The Academy Award winner has died at 89yo. After acting for decades, mainly on the stage, it was a 56yo Dukakis that broke through in 1987 with Moonstruck – a turn that scored her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as Cher picked up the Best Actress gong in that dress. “I’ve been ‘discovered’ about 6 times, y’know,” she said at the time as she blitzed Hollywood as a newcomer who specialised in roles as “wise, meddlesome or cynical mothers”, including in the female tour de force Steel Magnolias. Tributes poured in for the actress who said success didn’t come easy. “Everyone loved her. She was a gift… unique and talented and one of a kind,” tweeted fellow actress Sally Field.