OMG! Remember Dana Hill? She was a good little actress.

Who???

Look at her sad little face.

She had great pathos.

Outstanding in SHOOT THE MOON, there was talk at the time of her being a possible Oscar nominee. She richly deserved to be among the nominees that year.

I forgot that she was in Shoot The Moon.

[quote] She richly deserved to be among the nominees that year.

I agree.

She was great co-starring with Pearl Bailey in the live TV version of The Member of the Wedding on NBC in the early 80s.

All this time I thought her name was Dana Elcar.

Don't be silly R6. She was diabetic. An eclair would have shot her sugar through the roof.

Maybe that's what killed her.

Like Mama Cass's ham sandwich.

[quote]Hill slipped into a diabetic coma in May 1996 and suffered a massive paralytic stroke the following month. On July 15, 1996, Hill died at age 32.

SHOOT THE MOON ruled. Loved it. The kids were great, Albert Finney was top notch and it contains one of Diane Keaton's best performances.

[quote]and it contains one of Diane Keaton's best performances.

Another film she gives just one lineto, in her dreadful book.

I agree, she was wonderful in it.

Finney was a little bit heavy going. That's why I find it hard to re-watch.

Peter whatisname was hot, though.

😥 Makes me sad.

I loved her in European Vacation...seriously!

Me too, R12, she was a soulful little actress.

How common is it for a young person to succumb to complications from diabetes? Might it be that she was a heavy drinker and didn't take care of herself?

I only remember her as a child actress.

God, I miss Jack.

I remember her best appearing on the Tonight Show.

She had Johnny Carson howling with her impersonation of Howard Cosell.

Here's the classic TV movie FALLEN ANGEL where "Hold me, David!" lures her into kiddie pron.

She was also on the short lived sitcom, THE TWO OF US, with Mimi Kennedy and Peter Cook.

Was she in 'Welcome Home, Jellybean'?

She was in major consideration for the ANNELLE role in "Steel Magnolias" that Daryl Hannah (inexplicably) got. Dana had several callbacks for it.

See HRT threads for more Dana Hill stuff. I adored her.

Ok I have google and YES it was she who went full tard in 'Welcome Home, Jellybean'. Perfect casting. I also saw that nasty 'fallen angels' lol didn't know it was called that. But of course this chick is dearly missed because she was in European Vacation. Should have been Oscar nominated for THAT. Should have been best actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress. Fuck shoot the moon. Albert finney was scary then and now. And Diane Keaton has a face for radio and sucks as an actress

She was very talented, but she couldn't get roles as an adult because she remained so physically small (like Gary Coleman) that she still looked like a child. She found voice work, though. A shame she died so young.

This is how she looked as an adult.

Very 80s frau in style.

She appeared on a couple episodes of 'Family' as Buddy's nemesis, I always thought she looked like Tracy Gold, who was also working a lot in that time frame. They even played sisters along with Tina Yothers in Shoot the Moon.

She could have done the Ruth Westheimer biopic

LOL @ R27

Fallen Angel was horrifying and made me think of Richard Masur as a pedophile. Though I'm sure he's a perfectly nice man.

I don't remember that sitcom @R20 at all.

So many sitcoms in those days had New York intros like that.

I remember reading that Hill's diabetes complications were aggravated by attempts to lose weight - apparently it's not uncommon for young women with Type I diabetes to cut down on or stop taking insulin, since you drop weight like crazy (and risk serious health consequences) when you do.

Therefore yet another child actress who got fucked up trying to keep things going into adulthood.

She's cold and dead. Is the Lani O'Grady thread next?

Nice interview >

She was a superb and soulful actress.

Very gifted.

Dana Hill (1964–1996), sadly, had a long history of health problems. They even drover her away from acting on-camera.

It has been 20 years. Amazing that time passed; I remember reading about her death. (This was before I was in the Internet.) She deserved better.

Jack likes me thin.

I used to get her mixed up with Dana Short, who played Dr. Westphal's daughter on "St. Elsewhere."

Because she was short and her name was Dana?

LMAO, R38!

She probably ate pussy.

I was a friend. She was a real rip. Made me laugh so much.

She just did a bad job taking care of herself. Many was the time her blood sugar would drop and we would learn she hadn't eaten all day. Was she trying to starve herself to get thin? Maybe, but we never got that impression. She was neither fat nor thin.

She used to grow pot and there was a time when her parents were visiting and she was drying out some leaves so mixed them into the potpourri in her living room table so they wouldn't see it. She was a real character, and is missed.

Stupid name 'Dana' (no disrespect to her) - a sort of nothing name.

I had a bit of a crush on Jason Lively in European Vacation (I was 11 when the movie came out). I just looked him up on Wiki and was surprised to learn he's the half-brother of Blake Lively. Now he "works for a computer company and is also owner and operator of Jimmy Crack Corn, a mobile roasted-corn business."

He still has his "Rusty" beret!

"Whu-sty!"

Thank you for sharing your memories R41. She was a gifted and memorable actress.

I remember her telling me she had a sister also with diabetes -- who had died because she "didn't take care of herself". So I was hoping for another outcome with Dana.

She did make that one unfortunate comment about Julie Andrews that Oscar year but easy to blame on youth. As it turns out, Julie was way more iconic in "Victor/V..." than Keaton in "Shoot the Moon" any day.

She did a lot of voice-over work later on when her health problems developed.

