Sylvia Miles

 ( 1924 Births ) 

In the early 1960s, she played the role of Sally Rogers in the pilot episode of what would become The Dick Van Dyke Show, which was later taken by Rose Marie for the series. Her early television work included appearances in three episodes of Naked City (TV series) and two episodes of Route 66 (TV series) (cf. as Red in "The Thin White Line," Route 66, S2E11). She appeared Off-Broadway in “Ruthless!” The Musical (1992) at the Players Theatre, NYC, playing Sylvia St. Croix (originally played by Joel Vig in drag); she was one of the few females to play the role. She appeared on Broadway in two productions, most notably the 1976 revival of The Night of the Iguana.

Miles was cast in the film Midnight Cowboy (1969) as a middle-aged Park Avenue kept-woman, who invites Joe Buck (Jon Voight) up to her penthouse apartment for sex—another role in which Miles showed off her voluptuous figure. The role earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, although she appeared on-screen for about six minutes. Miles' profile, filmsite.org; accessed November 20, 2014. She received a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her slightly larger role (eight minutes) in Farewell, My Lovely (1975). Miles starred in Andy Warhol's underground feature film Heat (1972), appearing in a lingering nude scene with Joe Dallesandro. She had a role in the Indian suspense film Shalimar (1978). She appeared in Evil Under the Sun (1982), the film version of Agatha Christie's novel of the same name, portraying a Broadway theatre producer. She played real-estate agent Dolores in the Oliver Stone film Wall Street (1987), a role she reprised in (2010).

Miles was also featured in the mainstream films 92 in the Shade, Critical Condition, The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday, Crossing Delancey, and the 1989 comedy She-Devil, in which she played the mother of Meryl Streep's character. In her final years, Miles appeared in a few roles on television such as Sex and the City and One Life to Live, and in the films Go Go Tales and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

In 1975, Miles complained about being typecast as a prostitute in almost all of her then 14 movies and 26 off-Broadway plays to date. "Do I look like a prostitute? What does a hooker look like, anyway? Me?"

In a New York restaurant in 1973, Miles publicly dumped a plate of food onto critic John Simon's head for his negative comments about her in a review of a play she starred in. NPR website referencing John Simon-Sylvia Miles altercation, NPR; retrieved October 8, 2014.

Wayland Flowers and his puppet Madame first uttered the widely quoted line, "Sylvia Miles and Andy Warhol would attend the opening of an envelope". In 1976, People magazine repeated the joke in the article "What Would a Manhattan Party Be Without the Ubiquitous Sylvia Miles?" without citing a source.Judy Kessler. "What Would a Manhattan Party Be Without the Ubiquitous Sylvia Miles?", People Magazine, October 18, 1976, Vol. 6 No. 16