Jill Clayburgh

The woman who didn't need permission

Jill Clayburgh walked the streets of Manhattan in 1978 with a natural ease that the cinema of the era didn't know how to handle. In An Unmarried Woman, she didn't play a victim or a femme fatale. Erica Benton was simply a woman trying to pick up the pieces after an unexpected divorce.

That role earned her the best actress award at Cannes and an Oscar nomination. It was the exact moment Hollywood understood that audiences wanted something more than perfect faces. Clayburgh brought an intelligent vulnerability that connected with the reality of moviegoers.

And the industry surrendered to her.

But her path didn't begin on the red carpets of France. Before reaching stardom, she honed her craft on off-Broadway stages and experimental productions that almost no one remembers. In 1963, she shot The Wedding Party under the direction of a young Brian De Palma, though the film didn't see the light of day until 1969.

During those formative years, she shared her life and ambitions with an unknown Al Pacino. Both were searching for their place in a New York that smelled of change and cheap theater. Because Clayburgh never rushed to become a Broadway star.

The Price of Honesty on Screen

Following the success of 1978, projects came along that tried to capitalize on her new image as an independent woman. In 1979, she starred in Starting Over alongside Burt Reynolds and received her second consecutive Academy Award nomination. She managed to earn one million dollars per film at a time when that figure was reserved almost exclusively for men.

It was only a matter of time.

But the 1980s were not as kind to her brand of realism. Major studios began favoring action films and escapist fantasies. Her role in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can in 1982 was a brave attempt to address prescription drug addiction, but critics turned on her aggressively.

So she chose to take refuge in what she knew best (theater and quality television). She never publicly complained about the lack of leading roles in mainstream film. She simply kept working with the precision of an artisan who doesn't need the spotlight to validate her craft.

Television Refuge and Final Act

In 1979, she married playwright David Rabe and decided her private life would not feed the tabloids. They moved to Connecticut and raised their children far from the noise of Los Angeles. Her daughter Lily Rabe inherited the same acting restraint that defined Jill for four decades.

And television gave her the chance to reinvent herself for a new generation.

She appeared in series such as Ally McBeal between 1999 and 2001, playing the lead character's mother. In 2007, she joined the cast of Dirty Sexy Money, where she brought Letitia Darling to life with an elegance reminiscent of her best years on the big screen. She kept her illness secret for twenty-one years while continuing to fulfill her filming contracts.

Jill Clayburgh died on November 5, 2010, at her home in Lakeville from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In 2011, Bridesmaids, her final film, was released posthumously and grossed more than $288 million worldwide.