Mary Elizabeth “Sissy” Spacek, who originally aspired to be a singer, is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Not only did she win an Oscar for her performance as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter in 1980, she was nominated for a Grammy for her rendition of the title song (in the category Best Country Vocal Performance, Female). And today we wish this celebrated actress a Happy 75th Birthday.
Born on Christmas Day in 1949 in Quitman, Texas, we celebrate Sissy Spacek’s 75 year milestone with the following 15 factoids about her life and career:
1) Her roots are regal. Sissy Spacek is the 22nd great granddaughter of King Edward I of England.
2) Singing was Sissy Spacek first career aspiration. Under the name “Rainbo,” she recorded a 1968 single about John Lennon titled John You Went Too Far This Time. When sales of Spacek’s music were minimal, she was dropped by her record label and switched her focus to acting, enrolling at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
3) Spacek’s first appearance on the big screen was opposite Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman in the 1972 drama Prime Cut. She played Poppy, a girl sold into sexual slavery.
4) On television, Spacek made her first appearance on the romantic comedy anthology Love, American Style in 1973. That same year she co-starred in the TV movie The Girls of Huntington House, and she made the first of two appearances as Sarah Jane Simmons in family drama The Waltons.
5) Spacek’s breakout role was as Holly Sargis in the 1973 film Badlands as the narrator and the 15-year-old girlfriend of serial killer Kit (Martin Sheen).
6) Three years after Badlands, Spacek headlined Brian De Palma’s Carrie in 1976 as Carrie White, a shy, troubled high school senior with telekinetic powers. Her performance was ranked No. 63 on former movie magazine Premiere’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
7) Sissy Spacek auditioned for Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and Carrie Fisher auditioned for Carrie White in Carrie. They wound up getting each other’s roles.
8) After Carrie, Spacek played the small part of housekeeper Linda Murray in the drama Welcome to LA, and further impressed the critics as Pinky Rose in Robert Altman’s psychological thriller 3 Women.
9) In 1980, Spacek reached a career zenith with her Oscar-winning performance as the legendary Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter. Lynn chose her for the role and following the film she recorded her own country album, Hangin’ Up My Heart in 1983. The album spawned one hit single, Lonely But Only For You.
10) The role of Emma Greenway opposite Shirley MacLaine as her mother Aurora in Terms of Endearment in 1983 was originally written for Sissy Spacek. But the part, of course, went to the Oscar-nominated Debra Winger.
11) In addition to Coal Miner’s Daughter, Sissy Spacek has appeared in four other films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Missing (1982), JFK (1991), In the Bedroom (2001), and The Help (2011).
