Biography
Melinda Rose Dillon (October 13, 1939 - January 9, 2023) was a twice Oscar nominated American actress. She was best known for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Absence of Malice and the holiday classic A Christmas Story.
Known For
Complete Filmography

Hal
2019
as Self (archive footage)
Hal Ashby's obsessive genius led to an unprecedented string of Oscar®-winning classics, including Harold and Maude, Shampoo and Being There. But as co...

Reign Over Me
2007
as Ginger Timpleman
A man who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate. Rekindling the friendship is the one thing t...

Adam & Steve
2005
as Dottie
Adam and Steve are two gay youths who have a one-night stand that ends embarrassingly. Nearly two decades later, Adam, now a Manhattan tour guide, and...

Debating Robert Lee
2004
as Mrs. Lee
A group of jaded high school students sign up for a debate class taught by a tough, combative teacher from the Georgia Military Academy who teaches th...

A Painted House
2003
as Gran Chandler
A young boy, his family, and the migrant workers they hire to work their cotton farm struggle against difficult odds to raise and sell the crop. Meanw...

Cowboy Up
2002
as Rose Braxton
"Cowboy Up" is a celebration of the risk-taking, daredevil personalities of modern rodeo. In the world of professional bull riding, newcomer Ely Braxt...

The Making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'
2001
as Self
A documentary film on the making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

Magnolia
1999
as Rose Gator
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy geniu...

The Effects of Magic
1998
as Mom

Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas
1997
as Mrs. Parker (archive footage)
Christmas abounds with traditions, from neighborhood carolers to lovingly decorated trees, but from where did all these rituals emerge? This enlighten...

Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story
1996
as Sister Aloysius
The firebrand reporter, feminist and philanthropist Dorothy Day co-founds The Catholic Worker with Peter Maurin, an eccentric philosopher.

How to Make an American Quilt
1995
as Mrs. Darling
Soon-to-be-wed graduate student Finn Dodd develops cold feet when she suspects her fiancé is cheating on her. In order to clear her head, Finn visits ...

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
1995
as Merna
Manhattan drag queens Vida Boheme and Noxeema Jackson impress regional judges in competition, securing berths in the Nationals in Los Angeles. When th...

Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge
1995
as Polly Judd
This is a true story about the relationship between a mother and her daughter, and their struggle to make it to the top in the music world. It is abou...

Sioux City
1994
as Leah Goldman
A young Lakota Sioux, adopted by a wealthy Jewish couple in Beverly Hills, gets in touch with his cultural roots and solves a mystery in this thriller...

State of Emergency
1994
as Betty Anderson
Medical drama about a major hospital whose emergency room regularly faces an overload of patients. One of the doctors finds it necessary to adopt an u...

Confessions: Two Faces of Evil
1994
as Carol Mothershed
Two men being questioned in a police station on Christmas Eve both confess to the murder of a cop. With both stories seeming plausible, an investigato...

Judgment Day: The John List Story
1993
as Eleanor
The pious John List regularly goes to church and is respected by his neighbours. But one day the police finds his wife Helen and their three children ...

The Prince of Tides
1991
as Savannah Wingo
A troubled Southern man talks to his suicidal sister's psychiatrist about their family history and falls in love with her (and New York City) in the p...

Captain America
1990
as Mrs. Rogers
During World War II, a brave, patriotic American Soldier undergoes experiments to become a new supersoldier, "Captain America". Racing to Germany to s...

Spontaneous Combustion
1990
as Nina
A young man finds out that his parents had been used in an atomic-weapons experiment shortly before he was born, and that the results have had some un...

Staying Together
1989
as Eileen McDermott
After their father abruptly sells the beloved family-owned restaurant that has employed them for years, the charismatic McDermott boys - hot-tempered ...

Nightbreaker
1989
as Paula Brown
Dr. Alexander Brown arrives in Las Vegas, awarded for his recent medical invention. An ex-G.I. tells Brown he was a test subject during the 1950's, ex...

Shattered Innocence
1988
as Sharon Anderson
A high school graduate leaves behind her modest life and finds work in the sex industry, but it ends in disaster. A dramatized account of the life of...

Harry and the Hendersons
1987
as Nancy Henderson
Returning from a hunting trip in the forest, the Henderson family's car hits an animal in the road. At first they fear it was a man, but when they exa...

Shattered Spirits
1986
as Joyce Mollencamp
When his drinking problem takes control of his life, a father tries to leave the bottle behind while putting his and his family's lives back together.

Songwriter
1984
as Honey Carder
Doc Jenkins may be one of country music's most beloved stars, but his private life is a wreck. He's split up with his longtime partner, Blackie Buck, ...

Right of Way
1983
as Ruda Dwyer
Miniature Dwyer is named after her mother, who was making miniature doll houses when Minnie was born. Minnie, too, has built doll houses for years, an...

A Christmas Story
1983
as Mother
The comic mishaps and adventures of a young boy named Ralph, trying to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is t...

Absence of Malice
1981
as Teresa Perrone
Megan Carter is a reporter duped into running an untrue story on Michael Gallagher, a suspected racketeer. He has an alibi for the time his crime was ...

Hellinger's Law
1981
as Anne Gronouski
A flamboyant criminal lawyer named Nick Hellinger takes on the case of a syndicate's accountant (actually a Justice Department agent who has infiltrat...

Fallen Angel
1981
as Sherry Phillips
Twelve year old Jennifer is unhappy with her widowed mom's relationship with a family friend. Feeling lonely, she readily accepts the friendship of an...

The Shadow Box
1980
as Agnes
Over the course of a day in a California hospice, three terminally ill patients are observed with their families reflecting on life and death.

Marriage Is Alive and Well
1980
as Jeannie
A talented wedding photographer, at a crossroads with his own marriage, reflects on tales of past clients and the hope, adversity and romance that hol...

The Muppet Movie
1979
as Woman with Balloon
The Muppets gather to watch their newly-finished big-budget rich-and-famous feature film: a talent agent persuades Kermit the Frog to leave the swamp ...

F.I.S.T.
1978
as Anna Zarinkas
Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher ...

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977
as Jillian Guiler
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is abou...

Slap Shot
1977
as Suzanne Hanrahan
To build up attendance at their games, the management of a struggling minor-league hockey team signs up the Hanson Brothers, three hard-charging playe...

Bound for Glory
1976
as Mary / Memphis Sue
A biography of Woody Guthrie, one of America's greatest folk singers. He left his dust-devastated Texas home in the 1930s to find work, discovering th...

The April Fools
1969
as Leslie Hopkins
Newly-promoted if none too happily married Howard Brubaker leaves a rowdy company party early with the stunning Catherine, whom it turns out is hersel...

The Cry of Jazz
1959
as Faye
Filmed in Chicago & finished in 1959, The Cry of Jazz is filmmaker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland's polemical essay on the politics of mus...