Jill Clayburgh R.I.P.

Actress Jill Clayburgh passed on November 5 at the age of 66. The cause was chronic leukaemia.

Jill Clayburgh was born in New York City on April 30, 1944. She attended Brearley School and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in theatre in 1966. She made her debut on Broadway two years later in 1968 in The Sudden & Accidental Re-Education of Horse Johnson. Miss Clayburgh would appear again on Broadway several times, in the plays The Rothschilds (1972), Pippin (1972), Jumpers (1985), Design for Living (1984), A Naked Girl in the Appian Way (2005), and a revival of Barefoot in the Park (2007).

Jill Clayburgh made her television debut on an episode of N.Y.P.D. in 1968. Her film debut was in The Wedding Party (1969). In the Seventies she appeared in such films as The Telephone Book (1971), Portnoy's Complaint (1972), The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973), The Terminal Man (1974), Gable and Lombard (1976), Silver Streak (1976), An Unmarried Woman (1978), Starting Over (1979--for which she was nominated for an Oscar), and It's My Turn (1980). She appeared in such shows as Medical Centre, Maude, and The Rockford Files.

In the Eighties Miss Clayburgh appeared in the movies First Monday in October (1981), I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982), Shy People (1987), and Beyond the Ocean (1990). In the Nineties she appeared in the movies Pretty Hattie's Baby (1991), Whispers in the Dark (1992), Rich in Love (1992), Naked in New York (1993), Going All the Way (1997), and Fools Rush In (1997). She appeared on the shows Law and Order and Frasier. She was a regular on the show Everything's Relative. In the Naughts she appeared in the films Never Again (2001), Falling (2001), Running with Scissors (2006), and Love and Other Drugs (2010). In the Teens she will appear in the film Bridesmaids (2011), her final film. She was a regular on the shows Leap of Faith and Dirty Sexy Money. She appeared in the shows Ally McBeal, The Practice, and Nip/Tuck.