American actress, on-screen from 1966 in films that include “Bonnie and Clyde,” 1967, for which she was Oscar nominated as Best Actress, “Little Big Man,” 1970, “Chinatown,” 1974, which gave her her second Best Actress Oscar nomination, “Three Days of the Condor,” 1975, and “Network,” 1976, for which she won Oscar as Best Actress.
She grew up as an Army brat on military posts and spent her teens as a survivor of a broken home in a small southern town. Turning down a Fulbright scholarship to study acting, the green-eyed beauty was noticed in a couple stage plays that led to an invitation to Hollywood.
She had an affair with Marcello Mastroianni after making “Bonnie,” her third movie. In 1974 she married Peter Wolf for four years and made a second marriage to photographer Terry O’Neill in 1983. Their adopted son Liam was born in 1980. She and O’Neill moved to England but a divorce returned her to the States in 1987.
Her career resumed in full force with “Barfly,” for which she won critical praise. An outstanding career held one noticeable blemish, her over-the-top portrayal of Joan Crawford in “Mommie Dearest,” 1981. (This film achieved the notoriety of the highest “blemish” for receiving the “Golden Raspberry Award” in 1981.)
A strong personality, Dunaway likes to be in control. Her attempt at a TV sit-com, “It Had to be You,” 1994, lasted four episodes. This was not a good year. She was also fired from Webber’s “Sunset Blvd” in June; she sued for having her contract broken, and settled out of court.
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