Penelope Milford dead at 77: Oscar-nominated Coming Home actress

Actress Penelope Milford has died at 77. 

The talented actress who was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in 1978 film Coming Home passed away Tuesday in Saugerties, New York.

Her brother Doug Milford confirmed her death but no cause has been revealed. 

She starred as Vi Munson in the Hal Ashby directed flick which also starred Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, and Bruce Dern. 

 The film was set in California and is centered around a woman whose husband is a Marine officer fighting in Vietnam falls in love with a former high school classmate who suffered a paralyzing combat injury in the war.

Her character Vi was the sister of Robert Carradine's character Bill Munson who came home with grave emotional problems after just two weeks in Vietnam and resides at the Veterans Administration hospital.

She ultimately lost out on the Oscar to Maggie Smith for her role in California Suite back in 1978. 

The film earned three Oscars total including Best Actress for Fonda and Best Actor for Voight. 

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Milford was also known her her work on stage as in 1974 she originated the role of Jenny Anderson in the Broadway musical Shenandoah.

She was also recognized for her efforts as she received a nod for a Drama Desk Award at the inaugural ceremony in 1975. 

However, she ultimately lost out to castmate Donna Theodore from the same production. 

Shenandoah was a musical adapted from a 1965 film of the same name starring Jimmy Stewart centered around a  Virginia farmer who has vowed to remain neutral during the Civil War is spurred into action when his youngest son is taken by Union soldiers.

Milford was born March 23, 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri before she moved to Illinois with her family where she grew up.

Her acting career in New York began in 1971 where she 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.

Just a year later she made her Broadway debut in Lenny which was written by Julian Berry. 

Lead actor Cliff Gorman earned a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his work on the play directed and scored by Tom O'Horgan.

The work was centered around the life and career of legendary American stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce and was later adapted to the big screen with Dustin Hoffman taking the lead role in 1974. 

Her first role in film was in Norman Mailer's 1970 film Maidstone  which was known for being very edgy for the time.

She also starred as a silent film star in biopic Valentino directed by Ken Russell in 1977. 

Her career continued with roles on television in the 1980s including TV play The Oldest Living Graduate (1980) which she starred in with Henry Fonda, Cloris Leachman, and Timothee Hutton and earned two primetime Emmy Awards.\

Milford also starred in television movies Seizure: The Story Of Kathy Morris (1980) with Leonard Nimoy and  The Burning Bed (1984) with Farrah Fawcett, as the later earned a WGA Award and Golden Globe.

However, toward the end of the decade, Milford reportedly became dissatisfied with her acting career as she acted in a few more films including Heathers (1988) and Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1996).

She later transitioned into teaching film acting in Chicago and Minneapolis through the 1990s.

Milford later moved to the Hudson Valley village of Saugerties in New York in 2003 where she became a preservationist.

She did keep her acting career going there as she performed at the local theater, sang in the Bard Symphonic Chorus, and was even active in the Woodstock Christian Science Church.