Actress Anne Pitoniak dead at 85

NEW YORK, April 27 (UPI) -- Actress Anne Pitoniak, who blossomed into a star on New York's Broadway in her 60s, has died of complications of cancer at age 85.

Christian Milord said his mother died Sunday at her Manhattan home, The New York Times reported Friday.

Pitoniak received Tony nominations for her 1983 Broadway debut performance in "'night, Mother" and a 1994 revival of "Picnic."

Pitoniak's acting career was in television and radio commercials until the mid-1970s, when she entered the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. From there, she went to the Actors Theater of Louisville, Ky., where she landed a role in "Getting Out" and eventually went with "'night, Mother" to New York.

She continued acting in TV, appearing on such shows as "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Third Watch."

Several years ago, Pitoniak told TheaterMania.com she never put "actress" on any form of identification. But after "Amy's View," in which she appeared at age 77, she said: "For the first time I felt that, if I had to get a passport today, I'd put it down. I'd say that I am an actress."

Pitoniak was also survived by a daughter, Susan, a grandson, two sisters and a brother.