In a Facebook tribute to the 'Dark at the Top of the Stairs' actress, her daughter Kaitlin Hopkins reveals that she was with the actress when she died peacefully on April 22 morning.
- April 23, 2020
AceShowbiz - Veteran film, TV and stage star Shirley Knight has died, aged 83.
"The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" and "Sweet Bird of Youth" actress died of natural causes at her daughter Kaitlin Hopkins' home in Texas on Wednesday morning (April 22).
"Early this morning April 22nd you passed away, and your sweet soul left us for a better place," Hopkins writes in a Facebook post. "I was at your side and you went peacefully. To me, you were 'just mom', to some you were 'Miss Knight', 'Miss Shirley', 'Mama Shirley' (to my students), 'Shirl the Girl' (to your friends), and 'Shirley Knight' to your fans."
Knight made her debut on TV in the 1960s and landed her breakthrough role in the film adaptation of William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs", for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.
She was nominated in the same category two years later for her performance as Heavenly Finley in the movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth".
Knight's TV credits include "The Outer Limits", "Streets of San Francisco", "Thirtysomething" and "Desperate Housewives".
She won an Emmy Award for 1995's "Indictment: The McMartin Trial", and for guest appearances on "Thirtysomething" and "NYPD Blue".
