5 Can't-Miss Performances from the Late Jill Clayburgh

Because of actress Jill Clayburgh's ongoing battle with lymphatic cancer -- which she sadly lost over the weekend at age 66 -- she worked much less in recent years, popping up occasionally in film (Running with Scissors) and TV projects (Dirty Sexy Money). As such, anyone under 30 probably doesn't remember the impact she had in American film during the 1970s and '80s. With that in mind, allow Movieline to remind you with these five classic Clayburgh performances available on DVD.

An Unmarried Woman: Her Oscar-nominated role in this Paul Mazursky dramedy encapsulated the feelings of a generation of women who wholeheartedly embraced the happily-ever-after scenario only to find themselves husband-less in middle age and forced to navigate the scary waters of both the job market and singles scene. It's a totemic Me-Decade performance that still packs a wallop.

Starting Over: While director Alan J. Pakula is best remembered for paranoid thrillers like The Parallax View, he deftly juggled Clayburgh, Burt Reynolds, and Candice Bergen in this comedy, which was another movie that sharply and smartly dissected life after divorce, only this time from the man's point of view. Clayburgh scored a second Oscar nod for a film that seems to have fallen through the cracks over the last 30 years, perhaps waiting for the Burt Reynolds revival.

First Monday in October: Clayburgh proved she could go toe-to-toe with the old guard in this prescient comedy about the first female Supreme Court justice. (By the time this movie made its way from the Broadway stage to the big screen, Sandra Day O'Connor was already swearing in.) Despite efforts to "open up" the play, First Monday shines brightest in the back-and-forth repartee between Clayburgh's upstart conservative and Walter Matthau's crusty liberal justice, who's a veteran of the court.

I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can: A staple of early cable TV, this drug-rehab drama stars Clayburgh as real-life documentary filmmaker Barbara Gordon, who struggles with a Valium addiction. Written and directed by Clayburgh's husband, playwright David Rabe (Hurlyburly), the film provides Clayburgh with another meaty role (not that she ever overplays the rehab scenes) as well as the opportunity to share scenes with another Hollywood legend -- in this case Geraldine Page, as a cancer patient who's the subject of Barbara's latest film.

Semi-Tough: It's got to be tough to play a rich girl who's got two men eating out of her hands without making the character seem like a nitwit, but Clayburgh makes it look effortless in yet another underrated comedy, this one set in the world of pro football. She plays the team owner's daughter, who shares an apartment with star players Burt Reynolds (again) and Kris Kristofferson. And the way Clayburgh plays the character, you can understand why both jocks want to marry her.