Priscilla Pointer, who played matriarch Rebecca Wentworth in Dallas for six seasons, has passed away age 100.
The veteran actress was living in an assisted living facility in Ridgefield, Connecticut, according to her son, David Irving.
An enduring legacy
She is survived by her three children, including David, Katie, and Amy, an actress in her own right who appeared alongside her mother in several projects.
Amy, who was married to famed director Steven Spielberg from 1985 until 1989, played the title role in the smash-hit 1976 horror film Carrie, with Priscilla playing her on-screen mother. They went on to join forces for six more films, pointing to a successful creative partnership between the two.
The Oscar-nominated actress took to Instagram to announce her mother’s passing, posting a series of photos of Priscilla throughout her life alongside a simple caption that read: “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.”
© ABCPriscilla was a prolific actress and appeared in shows like The A-Team, The Flash, L.A. Law, E.R. and Judging Amy. She also starred in Blue Velvet and Mommie Dearest, along with several other film credits. She was a talented theatre actress, making her Broadway debut in 1965 in a revival of Danton’s Death.
In Dallas, Priscilla played Rebecca Wentworth, the wife of an oil tycoon who is the long-lost mother of Cliff and Pam Barnes, played by Ken Kercheval and Victoria Principal respectively.
The revelation that she is their mother kicked off the plot of the show, and the actress embodied the character with gusto and gravitas. Rebecca died in season six when the plane she was in crashed mid-air, ending Priscilla’s run on the iconic show.
A loving mother
© InstagramPriscilla was married to filmmaker and theatre director Jules Irving until 1979, when he tragically passed away at 54 years old after suffering a heart attack.
She had welcomed kids David, 75, Katie, 74, and Amy, 71, with her late husband, and had founded the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop with him in 1962 alongside director Herbert Blau and his wife Beatrice Manley.
“Instead of using babysitters, Mama would put us in the front row where she could watch us from the stage,” Amy revealed in a 1994 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
© Getty Images“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.”
The Dallas star went on to marry her old friend and theatre director Robert Symonds in 1980, and the pair remained steadfast together until he died in 2007.
Priscilla leaves behind eight grandchildren, as well as her three kids.
