Kirkland was a fixture of Andy Warhol’s Factory scene in the ‘60s and trained with legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg.

Sally Kirkland, the Oscar-nominated star of Anna, JFK, and Bruce Almighty, dies at 84

Kirkland was a fixture of Andy Warhol’s Factory scene in the ‘60s and trained with legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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November 11, 2025 10:17 a.m. ET

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Sally Kirkland in 2019. Credit:

John Wolfsohn/Getty

Sally Kirkland, the legendary star of films like *Anna, JFK*, and *Bruce Almighty*,* *and a fixture of Andy Warhol’s Factory scene in the ‘60s, has died at the age of 84.

Her representative, Michael Greene, confirmed to the *Associated Press* that the actress died on Tuesday, Nov. 11, in Palm Springs, Calif. ** has reached out to Kirkland's reps for comment.

Kirkland’s acting career spanned six decades, ran the gamut from film to TV to the stage, and comprised over 250 roles. After rising from one of the most vibrant counter-cultural scenes in 20th-century American history and receiving instruction from her generation’s most influential theorists of acting, Kirkland worked steadily for two decades before receiving the greatest honor of her career — the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her performance in the 1987 comedy-drama *Anna*.**

Paulina Porizkova and Sally Kirkland in 'Anna'.

Vestron Pictures/ Everett

Kirkland was born on Halloween in 1941 in New York City. In a 2022 interview, Kirkland detailed how her father, Frederick, descended from local royalty in Philadelphia: a former judge and mayor of the city.

“I was put in the Philadelphia social register when I was a teenager as a Philadelphia debutante,” she shared. Her mother, also named Sally Kirkland, was a notable fashion editor who worked first at *TIME *and then *Vogue*.

Kirkland’s pedigree landed her on her feet at that latter sartorial institution. A brief stint as a model digressed into roles in numerous off-Broadway productions, where she acted opposite James Earl Jones and Sam Waterston.

While coming into her own in New York City, Kirkland got wrapped up with the emergent scene around the idiosyncratic artist Andy Warhol. Kirkland frequented Warhol’s legendary studio, The Factory, and even appeared in one of his famed screen tests in 1965. She also featured in an infamous film shot by that screen test’s co-author, Gerard Malanga — *The 13 Most Beautiful Women*, in which Kirkland was tied to a chair nude and filmed doing nothing for 45 minutes.

The actress remembered “having a nervous breakdown” during production in a 2013 interview, “and then I fell in love with my captor and all of that, so there was a lot of emotion with tears and my face.”

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Friends of Oscar-nominated actress Sally Kirkland fundraise for her medical care

**Following her lead role in the landmark experimental film *Going Home *in 1971, Kirkland quit the Factory scene for greener pastures. What followed was a years-long streak that saw Kirkland put in some of the best work of her career, culminating in the Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination for *Anna*.

Kirkland then acted alongside Robert Redford in two 1973 gems, *The Way We Were *and *The Sting*, and collaborated with the likes of Richard Brooks, Gladys Knight, Jonathan Demme, Nancy Meyers, and Neil Young.

More acclaim followed *Anna*. Kirkland was nominated for another Golden Globe for her performance as the bedeviled matriarch Janet Smurl in the ripped-from-the-headlines supernatural miniseries *The Haunted*.

Sally Kirkland during The 45th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Kirkland maintained her adventurous spirit to the final years of her career, acting in short films, experimental films, horror shockers, touching dramas, festival contenders, and made-for-TV fare.

She also didn’t shy away from the small screen. Kirkland racked up walk-on and single-episode appearances in dozens of the most beloved series of the past 50 years, from *Kojak*, *Three’s Company*, and *Charlie’s Angels*, to *Roseanne*, *Felicity*, and *Days of Our Lives*, on which she had a guest stint as Tracey Simpson.

In recent years, Kirkland suffered from a number of health woes. The actress was rushed to the hospital in 2018 after a fall, leaving her with multiple lacerations on her face. Last year, Kirkland’s friends launched a fundraiser to cover expenses during a battle against a number of bone breaks and infections.

"For those who know Sally personally, she has been a limitless source of generosity, kindness, and unwavering spirit,” Kirkland’s friends wrote at the time. “She has always prioritized being there for others, given everything she has to her craft, her church, her friends, and her community.”**

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Source: “EW Movies”