realize just how old I am.

I don't think I've seen A Christmas Story but I agree she was very good in both Absence of Malice and Slap Shot. And a Tony and two Oscar nods along the way is not bad at all.

May she RIP.

I guess, below a certain age, most will think of her for that BB gun. But she was splendid in Absence of Malice and Slap Shot, and, a lifetime ago, was the original Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

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