Part actress, part advocate, all legend; Olympia Dukakis is an absolutely luminous force of nature. While we all know this legendary and Academy Award-winning performer inhabiting characters like Anna Madrigal (Tales Of The City) or Clairee Belcher (Steel Magnolias), we are finally getting a peek at the entirety of this courageous Massachusetts born thespian & LGBT activist in a new biography. The biography, simply titled Olympia, is an intimate and personal look at this performer through the keen eye of Director Harry Mavromichali. It details everything from Dukakis’ early years as a New England up and coming stage actress to her Oscar- winning turn opposite Cher in Moonstruck to her later work in films like Tales Of The City, as well as her undying activism for a myriad of causes.
Dukakis is fearless in what she reveals in this documentary, and from struggles with drug addiction and suicide, to dealing with grief, age, and sexuality, the octogenarian Oscar-winner is brutally honest. In addition, many of the people who have shared the screen or worked closely with Dukakis (such as Whoopi Goldberg, Armistead Maupin and Laura Linney) speak openly about the “totally open and crazy” woman and actress Dukakis is.
Dukakis’ continued advocacy for the LGBTQ community is featured prominently in Olympia. While keen eyed viewers remember her cameo in the 90’s gay classic Jeffrey, Dukakis’ work for the community has been going on for decades. In a conversation with PrideSource several years ago, Dukakis talked about working with Cher on Moonstruck (“We were very sympathetic with each other. “Simpatico,” I think is the way she puts it. It was never a problem, never anything. It was easy. It was like we knew each other and we trusted each other without even thinking about it.”) and the progress made towards gay marriage at that time (“That I feel good about. I can see it changing.”)
Dukakis starred in the film Cloudburst, a lesbian love story opposite Brenda Fricker and spoke openly about her advocacy for gay marriage and her own “rebellious streak” during press for the picturesque and intimate film.
Olympia is available on AppleTV.
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