Jill Clayburgh

Her father was from a Jewish family that has lived in the United States since the 1700s, and her mother had English ancestry, also with deep American roots. Jill was educated at the finest schools, including the Brearley School and Sarah Lawrence College. It was while at Sarah Lawrence that she decided on a career in acting, and joined the famous Charles Street Repetory Theater in Boston.

Paternal great granddaughter of Emanuel (1818-1877), born in Germany, and Eveline (née Nones) Clayburgh (1827-1912), born in the state of New York.

Paternal granddaughter of Albert (1863-1946), born in the state of New York, and Alma (née Lachenbruch) Clayburgh (1881-1958), born in the state of Pennsylvania.

Daughter of Albert (1909-1997) and Julia (née Dorr) Clayburgh (1910-1975). Both were born and raised in the state of New York.

Jill Clayburgh was born in 1944 in New York City, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Julia Louise (Dorr), an actress and secretary, and Albert Henry Clayburgh, a manufacturing executive.

She moved to New York in the late 1960s and had featured roles in a number of Broadway productions, including "The Rothschilds" and "Pippin".

Graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1966 with a bachelor in theater.

She began her career in films in 1970 and got her first major role in Portnoy's Complaint (1972) in 1972.

Ironically, Jill Clayburgh died from the same disease as a character she played in the 1976 movie Griffin and Phoenix. "Sarah Phoenix has got terminal leukemia".

In 1978, she rose to screen prominence with her performance in An Unmarried Woman (1978), for which she received an Oscar nomination.

She was again nominated for the Academy Award in 1979 for her role in Starting Over (1979).

After the late 1980s, Jill worked mainly in television and low-budget films, and also had a leading role in the drama Never Again (2001), with Jeffrey Tambor. Jill was married to playwright David Rabe, with whom she had two children, including actress Lily Rabe.

But after giving a riveting portrayal as a Valium addict in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982), her career went into a rapid decline, mainly because of her poor choices of scripts.

Gave birth to her second child at age 41, a son Michael Rabe on July 13, 1985. Child's father is her husband, David Rabe.

She seemed destined for a comeback after appearing in Where Are the Children? (1986), with multi-talented child actress Elisabeth Harnois, but her excellent performance was largely ignored by critics, who opted to give the credit for the thriller's success to the performance of the precocious, six year old Harnois.

Confirmed in 1991, along with several other actresses, that she had undergone an abortion prior to its legalization in America.

It came as no surprise to film aficionados when, in 1999, Entertainment Weekly named Jill Clayburgh on its list of Hollywood's 25 Greatest Actresses. For decades, she delivered stellar performances in a wide variety of roles.

Returned to Broadway in 2005 co-starring with Richard Thomas in "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way", in which she played a television cooking show maven. She was also making plans to co-star in a Broadway revival of "Barefoot in the Park" that was scheduled for February, 2006.

Suffered from chronic leukemia for 21 years before her death in 2010.

Her first grandchild was born via daughter Lily Rabe in March 2017.