MAPLEWOOD, N.J. -- Olympia Dukakis, the veteran stage and screen actor whose flair for maternal roles helped her win an Oscar as Cher's mother in the romantic comedy "Moonstruck," has died. She was 89.
Dukakis, who was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, had yearned to be an actor from an early age and had hoped to study drama in college. Her Greek immigrant parents insisted she pursue a more practical education, so she studied physical therapy at Boston University on a scholarship from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
She and Zorich had three children -- Christina, Peter and Stefan. They decided it was too hard to raise children in New York with limited income, so they moved the family to a century-old house in Montclair, a New Jersey suburb of New York.
Great actresses 🙏
Liked her her in Moonstruck. RIPOlympiaDukakis
🥺 oh no!
Great actress.
This is very sad. I loved her to bits. Especially in Maupin's Tales of the City. RIP Olivia.
😣