Priscilla Pointer | |
---|---|
Born | Priscilla Marie Pointer May 18, 1924 New York City, U.S. |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1948–2014 |
Spouses | |
Children | 3, including David Irving and Amy Irving |
Relatives | Austin Irving (granddaughter) |
Priscilla Marie Pointer [1] (born May 18, 1924) is a retired American actress. She began her career in the theater in the late 1940s, including productions on Broadway. Later, Pointer moved to Hollywood and made appearances on television beginning in the early 1950s.
Pointer is the mother of actress and singer Amy Irving, (whom she often appeared alongside as her mother or mother-in-law) therefore making her the former mother-in-law of filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Bruno Barreto and the mother-in-law of documentary filmmaker Kenneth Bowser, Jr..
Pointer was born on May 18, 1924, in New York City. [2] Her mother, Augusta Leonora (née Davis), was an artist and an illustrator, and her father, Kenneth Keith Pointer, was an artist. [1] One of her maternal great-grandfathers, Jacob Barrett Cohen, was from a Jewish family that had lived in the United States since the 1700s. [1] [3] [4] Pointer turned 100 in May 2024. [5] [6]
Pointer was married to film and stage director Jules Irving, former artistic director of Lincoln Center, from 1947 until his death in 1979; they are the parents of Katie Irving, director David Irving, and actress Amy Irving. [7] She is the widow of Robert Symonds, whom she married in 1980.
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Pointer has been a performer since the late 1940s, starting her career in theatre and appearing on Broadway, including several tours in "A Streetcar Named Desire", "The Country Wife" and "The Condemned of Altona", [8] and she featured in the TV series China Smith (also known as The New Adventures of China Smith) in 1954. After a long hiatus, Pointer returned to acting in the early 1970s.
Pointer's first major starring role was on the TV soap opera Where the Heart Is as Adrienne Harris Rainey from 1972 and 1973.
Pointer was a guest star on Dallas (1978 TV show) as Rebecca Barnes Wentworth seasons 4-6.
Pointer has appeared in many films, including Carrie (1976), in which she played the onscreen mother of Amy Irving's character; The Onion Field (1979); Mommie Dearest (1981); Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983); A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987); David Lynch's Blue Velvet ; and Coyote Moon (1999). In addition to Carrie, she has played the onscreen mother to Amy Irving in Honeysuckle Rose (1980) and Carried Away (1996). They were both in the films The Competition in 1980 and Micki & Maude in 1984.
Pointer appeared in three films directed by her son: Rumpelstiltskin (a 1987 musical version, which starred her daughter), Good-bye, Cruel World , and C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.
Pointer has made many guest appearances on television, including Adam-12 , L.A. Law , The A-Team , Judging Amy , The Rockford Files , and Cold Case .
From 1981 to 1983, Pointer had a recurring role on the soap opera Dallas as Rebecca Barnes Wentworth, the mother of Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), Pamela Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal), and Katherine Wentworth (Morgan Brittany).
Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1976 | Carrie | Eleanor Snell | Carla Tilson - Iris Clarke |
Nickelodeon | Mabel | ||
The Great Texas Dynamite Chase | Miss Harris | ||
1977 | The 3,000 Mile Chase | Emma Dvorak | |
Looking for Mr. Goodbar | Mrs. Dunn | ||
1979 | The Onion Field | Chrissie Campbell | |
1980 | Honeysuckle Rose | Rosella Ramsey | |
The Competition | Mrs. Donellan | ||
1981 | Mommie Dearest | Mrs. Chadwick | |
1983 | Good-bye, Cruel World | Myra | |
Twilight Zone: The Movie | Miss Cox | Segment: "Kick the Can" | |
1984 | Micki & Maude | Diana Hutchison | |
1985 | The Falcon and the Snowman | Mrs. Lee | |
1986 | Blue Velvet | Mrs. Beaumont | |
1987 | Newhart | Clara Whitscomber | |
Rumpelstiltskin | Queen Grizelda | ||
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors | Dr. Elizabeth Simms | ||
From the Hip | Mrs. Martha Williams | ||
1989 | C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. | Doctor Berlin | |
1990 | A Show of Force | Alice Ryan | |
Disturbed | Nurse Francine | ||
1992 | Unbecoming Age | Grandma | |
1993 | Painted Desert | Barbara | |
1996 | Carried Away | Lily Henson | |
1999 | Inferno | Mrs. Henry Howard |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1954 | China Smith (Also known as The New Adventures of China Smith) | Carla Tilson - Iris Clarke | |
1969 | N.Y.P.D. | Woman with child in park | Episode: "The Night Watch" |
