Melinda Dillon

Melinda Dillon

Born: October 13, 1939
Died: January 9, 2023
in Hope, Arkansas, USA
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.

Movies for Melinda Dillon...

Hal
Title: Hal
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 28, 2019
Type: Movie
Hal Ashby's obsessive genius led to an unprecedented string of Oscar®-winning classics, including Harold and Maude, Shampoo and Being There. But as contemporaries Coppola, Scorsese and Spielberg rose to blockbuster stardom in the 1980s, Ashby's uncompromising nature played out as a cautionary tale of art versus commerce.
bee
Title: Heartland
Released: June 18, 2007
Type: TV
Dr. Nathaniel Grant is a pioneering organ-transplant surgeon who takes risks that other doctors would not in order to save the lives of his patients. He works closely with his ex-wife, Kate Armstrong, an organ-donor coordinator with whom he has a volatile relationship. Grant's arrogance and willingness to perform risky procedures causes him to butt heads with the hospital administration. But his main focus is on his intense relationship with his job and his patients, often at the expense of his family.
bee
Reign Over Me
Title: Reign Over Me
Character: Ginger Timpleman
Released: March 22, 2007
Type: Movie
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 that appears able to help the man recover from his grief.
bee
Adam & Steve
Title: Adam & Steve
Character: Dottie
Released: April 24, 2005
Type: Movie
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 Steve, a psychiatrist, meet again -- but neither remembers the other from years before. The two begin dating, even playing matchmaker for their friends Michael and Rhonda, but their promising relationship hits a major snag when Adam and Steve finally recall their past connection.
bee
Debating Robert Lee
Title: Debating Robert Lee
Character: Mrs. Lee
Released: September 17, 2004
Type: Movie
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 them that life is debate and DEBATE IS WAR.
bee
Title: The Lyon's Den
Released: September 28, 2003
Type: TV
John "Jack" Turner is a maverick scion from an American political dynasty, a "true believer," who must reconcile his passion for the purity of law in the morally ambiguous world he inhabits, in which no one is who they appear to be. Content with working in a small pro-bono law clinic in Washington, D.C. – at the urging of his more practical longtime friend and colleague, George Riley – Turner reluctantly accepts the position of managing partner in the sponsoring law firm of Lyon, LaCrosse, and Levine in order to save the clinic.
bee
A Painted House
Title: A Painted House
Character: Gran Chandler
Released: April 27, 2003
Type: Movie
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. Meanwhile, the boy dreams of living in better conditions. However, with this particularly tough farming season, the boy learns that his challenges guide him in discovering who he really is.
bee
Cowboy Up
Title: Cowboy Up
Character: Rose Braxton
Released: September 3, 2002
Type: Movie
"Cowboy Up" is a celebration of the risk-taking, daredevil personalities of modern rodeo. In the world of professional bull riding, newcomer Ely Braxton (Marcus Thomas) is the craziest guy around; his brother Hank (Kiefer Sutherland) is a rodeo clown, and the two use each other to play up their acts. But love may be one thing that tears the brothers apart. When Ely falls for the rodeo's sweetheart (Daryl Hannah), Hank is filled with jealousy and hatred. The brothers try to come to grips with their differences, but the competition gets as fierce as the bulls in the ring.
bee
The Making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'
Title: The Making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'
Character: Self
Released: May 8, 2001
Type: Movie
A documentary film on the making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'
bee
Magnolia
Title: Magnolia
Character: Rose Gator
Released: December 10, 1999
Type: Movie
An epic mosaic of many interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
bee
Title: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Character: Jenny Rogers
Released: September 20, 1999
Type: TV
In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
bee
Title: Judging Amy
Character: Violet Loomis
Released: September 19, 1999
Type: TV
Judging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly. Its main character is a judge who serves in a family court, and in addition to the family-related cases that she adjudicates, many episodes of the show focus on her own experiences as a divorced mother, and on the experiences of her mother, a social worker who works in the field of child welfare. This series was based on the life experiences of Brenneman's mother.
