‘Dallas’ Star Priscilla Pointer Dead at 100

Actress Priscilla Pointer, who appeared in a long string of TV and movie projects that included Dallas, has died.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Pointer’s daughter, actress Amy Irving, shared the news via social media.

“Priscilla Pointer, acclaimed stage television and film actress, and mother of David, Katie, and Amy Irving, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 100, hopefully to run off with her 2 adoring husbands and her many dogs,” she writes.

“She most definitely will be missed.”

Though Pointer appeared in a number of prominent films including Carrie, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Blue Velvet, The Falcon and the Snowman and more, she made her career as a character actor, molding her identity to fit the role instead of becoming a bankable movie star.

Dallas was a major standout on her resume, as she began appearing on the iconic nighttime soap opera in 1981, at the height of its success.

Pointer played Rebecca Barnes Wentworth, the long-estranged mother of Victoria Principal’s character, Pamela Ewing, and that plotline was prominent for several seasons before her character died in 1983 during Season 6.

Born on May 18, 1924, to a couple of artists in New York City, Pointer grew up immersed in the arts.

She began working at the Actor’s Workshop in her 20s, answering phones, appearing in plays and learning the business from the ground up.

Pointer made her Broadway debut in a revival of Danton’s Death in 1965, and theater would continue to be an important part of her career.

She worked on Broadway with the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center company under the direction of her first husband, Jules Irving, in the 1960s and ’70s, and they also co-founded the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop.

Pointer’s son, writer-director David Irving, tells the Hollywood Reporter that she died of natural causes on Monday (April 28) at an assisted living facility in Ridgefield, Ct.

Victoria Principal turned to Instagram to remember Pointer, writing, “Priscilla Pointer, my favorite TV mama & a wonderful woman, passed away today. My sincere condolences to Amy Irving & all of Priscilla’s family. Always a special place in my heart. RIP.”