1970 | The High Chaparral | Mrs. Colton | Episode: "A Matter of Vengeance" |
1971 | The Failing of Raymond | History Teacher | TV movie |
1973 | Adam-12 | Jacqueline Carey | Episode: "Van Nuys Division: Pete's Mustache " |
1977 | Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night | Laura Atherton | TV movie |
1978 | Quincy, M.E. | Victim's mother | Episode: "Dead and Alive" |
1981-1983 | Dallas | Rebecca Barnes Wentworth | 44 episodes |
1984 | The New Mike Hammer | Edna Grundy | Episode: "Seven Dead Eyes" |
Too Close for Comfort | Betty Farnsworth | Episode: "The Sound of Mother" | |
St. Elsewhere | Marie Halloran | Episode: "In Sickness and in Health" | |
1986-1988 | L.A. Law | Judge Dorothy M. Pehlman | 4 episodes |
1987 | Newhart | Clara Whitscomber | Episode: "Me and My Gayle" |
Rags to Riches | Ruby | Episode: "Vegas Rock" | |
1990-1991 | The Flash | Nora Allen | 3 episodes |
1994 | ER | Mrs. Abernathy | Episode: "The Gift" |
1997 | Alone | Susan Hight | TV movie |
2001 | Judging Amy | Margaret Palmer | Episode: "The Unforgiven" |
2006 | Cold Case | Lillian Vine | Episode: "Debut" |
2008 | Sweet Nothing in My Ear | voice of Sally | TV movie |
Joan Crawford was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison".
Anne Bancroft was an American actress and director. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She is one of 24 thespians to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of Academy Award winning actress Joan Crawford. Officially released by William Morrow and Company on November 10, 1978, the book attracted much controversy for its portrayal of Joan Crawford as a cruel, unbalanced, and alcoholic mother, with Crawford's other twin daughters, household staff, and family friends denouncing it as sensationalized fiction. It was turned into a 1981 film of the same title starring Faye Dunaway.
Amy Irving is an American actress and singer, who worked in film, stage, and television. Her accolades include an Obie Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award.
Jessica Tuck is an American actress, best known for her performances on television as Megan Gordon Harrison on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, Gillian Gray in the CBS drama series Judging Amy, and as Nan Flanagan on the HBO series True Blood.
Linda Ann Gray is an American film, stage and television actress, director, producer and former model, best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing, the long-suffering wife of Larry Hagman's character J.R. Ewing on the CBS television drama series Dallas. The role also earned her a nomination for the 1981 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series as well as two Golden Globe Awards nominations.
Morgan Brittany is an American actress. She began her career as a child appearing in films Gypsy (1962), Stage to Thunder Rock (1964) and Yours, Mine and Ours. In 1970s, Brittany began work as a model joining Ford Models. She played Vivien Leigh in films The Day of the Locust (1975), Gable and Lombard (1976) and The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980). Brittany is best-known for portraying Katherine Wentworth, the scheming younger half-sister of Pamela Ewing and Cliff Barnes, on the primetime soap opera Dallas.
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Christina Crawford is an American former author and actress, best known for her 1978 memoir and exposé, Mommie Dearest, which described the alleged abuse she was subjected to by her adoptive mother, film star Joan Crawford.
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Barbara O'Neil was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in the film Gone with the Wind (1939) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in All This, and Heaven Too (1940).
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Pamela Rebecca Ewing is a fictional character from TNT's primetime soap opera Dallas, a continuation of the original series of the same name which aired on CBS from 1978 to 1991. Rebecca was portrayed by actress Julie Gonzalo, and appeared on the show since its pilot episode, which first aired on June 13, 2012. The daughter of Cliff Barnes and Afton Cooper, the character originated in two episodes of the original series' season 12, and also appeared in the TV reunion movie Dallas: J.R. Returns. Pamela Rebecca was named after both her half-aunt, Pamela Barnes Ewing, and grandmother, Rebecca Barnes Wentworth.
David Kenneth Irving is an American film director, screenwriter, author, and professor. He is the son of Jules Irving and Priscilla Pointer. His father is of Russian-Jewish descent. His accolades include the 1981 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Best Children's Script.
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