Jill Clayburgh Biography

Jill Clayburgh (April 30, 1944 " November 5, 2010) was an American actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles in An Unmarried Woman (1978) and Starting Over (1979).

Personal life

Clayburgh was born in New York City, the daughter of Julia Louise (née Dorr), a theatrical production secretary for producer David Merrick, and Albert Henry "Bill" Clayburgh, a manufacturing executive. Her paternal grandmother was concert and opera singer Alma Lachenbruch Clayburgh.

Clayburgh's father came from a wealthy, Jewish family. She was raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where she attended the Brearley School. She then attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she decided that she wanted to be an actress.

Clayburgh married screenwriter and playwright David Rabe in 1979. They had one son, Michael Rabe, and one daughter, actress Lily Rabe. Prior to this, she had dated actor Al Pacino for five years (and briefly appeared with him in a November 1968 N.Y.P.D. episode, "Deadly Circle Of Violence").

Career

Clayburgh joined the Charles Street Repertory Theater in Boston. She appeared in numerous Broadway productions in the 1960s and 1970s, including The Rothschilds and Pippin. Clayburgh made her screen debut in The Wedding Party, filmed in 1963 but not released until six years later, and gained attention with roles such as the love interest of Gene Wilder in the 1976 comedy-mystery Silver Streak, co-starring Richard Pryor. She also starred in the critically acclaimed romantic drama Griffin and Phoenix, opposite Peter Falk.

She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for 1978's An Unmarried Woman, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and for 1979's Starting Over, a comedy with Burt Reynolds. She also received strong notices for a dramatic performance in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can.

Her other films include Portnoy's Complaint, Gable and Lombard (in which she portrayed screen legend Carole Lombard), as a pro football team owner's daughter in Semi-Tough, as a mathematician in It's My Turn (in which she teaches the proof of the snake lemma), as a conservative Supreme Court justice in First Monday in October and in Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial La Luna, a role in which her character masturbates her son in an attempt to ease his withdrawal from heroin.

Television audiences know Clayburgh from numerous roles in series and movies including Law & Order, The Practice and as Ally McBeal's mother. She received Emmy Award nominations for her work in the made-for-television movie Hustling in 1975 and for guest appearances in the series Nip/Tuck in 2005.

In 2006, she appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park with Patrick Wilson and Amanda Peet; she played Peet's mother, a role originated by Mildred Natwick. She also returned to the screen as a therapist's eccentric wife in the all-star ensemble dramedy Running With Scissors, an autobiographical tale of teenage angst and dysfunction based on the book by Augusten Burroughs. During 2007, Clayburgh appeared in the ABC television series Dirty Sexy Money, playing Letitia Darling.

Death

Clayburgh had chronic lymphocytic leukemia for more than 20 years before dying from the disease at her home in Lakeville, Connecticut, on November 5, 2010. The movie Love and Other Drugs was dedicated to her memory. The 2011 film Bridesmaids was Clayburgh's final film appearance.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1968	N.Y.P.D.	Woman in park	Episode: "Deadly Circle of Violence"
1969	The Wedding Party	Josephine
1971	The Telephone Book	Bit Part	(uncredited)
1972	Portnoy's Complaint	Naomi
1972	The Snoop Sisters	Mary Nero	Episode: "The Female Instinct"
1973	The Thief Who Came to Dinner	Jackie
1974	The Terminal Man	Angela Black
1974	Medical Center	Beverly	Episode: "Choice of Evils"
1974	Maude	Adele	Episode: "Walter's Heart Attack"
1974	The Rockford Files	Marilyn Polonski	Episode: "The Big Ripoff"
1975	Hustling	Wanda	Television movie Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1976	Gable and Lombard	Carole Lombard
1976	Griffin and Phoenix	Sarah Phoenix	Television movie
1976	Silver Streak	Hilly Burns
1977	Semi-Tough	Barbara Jane Bookman
1978	An Unmarried Woman	Erica	Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama
1979	La Luna	Caterina Silveri	Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama
1979	Starting Over	Marilyn Holmberg	Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated "? American Movie Award for Best Actress Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1980	It's My Turn	Kate Gunzinger
1981	First Monday in October	Ruth Loomis	Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1982	I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can	Barbara Gordon
1983	Hanna K.	Hanna Kaufman
1986	Miles To Go	Moira Browning	Television movie
1986	Where Are The Children?	Nancy Holder Eldridge
1987	Shy People	Diana Sullivan
1990	Oltre l'oceano	Ellen	aka Beyond the Ocean (USA)
1991	Pretty Hattie's Baby	Unknown
1992	Whispers in the Dark	Sarah Green
1992	Le grand pardon II	Sally White	aka Day of Atonement
1993	Naked in New York	Shirley, Jake's mother
1993	Rich in Love	Helen Odom
1994	For the Love of Nancy	Sally Walsh	Television movie
1997	Going All the Way	Alma Burns
1997	Fools Rush In	Nan Whitman
1998	Law & Order	Sheila Atkins	Episode: "Divorce"
1998	Frasier	Marie	Episode: "The Perfect Guy"
1998	Trinity	Eileen McCallister	3 episodes
1999	Everything's Relative	Mickey Gorelick	4 episodes
1999-2001	Ally McBeal	Jeannie McBeal	4 episodes
2001	Never Again	Grace
2001	Vallen	Ruth	aka Falling
2002	Leap of Faith	Cricket Wardwell	6 episodes
2004	The Practice	Victoria Stewart	3 episodes
2004	Nip/Tuck	Bobbi Broderick	2 episodes Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
2006	Running with Scissors	Agnes Finch
2007"2009	Dirty Sexy Money	Letitia Darling	23 episodes
2010	Love and Other Drugs	Mrs. Randall
2011	Bridesmaids	Annie's mother	Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble Nominated "? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated "? Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated "? Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated "? Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Ensemble