I hate it when Twitter informs me of sad, tragic things and I wasn’t expecting the Hanson Brothers (of Slapshot fame) to be the first to let me know this wonderful actress and person passed away. The announcement was delayed as per Melinda’s wishes since she wanted her ashes spread out at a location special to her.
If you’re not familiar with Melinda, most people know her as the mom in A Christmas Story, a role she continued for HBO’s sequel involving the original kids all grown up, namely Ralphie trying to give his children the same magic he remembered from 1939. I’ll probably watch it next holiday season despite the naysayers. I saw the trailer, it looked like it took place in the late Seventies to Early Eighties. I figured by the time Ralphie was old enough to have a family, it would be the late Fifties to early Sixties. I guess he lives in the same universe as the second round of X-Men movies, slowly aging to fit the decade progression required to tell the story.
Back to Melinda some more.
To hockey fans, she has a brief role in which her character tells Reggie about her upcoming divorce from a goalie the Chiefs will be facing in a couple days. The key stuff she spills covered the reason why they’re divorcing and Reggie uses this very personal information to get into the goalie’s head. It results in the Chiefs winning with a garbage goal. But hey, a W is a W. That’s Reggie’s justification. Being a Seventies, R-rated flick, young boys always remember seeing more of her than normal; I remember how ESPN kept the scene by using tech to dim out her chest. Good move. The post-sex conversation Reggie has with her is a key plot point to the overall story.
To Science Fiction fans, Melinda is the mother whose son was abducted by the aliens in a truly frightening sequence in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This leads her to joining Richard Dreyfeuss along with numerous other people compelled to travel to Bear’s Lodge (formerly known as Devils Tower) in Wyoming. If you’ve never seen Encounters, make an effort to watch soon. Spielberg’s turn on an “alien invasion” holds up after 40-plus years. Her acting contributed to the film’s excellence.
Thanks for everything Melinda! You were an awesome, funny, sincere and endearing actress. I wish I had a mom like you as per the two movies I mentioned earlier. OK, I could skip being punished by having my mouth washed out with soap. Given how much I swear as an adult, the technique obviously failed!