SHENANDOAH Star Penelope Milford Passes Away at 77

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Penelope Milford, Academy Award and Drama Desk-nominated actress and Broadway alum, has passed away at the age of 77. Milford starred in a slew of television and film projects in the 1970s and '80s, along with appearances in two Broadway productions. 

In 1971, Milford starred opposite Richard Gere in the off-Broadway musical Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone, which chronicled the life of singer and writer Richard Fariña. She officially made her Broadway debut in 1972 with Julian Barry's play Lenny, about the life and career of comic Lenny Bruce. 

Her second (and final) Broadway credit came three years later in Shenandoah, a musical from Gary Geldon and Peter Udell based on the 1965. The production was a success, receiving six Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, and taking home two. For her performance as Jenny Anderson, Milford was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.

On screen, Milford made early appearances in films such as Man on a Swing and Ken Russell's Valenino. Her claim to fame came in 1978 with Hal Ashby's Coming Home, in which she starred alongside Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, and Bruce Dern. All four of the main cast members, including Milford, were nominated for Academy Awards, with Voight and Fonda both winning.

Other notable screen credits include the TV presentation of the play The Oldest Living Graduate, Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love, The Burning Bed, and the 1989 cult classic Heathers. 

According to Variety, she later left Hollywood for a career in academia, teaching in Chicago and Minneappolis, before eventually settling in the Hudson Valley, and working as a preservationist of local history.