Melinda Dillon dead: actress dies at 83

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Melinda Dillon in Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Photo: Columbia Pictures / Everett Collection / picture alliance

Melinda Dillon is dead. According to an obituary, the US actress died on January 9 at the age of 83.

Dillon is best known for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Merry Christmas (1983) and Magnolia (1999), among others.

She was twice nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

She began her career in theater and received a Tony Award nomination for her first major role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf on Broadway.

Numerous show business colleagues took to Twitter to express their sadness at the news of Dillon's death.

Barbra Streisand, for example, remembers Dillon as "a great actress with a wonderful delicacy."

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