Sissy Spacek

Sissy Spacek

Birth : 1949-12-25, Quitman, Texas, USA

History

Mary Elizabeth Spacek (born December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for four British Academy Film Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. Spacek was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011. Born and raised in Texas, Spacek initially aspired to a career as a recording artist. In 1968, at age 18, she recorded a single, "John, You Went Too Far This Time," under the name Rainbo. Spacek began her professional acting career in the early 1970s, making her debut as an extra in Andy Warhol's Women in Revolt (1971). Her breakout role came with Terrence Malick's influential crime film Badlands (1973), which earned her a nomination for the British Academy Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. She rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Carrie White in Brian De Palma's horror film Carrie (1976), for which she received her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. After appearing in the acclaimed films Welcome to L.A. (1976) and Robert Altman's 3 Women (1977), Spacek won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn in the biographical musical film Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). Spacek's other Oscar-nominated roles include Missing (1982), The River (1984), Crimes of the Heart (1986), and In the Bedroom (2001). Her other prominent films include Raggedy Man (1981), JFK (1991), Affliction (1997), The Straight Story (1999), Tuck Everlasting (2002), Nine Lives (2005), North Country (2005), Four Christmases (2008), Get Low (2010), The Help (2011), and The Old Man & the Gun (2018). She received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the television films The Good Old Boys (1995) and Last Call (2002), and for her guest role on the HBO drama series Big Love (2011). She portrayed matriarch Sally Rayburn on the Netflix drama thriller series Bloodline (2015–2017), Ruth Deaver on the Hulu psychological horror series Castle Rock (2018), and Ellen Bergman on the Amazon Prime Video psychological thriller series Homecoming (2018). Spacek has also ventured into music, and recorded vocals for the soundtrack album of Coal Miner's Daughter, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart and garnered her a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. She also released a studio album, Hangin' Up My Heart (1983), which was critically well-received and peaked at number 17 on Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Profile

Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek

Movies

Sam & Kate
Tina
Bill is an ailing larger-than-life father being taken care of by his son Sam, who has returned home to care for him. While home, Sam falls for a local woman, Kate. At the same time, Bill starts to fall for her mom, Tina.
Without Getting Killed or Caught
Narrator
Follow Guy Clark, Susanna Clark, and Townes Van Zandt as they rise from obscurity to reverence: Guy, the Pancho to Van Zandt’s Lefty, struggling to establish himself as the Dylan Thomas of American music, while Susanna pens hit songs and paints album covers for top artists, and Townes spirals in self-destruction after writing some of Americana music’s most enduring and influential ballads.
The Old Man & the Gun
Jewel
The true story of Forrest Tucker, from his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit are a detective, who becomes captivated with Forrest’s commitment to his craft, and a woman, who loves him in spite of his chosen profession.
De Palma
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
An intimate conversation between filmmakers, chronicling De Palma’s 55-year career, his life, and his filmmaking process, with revealing anecdotes and, of course, a wealth of film clips.
River of Gold
Narrator
Narrated by Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and Herbie Hancock, River of Gold is the disturbing account of a clandestine journey into Peru's Amazon rainforest to uncover the savage unraveling of pristine jungle. What will be the fate of this critical region of priceless biodiversity as these extraordinarily beautiful forests are turned into a hellish wasteland?
Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl
Self / Loretta Lynn
Explore the country legend's hard-fought road to stardom. From her Appalachian roots to the Oscar-winning biopic of her life, Coal Miner's Daughter, Loretta Lynn struggled to balance family and her music career and is still going strong after more than 50 years. The documentary premieres the same day Lynn's first new studio album in over 10 years is released.
And the Oscar Goes To...
Self (archive footage)
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.
Making 'Badlands'
Self
An overview of the making of Badlands (1973).
Deadfall
June
A thriller that follows two siblings who decide to fend for themselves in the wake of a botched casino heist, and their unlikely reunion during another family's Thanksgiving celebration.
The Help
Missus Walters
Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.
Get Low
Mattie Darrow
A movie spun out of equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about the mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who famously threw his own rollicking funeral party... while he was still alive.
Four Christmases
Paula
Brad and Kate have made something of an art form out of avoiding their families during the holidays, but this year their foolproof plan is about go bust -- big time. Stuck at the city airport after all departing flights are canceled, the couple is embarrassed to see their ruse exposed to the world by an overzealous television reporter. Now, Brad and Kate are left with precious little choice other than to swallow their pride and suffer the rounds.
Lake City
Maggie
In this searing Southern drama, a mother and son reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them far apart.
Pictures of Hollis Woods
Josie Cahill
After running away from her last foster placement with the Regan family, twelve year old Hollis Woods is placed with a new foster mother, the loving, retired art teacher, Josie Cahill.
Hot Rod
Marie Powell
For Rod Kimball, performing stunts is a way of life, even though he is rather accident-prone. Poor Rod cannot even get any respect from his stepfather, Frank, who beats him up in weekly sparring matches. When Frank falls ill, Rod devises his most outrageous stunt yet to raise money for Frank's operation -- and then Rod will kick Frank's butt.
Gray Matters
Dr. Sydney
Sam and Gray are such a well-matched pair that it is difficult to believe they are brother and sister rather than husband and wife. They both share a love of 1940s movies and dancing, and when they meet Charlie, they have something else in common: They both fall in love with her. Sam must deal with unexpected feelings of jealousy, while Gray struggles to come to terms with her sexual orientation.
Nine Lives
Ruth
Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life.
An American Haunting
Lucy Bell
Based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit caused the death of a man.
The Ring Two
Evelyn
Rachel Keller must prevent evil Samara from taking possession of her son's soul.
North Country
Alice Aimes
A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States -- Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.
A Home at the End of the World
Alice Glover
Three friends form a bond over the year, Johnathan is gay, Clare is straight and Bobby is neither, instead he loves the people he loves. As their lives go on there is tension and tears which culminate in a strong yet fragile friendship between the three.
Absence of Malick
Self
An overview of the making of Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973), coupled with a examination of the mysterious personality of Malick himself.
A Decade Under the Influence
Self
A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today's best filmmakers interview the influential directors of that time.
Tuck Everlasting
Mae Tuck
Teenager Winnie Foster is growing up in a small rural town in 1914 with her loving but overprotective parents, but Winnie longs for a life of greater freedom and adventure.
Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick
Herself
Rosy-Fingered Dawn is a film on Terrence Malick. It is about the making of BADLANDS, DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE THIN RED LINE and the personal involvement of some of the most representative figures of the American culture itself. This medley of voices has given origin to a journey throughout the whole United States, from California to Colorado, from Virginia to Minnesota, passing by New York and Los Angeles. Every stop represents an ideal set in which all the characters of the films come to life once again giving place to a growing flow of memories. The narrative dimension of Malick's cinema resounds and opens a new horizon on the visible contradictions of the American culture; no easy judgement but a critical consciousness is what emerges from this coral speech, together with a definite need: the necessity of art. A need that Terrence Malick was able to satisfy.
