Sylvia Miles
Born: September 9, 1932
Sylvia Miles is an American actress who played the role of "Sally" in the pilot episode of what would become The Dick Van Dyke Show, which was later taken by Rose Marie for the series. She also appeared in an episode of Naked City as a lovely barfly attempting to communicate with a psychotic Jack Warden.
She is perhaps best known for her role in the movie Midnight Cowboy as wealthy woman who invites Joe Buck (Jon Voight) up to her apartment for sex, seemingly unaware that he is a prostitute, which earned her an Oscar nomination, despite the role's brevity. She received a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Farewell, My Lovely.
Miles was part of an all-star cast in the 1982 Agatha Christie murder mystery Evil Under the Sun, portraying a Broadway producer. She played a real estate agent in 1987's Wall Street, directed by Oliver Stone.
Over the years, the still very active Miles has become a cult figure known for her ties to the avant-garde (Andy Warhol [4], Paul Morrissey [5], etc.) and her increasingly bizarre appearance over the years and her willingness to attend any public function. Wayland Flowers and his puppet Madame first uttered the widely quoted line "Sylvia Miles would attend the opening of an envelope". She gained some notoriety for an incident in a New York restaurant, when she publicly dumped a plate of spaghetti and tomato sauce onto critic John Simon as revenge for his comments about her body in a review.