bee
The Effects of Magic
Title: The Effects of Magic
Released: September 28, 1998
Type: Movie
bee
Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas
Title: Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas
Character: Mrs. Parker (archive footage)
Released: December 1, 1997
Type: Movie
Christmas abounds with traditions, from neighborhood carolers to lovingly decorated trees, but from where did all these rituals emerge? This enlightening program looks at the origins of the Western world's most popular Christmas traditions -- from the significance of December 25th and its relationship to winter solstice to the enchanting legend of Santa Claus and Prince Albert's 1841 unveiling of the Christmas tree.
bee
Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story
Title: Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story
Character: Sister Aloysius
Released: September 27, 1996
Type: Movie
The firebrand reporter, feminist and philanthropist Dorothy Day co-founds The Catholic Worker with Peter Maurin, an eccentric philosopher.
bee
How to Make an American Quilt
Title: How to Make an American Quilt
Character: Mrs. Darling
Released: October 6, 1995
Type: Movie
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 her grandmother, Hy, and great aunt, Glady Joe Cleary, in Grasse, Calif. There, Finn learns that Hy and Glady Joe are members of a group of passionate quilters, and over the course of her visit she is regaled with tales of love and life by women who have collected rich experiences and much wisdom.
bee
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
Title: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
Character: Merna
Released: September 7, 1995
Type: Movie
A cross country trip to Hollywood is cut short by an unreliable engine & an unpleasant encounter with law enforcement. With the power of drag, three self proclaimed career-girls bring a bit of much needed beauty to rural middle America!
bee
Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge
Title: Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge
Character: Polly Judd
Released: May 14, 1995
Type: Movie
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 about hopes and dreams... about relationships and about growing up.
bee
Sioux City
Title: Sioux City
Character: Leah Goldman
Released: April 1, 1994
Type: Movie
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
bee
State of Emergency
Title: State of Emergency
Character: Betty Anderson
Released: February 21, 1994
Type: Movie
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 unorthodox procedure to try to save a patient, and finds himself in trouble in consequence.
bee
Confessions: Two Faces of Evil
Title: Confessions: Two Faces of Evil
Character: Carol Mothershed
Released: January 17, 1994
Type: Movie
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 investigator is called in to determine which suspect is telling the truth - and why the other one is lying. Crime drama, starring James Earl Jones and Jason Bateman.
bee
Judgment Day: The John List Story
Title: Judgment Day: The John List Story
Character: Eleanor
Released: February 23, 1993
Type: Movie
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 slayed in their house - obviously by John, who left two letters for the police and his priest and disappeared. Chief Richland is disgusted by the murder and starts an intensive investigation. In flashbacks we learn about the history of the disaster.
bee
The Prince of Tides
Title: The Prince of Tides
Character: Savannah Wingo
Released: December 25, 1991
Type: Movie
A troubled man talks to his suicidal sister's psychiatrist about their family history and falls in love with her in the process.
bee
Captain America
Title: Captain America
Character: Mrs. Rogers
Released: December 14, 1990
Type: Movie
During World War II, a brave, patriotic American Soldier undergoes experiments to become a new supersoldier, "Captain America". Racing to Germany to sabotage the rockets of Nazi baddie "Red Skull", Captain America winds up frozen until the 1990s. He reawakens to find that the Red Skull has changed identities and is now planning to kidnap the President of the United States.
bee
Spontaneous Combustion
Title: Spontaneous Combustion
Character: Nina
Released: February 23, 1990
Type: Movie
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 unexpected effects on him.
