Bruce Almighty Actress Sally Kirkland Dies at 84 After Dementia Battle

Bruce Almighty actress Sally Kirkland has died aged 84.

The Golden Globe winner passed away after a battle with dementia just two days after it was reported she had entered a hospice in Palm Springs.

Her spokesperson, Michael Greene, told TMZ she was pronounced dead at 1:50pm PT on Tuesday morning. 

A GoFundMe previously set up for Kirkland revealed the actress faced ‘two separate life-threatening infections’ after fracturing multiple bones this past year.

Kirkland’s publicist Dominic Friesen previously told the Daily Mail in a separate statement that the actress had been ‘receiving medical care at a private facility where family and friends joined her on Halloween for a birthday celebration.’

While Greene told TMZ Kirkland suffered dementia this past year, Friesen told the Daily Mail she ‘was not being treated for dementia.’

A GoFundMe set up to raise money for Kirkland’s medical expenses had stated: ‘This past year Sally fractured her four bones in her neck, right wrist, and her left hip.

‘While recovering she developed two separate life-threatening infections.

‘The combination of these injuries and infections have required extensive hospitalizations and rehab beyond the 100 days insurance will cover.’

The legendary actress is best known for her films The Sting and Anna, the ladder of which earned her an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win. 

Kirkland’s illustrious acting career goes back to the 1960s, with IMDb listing her first-ever role in the 1960 movie Crack In The Mirror.

In the years to follow, she made appearances in a slew of classic TV shows including Hawaii Five-O, Three’s Company, and Charlie’s Angels. 

Kirkland had a comeback when she co-starred with model Paulina Porizkova in the drama Anna in 1987, landing her a Best Actress Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win.

Other notable big screen roles was the part of Anita Mann in Bruce Almighty and a starring role in the Kevin Costner led film JFK.

Kirkland also starred in the 2014 short Tom in America.  

More recently she was a part of the star-studded cast for 80 For Brady, the film starring Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Morena, and Lily Tomlin as massive Tom Brady fans.  

On the small screen, she starred in the TV movies Heat Wave, Steel Magnolias, and was also a regular on Felicity. 

She’s also worked with Hollywood heavyweights Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting. 

She also has served as the inspiration for others. 

A 2024 film Sallywood follows an aspiring writer and Kirkland fan who attempts to revive her career after a chance meeting with the actress. 

Not only that, but she rubbed elbows with influential types as well; she was a member of Andy Warhol’s factory. 

Kirkland got her start as a model.

She told Jeff Cramer in 2016: ‘My mother was the assistant editor of Vogue for many years and then she was fashion editor of Vogue I think from ’47, ’48 and she was the first person to put multiple models on one page.

‘She was also the first person to bring Italian fashions to this country post-war. So I was brought up as a child being photographed by Irving Penn for Vogue and eventually Richard Avedon as well.

‘I had this whole socialite modeling career with my mother not because I really wanted to, because I was painfully shy, but she just kept putting me in these situations where I was in front of the camera.’

But that changed when she met her idol.

‘I was obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and also at 18 I had met Shelley Winters who took me under her wing, adopted me,’ she said.

‘She had lived with Marilyn. So she gave me Marilyn’s shoes that were open toe, open back and they were called F*** Me Shoes according to Shelley. I wore them everywhere,’ she added.