Olympia Dukakis, late-blooming Oscar winner for 'Moonstruck,' dies at 89 [View all]

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Olympia Dukakis, a versatile actress who toiled in obscurity onstage for decades before her Oscar-winning breakthrough at 56 as Cher’s sardonic mother in the romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” died May 1 at her home in New York City. She was 89.

The death was confirmed by her representative, Allison Levy, who did not specify the cause.

“Moonstruck” (1987) — about the exasperation, disappointment and unpredictability of love — was a light comedic showcase for Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia and Ms. Dukakis as Brooklynites in the throes of agony and ecstasy.

As the tart-tongued matriarch Rose Castorini, Ms. Dukakis suffers the infidelity of her neglectful husband (played by Gardenia), a prosperous plumbing contractor, and finds herself the object of the sexual fascination of a womanizing professor (John Mahoney), whose momentary ardor she gently tames.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/olympia-dukakis-dead/2021/05/01/b5a7a7d6-a691-11ea-b619-3f9133bbb482_story.html