Priscilla Pointer has died at the age of 100.
Pointer’s death was announced on Instagram by her daughter, Amy Irving, who shared that Pointer died on Monday, April 28.
“Priscilla Pointer, acclaimed stage television and film actress, and mother of David, Katie, and Amy Irving, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 100, hopefully to run off with her 2 adoring husbands and her many dogs. She most definitely will be missed,” Irving wrote.
Pointer’s son, David Irving, told USA Today that she died in an assisted living facility in Ridgefield, Conn., of natural causes.
Pointer had a long career on Broadway, in addition to many film and television roles. She appeared on 44 episodes of Dallas as Rebecca Barnes Wentworth from 1981 to 1983.
Pointer was born in New York City in 1924 to artist parents. In 1954, she appeared on the TV series China Smith (also known as The New Adventures of China Smith), but otherwise, her early career was focused on the stage. She and husband Jules Irving, whom she wed in 1947, were founding members of the San Francisco Actors Workshop in 1952.
Pointer made her Broadway debut in Danton’s Death in 1965. Between then and 1973, she would appear in multiple other productions, including The Time of Your Life, Yerma and A Streetcar Named Desire.
Beginning in 1969, she began making more frequent TV appearances. Her credits included N.Y.P.D., The Failing of Raymond, Adam-12, Knots Landing, ER and Newhart.
Pointer and Jules welcomed three children, Katie, David and Amy. David became a director like his father, while Amy followed Pointer into acting.
“My parents told me it was tough to be an actress,” Amy told PEOPLE in 1978. “They wanted to make sure I had the right training.” She ended up attending New York’s High School of Music and Art and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and appeared many times with her mother on stage.
“I can’t imagine a more wonderful way of growing up,” Amy told the Los Angeles Times in 1994 of her childhood. “Instead of using babysitters, Mama would put us in the front row where she could watch us from the stage. My father was an amazing artistic director, and the values of the Actor’s Workshop were special. It was about the work, not money or fame. Things were very disillusioning when I got out into the real world.”
Pointer and Amy worked on screen together six times, including in 1976’s Carrie, 1980’s Honeysuckle Rose and in 1996’s Carried Away. “Part of doing Carrie was to be able to say I worked with my mom,” Amy told Glide Magazine in 2023.
Other films for Pointer included Mommie Dearest, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Blue Velvet and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Her longest TV role came on Dallas.
After her husband’s death in 1979, Pointer married Robert Symonds. They had first met as actors in San Francisco in 1954, but remained friends through their marriages to other people.
“We’ve been acting together over 45 years, married 18. It’s been a long history,” Symonds told Backstage in 1998. One of the rare times they shared the screen together was 1984’s Micki + Maude, which starred Amy, Ann Reinking and Dudley Moore.
“We much prefer theater,” Pointer told the outlet. “It’s a religion. What is your religion? It’s theater.” They were together until his death in 2007.
Tributes have poured in on social media for Pointer, including one from Victoria Principal, who remembered her in a statement that read: “Priscilla Pointer, my favorite TV mama & a wonderful woman, passed away today. My sincere condolences to Amy Irving & all of Priscilla’s family. Always a special place in my heart. RIP ❤️🕊️”
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Pointer is survived by her children.
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