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She was nominated for Emmy Awards for her performance in the Showtime anthology series Fallen Angels (1993) and for the leading role in the made-for-television movie Locked in Silence (1999). īedelia appeared in two Stephen King screen adaptations: Salem's Lot (1979) and Needful Things (1993). Other well-known performances include her portrayals of Holly Gennero McClane, the wife of Bruce Willis's character John McClane in Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990), and of Barbara Sabich, the wife of Harrison Ford's character in Presumed Innocent (1990). In 1984, Bedelia received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her starring role in Heart Like a Wheel (1983), as drag racer Shirley Muldowney. On television she played the leading role in the short-lived ABC drama series, The New Land (1974). īedelia in the made-for-TV film Message to My Daughter (1973)īedelia made her film debut in The Gypsy Moths in 1969 later that year she attracted attention as the pregnant marathon dancer in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? She starred in the comedy Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), had dramatic roles in The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie (1972) and Between Friends (1973), and appeared opposite Richard Dreyfuss in the comedy The Big Fix (1978). She also worked on Broadway, where she debuted supporting Patty Duke in 1962, in Isle of Children, and won a Theatre World Award for playing the lead of in My Sweet Charlie, in 1966. From 1961 to 1967, Bedelia was a regular on the CBS soap opera Love of Life, portraying Sandy Porter. Her only dancing role onscreen was that of Clara in the Playhouse 90 television production of the George Balanchine Nutcracker (1958). Career īefore becoming an actress, Bedelia studied ballet and appeared in a few productions with the New York City Ballet, including The Nutcracker. She received her acting training at HB Studio. īedelia studied dance in her youth, at School of American Ballet. She is the aunt of actors Macaulay, Kieran, and Rory Culkin. She has two brothers, one of whom is actor Kit Culkin, and a sister, Candice Culkin. Her mother died when she was 14 and her father, "who had always had ulcers", died shortly afterward.
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She was born in a difficult financial period when her father's firm went bankrupt, and they lived in "a cold-water tenement flat".
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Bedelia was born in the Manhattan borough of New York City, the daughter of Marian Ethel (née Wagner), a writer and editor, and Philip Harley Culkin, who was in public relations and 50 years old at the time.
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