Priscilla Pointer, a veteran stage and screen actress known for portraying maternal roles — including the mother of her real-life daughter Amy Irving in Carrie — has died at age 100. She passed away Monday in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Her son, David K. Irving, a professor at USC, confirmed her death to Variety.
Pointer had a long and varied career in film, television, and theater. She starred alongside her daughter in Carrie and six other films, and was frequently cast in mother roles throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These included Diane Keaton’s mother in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Kyle MacLachlan’s in Blue Velvet, and Sean Penn’s in The Falcon and the Snowman. On television, she was known for her role on CBS’s Dallas, playing the mother of Victoria Principal’s character.
Her other screen credits included A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Twilight Zone: The Movie, ER, Judging Amy, St. Elsewhere, McCoy, McCloud, and N.Y.P.D. She also appeared in three films directed by her son David Irving: Rumpelstiltskin (1987), Good-bye, Cruel World, and C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.
Born in New York City, Pointer began her acting career on the stage, appearing in several Broadway productions and national tours. She performed in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Condemned of Altona, Yerma, and The East Wind, often under the direction of her husband, Jules Irving, whom she met in Europe after an army production of Brother Rat.
Together, the couple co-founded the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop alongside Herbert Blau and Beatrice Manley. The company later became part of New York’s Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center.
Pointer is survived by her three children.
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