bee
Nightbreaker
Title: Nightbreaker
Character: Paula Brown
Released: March 8, 1989
Type: Movie
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, exposed to atomic bomb radiation in the Nevada desert-- will Brown help the man uncover the truth? In 1950's Nevada, Brown is a young psychiatrist and a guest of the U.S. Army, where soldiers were routinely exposed to excessive radiation. The young Brown and a colleague interview soldiers, who show their ignorance and insouciance in the face of this danger. The movie intercuts scenes between the young Alexander Brown and older Alexander Brown, some thirty years after the nuclear tests. Will the decorated psychiatrist finally speak out on the atrocity he witnessed?
bee
Staying Together
Title: Staying Together
Character: Eileen McDermott
Released: January 1, 1989
Type: Movie
After their father abruptly sells the beloved family-owned restaurant that has employed them for years, the charismatic McDermott boys - hot-tempered Brian (Quill), lovelorn Kit (Mulroney) and jokester Duncan (Astin) - find themselves at odds with their parents and each other.
bee
Shattered Innocence
Title: Shattered Innocence
Character: Sharon Anderson
Released: March 9, 1988
Type: Movie
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 the adult actress Shauna Grant.
bee
Harry and the Hendersons
Title: Harry and the Hendersons
Character: Nancy Henderson
Released: June 5, 1987
Type: Movie
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 examine the "body" they find it's a "bigfoot". They think it's dead so they decide to take it home (there could be some money in this). As you guessed, it isn't dead. Far from being the ferocious monster they fear "Harry" to be, he's a friendly giant.
bee
Shattered Spirits
Title: Shattered Spirits
Character: Joyce Mollencamp
Released: January 6, 1986
Type: Movie
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.
bee
Title: The Twilight Zone
Released: September 27, 1985
Type: TV
This 1980s revival of the classic sci-fi series features a similar style to the original anthology series. Each episode tells a tale (sometimes two or three) rooted in horror or suspense, often with a surprising twist at the end. Episodes usually feature elements of drama and comedy.
bee
Title: Space
Character: Rachel Mott
Released: April 14, 1985
Type: TV
Space is a television mini-series. It is based on a novel of the same name by James A. Michener published in 1982.
bee
Songwriter
Title: Songwriter
Character: Honey Carder
Released: October 14, 1984
Type: Movie
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, a country outlaw with a heart of gold. Doc's singer-wife, Honey Carder, has thrown him out of the house. And now he's gotten involved with a sleazy music manager, Rodeo Rocky, who's out to steal his material. Teaming up with Blackie, Doc takes drastic measures to win back his family and reclaim his songs.
bee
Right of Way
Title: Right of Way
Character: Ruda Dwyer
Released: November 21, 1983
Type: Movie
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, and when she learns that she is terminally ill, she and her husband Teddy begin planning their joint suicide. She makes sure that her dolls are placed with people who will appreciate and cherish them. The couple refuse to allow their grief-stricken daughter or the solicitous social worker or anyone else to forestall the death they are determined is right for them
bee
A Christmas Story
Title: A Christmas Story
Character: Mrs. Parker
Released: November 18, 1983
Type: Movie
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 the perfect Christmas gift for the 1940s.
bee
Absence of Malice
Title: Absence of Malice
Character: Teresa Perrone
Released: November 19, 1981
Type: Movie
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 allegedly committed—but it involves an innocent party. When he tells Carter the truth and the newspaper runs it, tragedy follows, forcing Carter to face up to the responsibilities of her job when she is confronted by Gallagher.
bee
Hellinger's Law
Title: Hellinger's Law
Character: Anne Gronouski
Released: March 10, 1981
Type: Movie
A flamboyant criminal lawyer named Nick Hellinger takes on the case of a syndicate's accountant (actually a Justice Department agent who has infiltrated the mob) accused of murdering a local TV newscaster.
bee
Fallen Angel
Title: Fallen Angel
Character: Sherry Phillips
Released: February 24, 1981
Type: Movie
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 adult man named Howie and joins the softball team he coaches. Soon, Howie is convincing Jennifer to pose for photographs which become more and more revealing. Howie turns out to be a pedophile who works in child pornography and he plans to make Jennifer a "star". Will Jennifer's mother be able to help her daughter before it's too late?
