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Olympia Dukakis, a Hollywood favorite who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the 1987 film “Moonstruck,” has died. She was 89.
The actress embraced the role of playing tough-talking older woman on-screen later in her life. She performed in over 120 stage productions, 60 feature length films and 50 television series over the course of seven decades.
Besides her standout performance as Rose Castorini that won her only Oscar, Dukakis was known for her roles in “Steel Magnolias,” “Look Who’s Talking”, and “Mr. Holland’s Opus” among many others.
She made her Broadway debut at age 30, but would later branch out to work in television before earning a majority of her work in Hollywood throughout the 1990s. A resume that included work on such TV shows as “Touched by an Angel”, “Frasier”, “Mike and Molly”, “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”, and “The Simpsons”.
Dukakis was a cousin of former Massachusetts Gov. and one-time Presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis. She introduced him at the Democratic National Convention in 1988 before he accepted the party’s nomination. He would eventually lose his bid for the White House to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.
Olympia was recently cast in the Netflix miniseries “Tales of the City,” playing the role of Anna Madrigal. It would be the final project of her career.
According to her family, Dukakis died peacefully at her home in New York City. She is survived by her three children.