[quote]She did make that one unfortunate comment about Julie Andrews that Oscar year but easy to blame on youth.

What did she say?

[quote] What did she say?

She called her a sloppy smelly cunt.

1982 was a good year for female performances. Both Keaton and Hill deserved nominations, but there was just too much competition.

[quote] What did she say?

She said Andrews's voice was in decline. And implied the decline was caused by Andrews's mouth being glued to Carol Burnett's titi.

Something along the lines of (and in print) "Diane Keaton deserves to be up there and nobody knows that better than Julie Andrews" (and I paraphrase). I'm sure she wasn't happy to have just learned she wasn't up for Best Supporting either after much hype that she would be so maybe she was just lashing out.

I love how she's carefully placed a biography of Howard Cosell behind her in R25's pic, to remind people of the famous Cosell impersonation she did as a kid.

Boy, she looked exactly the same from age 8 on, even when she was an adult.

[quote]I remember her telling me she had a sister also with diabetes -- who had died because she "didn't take care of herself".

People say that a lot but it's mostly denial, the whole "Yeah well I'LL take care of MYSELF and live forever" kind of thing. Type I diabetes often can't be controlled just by "taking care of yourself."

Dreadful that her parents lost TWO daughters to diabetes.

Same here, r13. Great ensemble movie.

I don't believe Dana had a sister.

Why don't you believe it, R57?

There are plenty of references online to her sister and the fact she also died of diabetes.

I really envied and resented her Vacation character for getting the passionate devotion of William Zabka.

The discussion of a sister who died from diabetes came straight from her mouth, R57. It's one of the reasons I adored her; she was open and vulnerable and warm and this was just during casting sessions.

[quote] she was open and vulnerable and warm and this was just during casting sessions.

This comes across very well in her performances. That's why she stands out and that's why this thread has received so much response for someone who wasn't a star and who died twenty years ago. She was just a very good and soulful actress.

{No, I will not MARY! myself}

Pano-amo?

How DARE you use the condescending adjective "little" to describe her. You have TRIGGERED me!!!

R5, I saw that too. The best production of Member of the Wedding outside of the original movie, though the gayness of Frankie came through much better with Julie Harris.

Unfortunately, Dana Hill most always came across as a little wind-up midget to me.

Who is R64 who bumped this ancient thread? Dana Hill's ghost?

She was hilarious in European Vacation

[quote]Do they get Google Alerts in the hereafter?

I think so, but there's a two-year delay, apparently.

From this 1996 article it seems that she had problems all her life, though even her mother said that she may not have take care of herself as she should have.

She and Haley Orrantia from The Goldbergs have similar faces.

Someone upthread mentioned Steel Magnolias. She was in the stage version I saw with Barbara Rush and Carole Cook- in the part Darryl played in the movie.

Don’t hate me for resurrecting a three-year-old, DL, but I just revisited “Shoot the Moon” in honor of Albert Finney’s recent passing — first time I’d seen it since its theatrical run (yes, I’m old!) Dana Hill’s performance was outstanding, simply heartrending (I’ll accept your “Marys!”) Even sadder to watch knowing she passed away so young. An exceptional talent.

I worked with her and she was a sweetheart. Her health went downhill really quickly but she tried to be a trooper. Until she couldn't anymore. RIP.

She was worthy of an Oscar-nomination for ‘Shoot the Moon.’ I loved her in ‘European Vacation,’ too—she had a gift.

[quote]Don’t hate me for resurrecting a three-year-old, DL,

no, good to see it back again after all these years

[quote]Dana Hill’s performance was outstanding, simply heartrending (I’ll accept your “Marys!”)

Why so defensive? It was.

Dana was a friend of mine. We went to high school together. She had a lot of health problems and was very candid about telling her friends. So we kept an eye out for her. She was good humored. I used to drive her home from school. Her family lived in a huge house south of the boulevard (Ventura Blvd.). She told me one day someone offered her family a million dollars for the house. Homes south of the boulevard were expensive, but not yet in the million dollar range in 1979. I think her parents did sell. Dana had a lot of struggles, but was happy go lucky.

Didn't you post upthread, R76 - or is that someone else who knew her?

I thought I had posted before, but I couldn’t find it. I don’t see my post up thread. I’ll also add, Dana was athletic, but couldn’t really participate because of her diabetes. She was more of an athletic mascot who’d root the team on.

Rewatched SHOOT THE MOON also. Liked her in it a lot but remember not caring for MEMBER OF THE WEDDING. Would like to see that again.

I remember loving SHOOT THE MOON. Didn’t leave with the same impression. Actually enjoyed Keaton’s performance more than Finney.

I actually thought Hill was younger when she died.

I haven’t seen this yet so cannot comment on its merit, but it definitely has an interesting cast — besides Dana Hill, it stars DL faves Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gregory Harrison, and Ms. Rue McClanahan!

I remember reading at the time of her death that she had stopped taking her medications.

A few minutes into “Picnic”, Gregory Harrison takes off his shirt, so it’s a classic in my book! And Dana Hill does a nice job as Millie.

National Lampoon's European Vacation gets a bad rap. I was going to say it's actually John Hughes' most realistic movie with teens, but I heard that Amy Heckerling basically rewrote the whole thing. It really captured teens who are too old to go on vacation with the parents and are bored and miserable and worried about what's going on back at home with their friends and boyfriends/girlfriends.