Two-time Academy Award nominee and Factory fixture Sylvia Miles has died, Page Six has learned.
The legendary actress was 94.
She was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the fearsome first client of gigolo Joe Buck in “Midnight Cowboy” and her role in 1975’s “Farewell My Lovely.” She also appeared in “Wall Street” and its sequel “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” as well as countless other movies, plays and TV shows.
Miles was also a long-time fixture on the New York party scene, and she was so often seen carousing with Andy Warhol that pal Earl Wilson had coined a famous phrase when he said, “Sylvia Miles and Andy Warhol would attend the opening of an envelope.”
She later addressed the slight, telling the New York Times, “Earl Wilson didn’t say it. I said it about myself, and unfortunately, everything I say sounds like a press release. OK, so I did once go to the opening of a delicatessen. I heard Jackie [Onassis] would be there, too. Turned out to be Jackie Mason.”
Longtime friend Geraldine Smith confirmed the news to Page Six, telling us that Miles had been in declining health lately and had recently left a nursing home because “she didn’t want to die there.”
“We went out for a big lunch to celebrate her coming home,” said Smith. “She was very excited and telling us to order whatever we wanted. ‘Order drinks; order desserts!’ We had a wonderful time.”
“A part of New York has gone,” said Smith. Calling her “a brilliant actress,” Smith said that Miles was very proud that she’d been nominated for her work in “Midnight Cowboy,” even though she’d been on screen for just six minutes.
Miles was born and raised in Greenwich Village.
She was set to appear in director Eric Rivas’ “Japanese Borscht” alongside Village Voice columnist Michael Musto.