Golden Globe-winning actress Sally Kirkland has entered hospice nearly a year after friends launched a fundraiser seeking help with “urgent medical care” expenses, the site and her rep confirmed.
Kirkland, 84, is in hospice at a Palm Springs hospital, her rep, Michael Greene, told TMZ. He said he was heading there from New York to be with her and that Cody Galloway, her close friend and former student, is already by her side.
“Thank you for all your love and support,” the fund’s organizers posted on Friday. “Sally is grateful for your kindness and love. Sally is on hospice now and is resting comfortably. Please hold and send the light for Sally.”
The online fundraiser, launched Nov. 18, 2024, by Galloway and two other friends, said the veteran actress had been struggling and that her money had run out during a months-long health crisis.
“This past year Sally fractured her four bones in her neck, right wrist, and her left hip,” the organizers wrote at the time. “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.”
Bad financial advice had cost Kirkland the money she earned during her peak acting years, as well as “the bulk of her investments” in the 2007 stock market crash, the site said. On top of that, in 2021 SAG-AFTRA had canceled the supplemental insurance that served as Medigap coverage for members over 65, leaving Kirkland in a “chaotic and confusing transition” to a different plan and saddled with out-of-pocket medical expenses that outstripped her savings and monthly pension.
Dementia compounded her health issues, Greene told TMZ.
Born Oct. 31, 1941, the native New Yorker is best known for her Golden Globe-winning portrayal of a middle-aged Czechoslovakian actress mentoring a much younger version of herself (Paulina Porizkova) in 1987’s “Anna.” Kirkland was also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for the role, and her performance won her the Independent Spirit Award and the LA Film Critic’s Circle Award as well.
Kirkland’s 70-year career, starting in the 1960s, has seen her star in more than 300 projects, including 220 movies. Those include “The Sting,” “The Way We Were” and “The 13 Most Beautiful Women,” under Andy Warhol, her first director, according to IMDBpro. Other credits include “Private Benjamin,” “EdTV,” “Bruce Almighty,” “JFK” and numerous others.
On the small screen she has guest-starred on “Criminal Minds” and had recurring roles in the original “Roseanne,” “Felicity” and “Days of Our Lives,” as well as numerous other appearances.
