Melinda Dillon (born Melinda Ruth Clardy, October 13, 1939) is a retired American actress. She received a 1963 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway debut in the original production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles as Jillian Guiler in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Teresa in Absence of Malice (1981).

Is Melinda Dillon related to Matt Dillon?

No relation to Matt Dillon. She has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), The Muppet Movie (1979), and A Christmas Story (1983)

Though best known for her supporting performances in films, Dillon began as an improvisational comedian and stage actress.

Her first major role was as Honey in the original 1962 Broadway production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, and she also appeared in You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running and Paul Sill’s Story Theatre.

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