Last Call
Zelda Fitzgerald
Renowned writer F. Scott Fitzgerald is living the last months of his life with his youthful secretary, confidant, and protégé who later wrote a memoir of their time together.
In the Bedroom
Ruth Fowler
Summertime on the coast of Maine, "In the Bedroom" centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Matt Fowler is a doctor practicing in his native Maine and is married to New York born Ruth Fowler, a music teacher. His son is involved in a love affair with a local single mother. As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of unimaginable tragedy.
Visualizing 'Carrie'
Self (archive footage)
The making of "Carrie" (1976) is presented on the film's 25th anniversary with interviews with director Brian De Palma, editor Paul Hirsch, art director Jack Fisk and writer Laurence D. Cohen. The special talks about the book transition to film and the editorial process during filming.
Acting 'Carrie'
Self
In this documentary, director Brian De Palma and the stars from his film "Carrie" (such as Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, Piper Laurie, William Katt, Nancy Allen and others) share stories about the making of the classic horror film 25 years after its release.
Midwives
Sibyl Danforth
It's a cold and stormy night, and in a house in rural Vermont, midwife Sibyl Danforth is, together with the father and an assistant, in the middle of a homebirth. As time passes, the woman in labor meets with difficulties and Sibyl concludes that it would be preferable for the woman to deliver her baby in the hospital. Though a dead telephone line and bad weather prevents Sibyl from going anywhere. Black ice and a persisten snowstorm makes transportation an impossibility. Early in the morning, the woman dies from what they believe to be a stroke and in all the chaos, Sibyl promptly decides to do a C-section to save the baby. The baby survives, but the mother is dead and tragedy is obvious. Yet, it's only going to get worse for Sibyl as her assistant is certain that the woman was still alive when Sibyl performed the C-section. Sibyl is charged with manslaughter, brought before the court and her life is and will forever be changed.
Songs In Ordinary Time
Marie Fermoyle
Based on Mary McGarry Morris' best-selling novel! A struggling mother takes in a mysterious stranger. Is she opening her heart to love ... or harboring a criminal? Mary Fermoyle is a divorcee who must work to keep her family from falling into the throes of poverty. Her vulnerability quickly becomes an easy target for smooth-talking con-man Omar Duvall, who seduces Mary and her family with promises of easy money and success. Eventually she uncovers his lies and discovers for the first time her important contributions to her family and community.
The Rage: Carrie 2
Carrie White (archive footage) (uncredited)
After the suicide of her only friend, Rachel has never felt more on the outside. The one person who reached out to her, Jessie, also happens to be part of the popular crowd that lives to torment outsiders like her. But Rachel has something else that separates her from the rest, a secret amazing ability to move things with her mind. Sue Snell, the only survivor of Carrie White's rampage twenty-two years ago, may hold the key to helping Rachel come to terms with her awesome, but unwanted power. But as Rachel slowly learns to trust, a terrible trap is being laid for her. And making her angry could prove to be fatal.
Blast from the Past
Helen Thomas Webber
Following a bomb scare in the 1960s that locked the Webers into their bomb shelter for 35 years, Adam now ventures forth into Los Angeles to obtain food and supplies for his family, and a non-mutant wife for himself.
Affliction
Margie Fogg
A small town policeman must investigate a suspicious hunting accident. The investigation and other events result in him slowly disintegrating mentally.
If These Walls Could Talk
Barbara Barrows
A powerful, intimate portrait of three women living in the same house during different eras who all face unplanned pregnancies. The vignettes follow a recently widowed nurse struggling to take control of her life in the early 50s, a mother of four balancing raising a family and maintaining a career in the 70s, and a student making a difficult decision with the help of one woman that will change the course of both their lives in the 90s.
Beyond the Call
Pam O'Brien
Russell Gates (David Strahairn) is a Vietnam vet on death row for killing a policeman. His childhood sweetheart, Pam O'Brien (Sissy Spacek), is stunned to learn this and does not believe he could commit such a crime. She writes to him much to the dismay of her husband Keith and becomes obsessed with the case, exploring every avenue that may still be open to the doomed man. The trips to the prison take a toll on both her marriage and her family.
The Grass Harp
Verena Talbo
Based on the novel by Truman Capote, this often-witty coming-of-age drama looks at a young man growing up with an unusual family in the Deep South in the 1940s. Becoming an orphan in 1935, Collin moves to his dad's cousins Verena and Dolly. Verena is a rich, bossy businesswoman. Dolly, Collin and the maid revolt, moving to a tree house.
The Good Old Boys
Spring Renfro
An aging cowboy must choose between his desire to remain free and the responsibilities of maintaining a family.
Trading Mom
Mrs. Mommy Martin / Mama, Snappy French / Mom, the Nature-Hiker / Natasha, the Circus Performer
The Martin kids learn of a magic spell that will take them to the 'mommy market' so they can get a more user friendly model. After giving a few other moms a try, they want their own back. But that is not so easy.
A Place for Annie
Susan Lansing
Baby Annie is HIV positive and has been left in the clinic by her drug addicted mother. To prevent that she's deported to a home where they'd just wait for her to die, nurse Susan takes charge of Annie at her home. Two years later she plans too adopt her -- but suddenly Annie's mother reappears and demands her back. And under the law, Susan, as foster-mother, has no claim to the child.
A Private Matter
Sherri Finkbine
The true story of Romper Room host "Miss Sherri" Finkbine, who, after the devastating effects of thalidomide were discovered in the early 1960s, sparked a firestorm of controversy with her determination to obtain an abortion.
Hard Promises
Christine Ann Coalter
