Penelope Milford, Coming Home Oscar-Nominated Actress, Dies at 77

Oscar-nominated actress Penelope Milford has died at 77. 

Milford died Tuesday, Oct. 14, in an assisted living facility in Saugerties, N.Y. The cause of death was not immediately available. 

The actress, born in St. Louis, Mo., on March 23, 1948, was best known for her role as Vi Munson in Hal Ashby’s Coming Home. Milford stars alongside Jane Fonda’s Sally Hyde, as her roommate. Vi is the sister of Bill Munson, played by Robert Carradine, who comes home after two weeks in Vietnam with severe emotional problems. He resides at the Veterans Administration hospital, where Hyde decides to volunteer.

Milford was one of three actors in the 1978 film to be nominated for an Oscar. Fonda was nominated for Best Actress, and Jon Voight was nominated for Best Actor. 

Milford played many roles in her career, including silent-film star Lorna Sinclair in Valentino, the fiancée of Don Murray’s Hugh Butterfield in Endless Love (1981) and high school guidance counselor Pauline Fleming in Heathers (1988). She made her film debut in Norman Mailer’s 1970 Maidstone. 

In 1971, she appeared in an off-Broadway production of the musical Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone alongside Richard Gere. In 1972, Milford joined the Broadway cast of Lenny, a play that follows the life of stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce. In 1975, Milford was nominated for a Drama Desk award for her performance as Jenny Anderson in the Civil War musical Shenandoah. Milford originated the role of Jenny. 

Along with appearing in films and on the stage, Milford taught acting in Chicago and Minneapolis through the ‘90s, performed at the local theater in Saugerties and sang in the Bard Symphonic Chorus. 

Her younger brother Richard Kim Milford died of heart failure in 1980 at the age of 37. She is survived by her brother Douglas Milford and sister Candace Saint.