Trivia

Was nominated for Broadway's 1963 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Performed on stage with Chicago's legendary Second City improvisational comedy troupe.

Appeared in two films that were selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and A Christmas Story (1983).

Despite having been previously nominated for two Oscars, she was left out of the "In Memoriam" segment at the 95th Academy Awards. (She died two months before the award ceremony.).

She played two Hoosiers (Indiana residents): in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (which takes place in Muncie, Indiana); and in A Christmas Story (1983) (which takes place in Hohman, Indiana). Hohman is actually the name of the main avenue that passes through the historic district of the city Hammond, Indiana.

Although she won a Theatre World Award as the very first actress to play the role of "Honey" in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (her Broadway debut) she was passed over for the film casting when the role was given to Sandy Dennis who went on to win an Oscar.

Studied acting with both Lee Strasberg and at the Goodman Theater School.

Played two different characters in Bound for Glory (1976).

Upon her death, she was cremated via the Neptune Society and her ashes returned to her surviving family.

Grew up in the same town and went to the same high school as President Bill Clinton: Hope, Arkansas.

Dillon, who shot to Broadway stardom at 23, withdrew from acting after a mental breakdown, & then, in her late 30s, staged a comeback, receiving best supporting actress Oscar nominations for her roles in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" & "Absence of Malice".

She was a lifelong Democrat.

No relation to Matt Dillon (or James Arness).

Despite her acclaimed performances on Broadway and in movies, she will always be best remembered as Ralphie Parker's mother in the beloved holiday classic A Christmas Story (1983), in which she is the first to utter the immortal, much repeated line "You'll shoot your eye out!".

Upon Dillon's death, her body was cremated, with her ashes given to her son, Richard.