Oscar-nominated actress Penelope Milford, whose powerful performance in the 1978 Vietnam War drama Coming Home earned her a place among Hollywood’s most respected performers, passed away on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, at an assisted living facility in Saugerties, New York. She was 77 years old.
Milford’s sister, Candace Saint, and brother, Douglas Milford, confirmed her death to multiple news outlets. No cause of death was disclosed, though The Hollywood Reporter noted she had been in a car accident in July.
Born on March 23, 1948, in St. Louis, Missouri, Milford later relocated with her family to Illinois, where she graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka. Her path to stardom began on the stages of New York, where she studied acting with Wynn Handman at the American Place Theater. Her professional career launched in 1971 when she co-starred opposite Richard Gere in an off-Broadway production of Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone, a musical based on the life of musician-novelist Richard Farina. The two performers were rumored to have dated during the production.
Milford made her Broadway debut in 1972 in Julian Barry’s Tony Award-winning play Lenny, which starred Sandy Baron as comedian Lenny Bruce. Three years later, she returned to Broadway for the Civil War musical Shenandoah, earning a Drama Desk nomination as featured actress for her portrayal of Jenny Anderson. Clive Barnes of The New York Times called her performance “fetching” and noted that “she sang with spirit.”
While Milford had appeared in Norman Mailer’s edgy independent film Maidstone in 1970 and played a silent-film star in Ken Russell’s 1977 biopic Valentino, it was her role in Hal Ashby’s Coming Home that established her as a Hollywood standout. She portrayed Vi Munson, a free-spirited woman whose brother, played by Robert Carradine, returns home from Vietnam after just two weeks with severe emotional problems. Her friendship with Jane Fonda’s character Sally Hyde, a conservative military wife, leads Sally to volunteer at a Veterans Administration hospital, where the film’s central romance develops with Jon Voight’s wounded veteran.
The film garnered nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and Milford secured one of four acting nominations. She competed in the Best Supporting Actress category but lost to Maggie Smith for California Suite. Fonda and Voight took home the Best Actress and Best Actor awards, respectively. At the height of her career in 1978, Milford told The New York Times, “My dream is to do the story of Irene Castle, the ballroom dancer. She influenced women incredibly.”
Throughout the 1980s, Milford maintained a steady presence in both film and television. She appeared in Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love in 1981 as the fiancée of Don Murray’s character and took on several notable television roles. She co-starred with Henry Fonda, Cloris Leachman and Timothy Hutton in the Emmy-winning TV movie The Oldest Living Graduate in 1980, worked alongside Leonard Nimoy in Seizure: The Story of Kathy Morris that same year, and appeared in the landmark 1984 TV film The Burning Bed starring Farrah Fawcett. The latter production, which focused on spousal abuse, received numerous accolades including a Writers Guild of America award and a Golden Globe.
One of Milford’s most memorable later roles came in 1988’s dark comedy Heathers, where she played Pauline Fleming, the hippie guidance counselor at Westerburg High School, opposite Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannen Doherty. Her other film credits included Take This Job and Shove It in 1981 with Barbara Hershey, Cold Justice in 1991, and John McNaughton’s gritty crime thriller Normal Life in 1996. Her final screen appearance was in the 1999 dark comedy Night of the Lawyers.
Beyond her acting career, Milford demonstrated a diverse range of interests and talents. She operated an art gallery in Los Angeles from 1985 to 1987 and later taught film acting in Chicago and Minneapolis throughout the 1990s. In 2003, she moved to the Hudson Valley village of Saugerties, where she dedicated herself to historic preservation, restoring a historic residence and supporting efforts to maintain the community’s storied commercial district and homes.
In Saugerties, Milford remained active in the arts community, performing in local theater productions and singing in the Bard Symphonic Chorus. She was also an active member of the Woodstock Christian Science church. Her commitment to her local community reflected the same dedication she brought to her professional career.
Milford’s younger brother, Richard Kim Milford, preceded her in death. An actor and singer who originated the role of Rocky in the stage production of The Rocky Horror Show and performed with guitarist Jeff Beck, he died of heart failure in 1988 at age 37.
Milford was briefly married to poet Michael Lally in the 1980s.
She is survived by her sister Candace Saint, brother Douglas Milford, and three nieces and nephews: Ollie, Amari and Correll.
