Peter Billingsley

Peter Billingsley Pays Tribute to ‘A Christmas Story’ Screen Mom, Melinda Dillon

Peter Billingsley took to Instagram to pay tribute to his A Christmas Story screen mom, Melinda Dillon, who passed away in January. The actress, perhaps best known for playing Mother Parker in the holiday favorite, died on January 9th at age 83.

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Billingsley posted a black and white image of him, Dillon, Darren McGavin, and Ian Petrella from the set of 1983’s A Christmas Story. “So very sad to hear of Melinda Dillon’s passing. Working with her on ‘A Christmas Story’ was such a privilege,” he wrote. “She was kind, supportive, cool, thoughtful, giving, and committed. Her body of work demonstrated her incredible range and talent. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to call her my on-screen mother. Rest in peace, Melinda.”

Dillon was an accomplished actress with two Oscar nominations (for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Absence of Malice). Her expansive filmography features memorable roles in several prominent films, such as Norman Jewison’s F.I.S.T (1978). She portrays the girlfriend/wife of a Teamster portrayed by Sylvester Stallone. In Barbra Streisand’s The Prince of Tides (1991), she plays the suicidal sister to Nick Nolte’s character. She also appears in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999).

However, Dillon achieved immortality in a way that even multiple Oscars may not be able to earn. Every Yuletide season, viewers can revisit the momentous 1983 Bob Clark film A Christmas Story. Dillon plays the adoring mother of Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and Randy (Ian Petrella), as well as the wife of Darren McGavin’s stunning portrayal of The Old Man Parker.

Billingsley considered his recent sequel to ‘A Christmas Story’ as a tribute to screen parents Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin

In the much-awaited sequel, A Christmas Story Christmas, Billingsley reprised his character of Ralphie for the first time since the original movie. Julie Hagerty played Mrs. Parker in this direct follow-up to the iconic film.

The film stars Billingsley as Ralphie all grown up: a father of two and struggling writer who visits his childhood home on Cleveland Street in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana for the holidays after experiencing an unexpected loss—the death of The Old Man (played by Darren McGavin in the first installment).

Last October, Billingsley highlighted that the sequel pays homage to the original cast of characters, with Dillon’s on-screen husband McGavin sadly passing away in 2006 at 83 years old.

“It very much is, in many ways, a love letter to the Old Man character and to Darren himself,” Billingsley told People Magazine at the time. “Darren was the best. He was such a gifted actor and a great person and such a mentor to me in the shooting of the first film, and was kind of like having [another] dad.”