Happy Birthday, Olympia Dukakis!

I love 'Steel Magnolias', and I love Olympia Dukakis who played Clairee!

Olympia Dukakis is an actress who was a character actress for a long time before she got famous in the 80's for playing highlarious women in chick flicks.  She played Cher's mom, Rose Castorini, in 'Moonstruck' in 1987, and then in 1989, she played Clairee Belcher, one of the friends of Sally Fields, in 'Steel Magnolias'.

How funny that in 'Moonstruck' she played the quintessential Italian mom and wife, and in 'Steel Magnolias', she played the quintessential well-bred, wealthy Southern woman!

I've written about Olympia Dukakis before, if you can believe it, in connection with a Hollywood Dirt story about Kim Kardashian, of all people, but I couldn't let her birthday come and go without another classic clip from her.

In this scene from 'Steel Magnolias', Julia Roberts has died and Sally Field and her group of friends, including Olympia Dukakis, are at the cemetary when Sally Field breaks down.  Olympia Dukakis offers a novel stress relief solution for Sally Field, and sets up the best line Shirley MacLaine ever got to utter on film as well!

That Olympia Dukakis - she's such a great actress!