Oscar nominee Penelope Milford passes away at 77

Penelope Milford, an Oscar nominee, passed away at the age of 77.

The actor, who received an Oscar nomination for her supporting turn as Jane Fonda's bohemian roommate in Coming Home, died in an assisted living facility in Saugerties, New York, her sister Candace Sint told The Hollywood Reporter.

Milford’s professional career on the New York stage began in 1971 where she co-starred opposite Richard Gere in an Off-Broadway production of Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone, which was based on the life of musician-novelist Richard Farina.

Milford also portrayed a silent-film star in Ken Russell's Valentino, played the fiancée of Don Murray's character in Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love, and was the hippie Westerburg High School guidance counsellor Pauline Fleming in 1988's Heathers.

In 1978's Coming Home, Milford portrayed Vi Munson, whose brother, played by Robert Carradine, had returned home after just two weeks in Vietnam with severe emotional problems.

Milford landed one of Coming Home's four acting Oscar nominations, with Fonda and Jon Voight winning the Best Actress and Best Actor prizes.

It is also pertinent to mention that Penelope Milford was briefly married in the 1980s to poet Michael Lally and in addition to her sister, survivors include her brother, Douglas, and three nieces and nephews.