A man who doesn't like stable work environments has been away for too many years, and finds out his wife has divorced him and is planning to remarry. He comes home to confront her, trying to convince her not to get married, aided by the daughter, who loves him despite his wandering ways. The couple finds out they still have feelings for each other but must decide how best to handle the contradiction of their lifestyles.
Fonda on Fonda
Self - The 53rd Annual Academy Awards (archive footage)
Jane Fonda hosts a tribute to her father.
Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy
Self
A documentary destined to calmly explain and analyze the facts, myths and rumours about John Kennedy's assassination and the overwhelming use of information in Oliver Stone's epic "JFK" (1991), at the same time it presents a behind the scenes documentary on the controversial film. Features interviews with the cast and director, and the personalities who lived and remember the facts concerning the November 22, 1963, like reporters, eyewitnesses and others, and some of the real characters from the movie, like Jim Garrison, Numa Bertel, Lou Ivon and Perry Russo.
JFK
Liz Garrison
Follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison.
The Long Walk Home
Miriam Thompson
Two women, black and white, in 1955 Montgomery Alabama, must decide what they are going to do in response to the famous bus boycott led by Martin Luther King.
Voices That Care
Self - Choir Member
Behind the scenes making of the charity single "Voices That Care".
Crimes of the Heart
Babe Magrath
Three sisters try to come to grips with the meaning of their mother's suicide.
'night, Mother
Jessie Cates
A mother and daughter spend a night together after the daughter reveals that she will kill herself by the end of it.
Violets Are Blue
Augusta "Gussie" Sawyer
After fifteen years of traveling around the world, Gussie (Spacek), a famous photographer, returns to the Maryland coastal resort where she grew up. She meets her high school sweetheart Henry (Kline), now married and running the local newspaper he's inherited from his father. An awkward and tension-filled romance ensues.
Marie
Marie Ragghianti
A single mother takes a job with the government where she is confronted with corruption.
The River
Mae Garvey
Farming family battles severe storms, a bank threatening to reposses their farm, and other hard times in a battle to save and hold on to their farm.
The Man with Two Brains
Anne Uumellmahaye (uncredited) (voice)
A brain surgeon tries to end his unhappy marriage to spend more time with a disembodied brain.
Missing
Beth Horman
Based on the real-life experiences of Ed Horman. A conservative American businessman travels to Chile to investigate the sudden disappearance of his son after a military takeover. Accompanied by his son's wife he uncovers a trail of cover-ups that implicate the US State department which supports the dictatorship.
Raggedy Man
Nita
Nita, a divorced mother of two boys, is stuck working as a telephone operator in a small Texas town in World War II. Her friendship with a sailor on leave causes tongues to wag in town.
Heart Beat
Carolyn Cassady
An exploration of the relationship between Beat Generation writers Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, and Cassady's wife, Carolyn.
Coal Miner's Daughter
Loretta Lynn
Biography of Loretta Lynn, a country and western singer that came from poverty to fame.
Rolling Stone Magazine: The 10th Anniversary
Self
Train wreck, some might call it a TV special, proving that not everything was better in the good old days. That includes Rolling Stone Magazine.
Death Game
Set Dresser
George Manning is a well-to-do businessman, husband, and father. While his family is away on his birthday, he invites a pair of rain-soaked young women into his house to wait out an evening thunderstorm. The two girls seduce Manning and ultimately kidnap and torture him in his own home.
3 Women
Mildred "Pinky" Rose
Two co-workers, one a vain woman and the other an awkward teenager, share an increasingly bizarre relationship after becoming roommates.
Welcome to L.A.
Linda Murray
The lives of a group of Hollywood neurotics intersect over the Christmas holidays. Foremost among them, a songwriter visits Los Angeles to work on a singer's album. The gig, unbeknownst to him, is being bankrolled by his estranged father, a dairy magnate, who hopes to reunite with his son. When the songwriter meets an eccentric housewife who fancies herself a modern-day Garbo, his world of illusions comes crashing down.
Carrie
Carrie White
Carrie White, a shy and troubled teenage girl who is tormented by her high school peers and her fanatically religious mother, begins to use her powers of telekinesis to exact revenge upon them.
Katherine
Katherine Alman
A harrowing look at the 60s and early 70s through the eyes of Katherine Alman, a wealthy debutante who slowly, but inexorably spirals down into a fight for the causes that shook a nation, leading a path to the underground life. Written by Miguel Cane
Phantom of the Paradise
Set Dresser
Fledgling singer-songwriter Winslow Leach finds himself double-crossed by the nefarious music producer Swan, who steals both his music and the girl Winslow wants to sing it, Phoenix, for the grand opening of his rock palace, the Paradise. After Swan has Winslow sent to prison for trespassing, Winslow endures a freak accident that leaves him disfigured, after which he seeks revenge on both Swan and the Paradise.
The Migrants
Wanda Trimpin
A look at the lives of migratory farm workers, focusing on one family.
Badlands
Holly Sargis
An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town and her older greaser boyfriend embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota badlands.
Ginger in the Morning
Ginger Brown
A recently divorced Santa Fe architect is surprised to find himself falling in love with a free-spirited young hitchhiker.
The Girls of Huntington House
Sara
An unmarried teacher in a school for unwed mothers finds herself becoming too emotionally attached to her students and their problems.
Prime Cut
Poppy
A group of ruthless Chicago mob enforcers are sent to Kansas City to settle things with the owner of a slaughterhouse who has taken money that is not his to keep.
The Fabulous Four
Three lifelong friends travel to Key West, Florida to be bridesmaids in the surprise wedding of their college girlfriend Marilyn. Once there, sisterhoods are rekindled, the past rises up again in all its glory, and there’s enough sparks, drinks and romance to change all their lives in ways they never expected.