bee
The Shadow Box
Title: The Shadow Box
Character: Agnes
Released: September 30, 1980
Type: Movie
Over the course of a day in a California hospice, three terminally ill patients are observed with their families reflecting on life and death.
bee
Marriage Is Alive and Well
Title: Marriage Is Alive and Well
Character: Jeannie
Released: January 25, 1980
Type: Movie
A talented wedding photographer, at a crossroads with his own marriage, reflects on tales of past clients and the hope, adversity and romance that holy matrimony brings. Starring as the photographer, football great Joe Namath narrates the unconventional tales of three couples: Judd Hirsch and Melinda Dillon as a twosome who have married and divorced multiple times and who are on the verge of repeating their mistake; an anxious newlywed who prefers the "freedom" that living together allows; and Jack Albertson as an aging comedian who wants to marry his much younger secretary despite the disapproval of his son.
bee
The Muppet Movie
Title: The Muppet Movie
Character: Woman with Balloon
Released: June 22, 1979
Type: Movie
A Hollywood agent persuades Kermit the Frog to pursue a career in Hollywood. On his way there he meets his future muppet crew while being chased by the desperate owner of a frog-leg restaurant!
bee
Title: The Critical List
Character: Dr. Kris Lassiter
Released: September 11, 1978
Type: TV
A hospital director in line for a federal cabinet post discovers that his private life may jeopardize the opportunity and then finds himself in the middle of a scandal involving stolen federal health funds.
bee
F.I.S.T.
Title: F.I.S.T.
Character: Anna Zarinkas
Released: April 26, 1978
Type: Movie
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 his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.
bee
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Character: Jillian Guiler
Released: December 14, 1977
Type: Movie
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
bee
Title: CHiPs
Released: September 15, 1977
Type: TV
Lighthearted look at the adventures of two Highway Patrol officers in Los Angeles. The main characters are Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello, two motorcycle officers always on the street to save lives.
bee
Slap Shot
Title: Slap Shot
Character: Suzanne Hanrahan
Released: February 25, 1977
Type: Movie
To build up attendance at their games, the management of a struggling minor-league hockey team signs up the Hanson Brothers, three hard-charging players whose job is to demolish the opposition.
bee
Bound for Glory
Title: Bound for Glory
Character: Mary / Memphis Sue
Released: December 5, 1976
Type: Movie
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 the suffering and strength of America's working class.
bee
Title: The Jeffersons
Released: January 18, 1975
Type: TV
Sitcom following a successful African-American couple, George and Louise “Weezyö Jefferson as they “move on up” from working-class Queens to a ritzy Manhattan apartment. A spin-off of All in the Family.
bee
The April Fools
Title: The April Fools
Character: Leslie Hopkins
Released: May 28, 1969
Type: Movie
Newly-promoted if none too happily married Howard Brubaker leaves a rowdy company party early with the stunning Catherine, whom it turns out is herself unhappily married — to the boss. They spend an innocent night in New York becoming more and more attracted to each other, so that when Catherine announces she intends to leave her husband and return to Paris Howard asks to go along too.
bee
Title: The Defenders
Character: Jeannie Birch
Released: September 16, 1961
Type: TV
The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, civil rights demonstrators, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing.
bee
Title: Bonanza
Character: Cissy Summers
Released: September 12, 1959
Type: TV
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
bee
The Cry of Jazz
Title: The Cry of Jazz
Character: Faye
Released: March 22, 1959
Type: Movie
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 music and race - a forecast of what he called "the death of jazz." A landmark moment in black film, foreseeing the civil unrest of subsequent decades, it also features the only known footage of visionary pianist Sun Ra from his beloved Chicago period. Featured are ample images of tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and the rest of Ra's Arkestra in Windy City nightclubs, all shot in glorious black & white.
bee
Title: Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Gran Chandler
Released: December 24, 1951
Type: TV
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones. The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.