{{Short description|American actress (1957–2010)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}} {{Infobox person | years_active = 1977–2010 | name = Lisa Blount | image = Lisa Blount.jpg | birth_name = Lisa Suzanne Blount | birth_date = July 1, 1957 | birth_place = Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2010|10|25|1957|7|1|mf=y}} | death_place = Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. | resting_place = | alma_mater = {{ubl| * University of Arkansas at Little Rock * Valdosta State University * San Francisco State University }} | occupation = Actress, producer | spouse = {{plainlist| * Christopher Tufty<br>({{abbr|m.|married}} 1982; {{abbr|div.|divorced}} 1998?) * {{marriage|Ray McKinnon|1998}} }} | awards = Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film<br>2001 ''The Accountant'' }} '''Lisa Suzanne Blount''' (July 1, 1957&nbsp;– October 25, 2010)<ref name="nytobit" /> was an American actress and film producer. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for her performance in ''An Officer and a Gentleman'' (1982), and later won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for producing ''The Accountant'' (2001).

==Early life== Blount was born on July 1, 1957, in Fayetteville, Arkansas,<ref name="nytobit" /> to Margaret Louise Martin and Glen Roscoe Blount, and was raised in Jacksonville, Arkansas. She attended Jacksonville High School and graduated in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-10-27 |title=Oscar-winning actress Lisa Blount dies at 53 {{!}} Ellington |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/oct/27/actress-lisa-blount-dies-53/?print |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette}}</ref> Blount studied theatre at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Valdosta State University in Georgia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Poling |first=Dean |date=2023-03-12 |title=South Georgia has Oscar ties |url=https://valdostadailytimes.com/2023/03/12/south-georgia-has-oscar-ties-2/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=Valdosta Daily Times |language=en}}</ref>

==Career== After several small television roles and in films like ''September 30, 1955''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-10-31 |title=Obituaries Lisa Blount |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/obituaries/2010/oct/31/lisa-blount-2010-11-01/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=Arkansas Democrat Gazette |language=en}}</ref> and ''Dead & Buried,''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-10-28 |title=Lisa Blount of An Officer and a Gentleman dies |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/lisa-blount-of-an-officer-and-a-gentleman-dies-1.966337 |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=CBC}}</ref> Blount received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year for her performance as Lynette Pomeroy, in ''An Officer and a Gentleman'' (1982)''.''<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |last1=Kadden |first1=Jack |title=Lisa Blount, 53, Played Cynical Friend |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/arts/29blount.html |access-date=May 15, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=October 29, 2010 |page=B 11|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Blount subsequently appeared in several "scream queen" horror film roles, including ''What Waits Below'' (1984, dir. Don Sharp), ''Cut and Run'' (1985, dir. Ruggero Deodato), ''Nightflyers'' (1987, dir. Robert Collector) and most notably John Carpenter's 1987 cult classic ''Prince of Darkness.'' Another role was that of Jim Profit's stepmother Bobbi Stakowski in the television series ''Profit''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fordy |first=Tom |date=2019-10-07 |title=Incest, patricide, cold-blooded murder: remembering Profit, the drama too dark for TV |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/incest-patricide-cold-blooded-murder-remembering-profit-drama/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref> She appeared in season two of ''Moonlighting''<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2010-10-28 |title=Actress-producer Lisa Blount dies |url=https://variety.com/2010/film/news/actress-producer-lisa-blount-dies-1118026523/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> in the episode "Sleep Talkin' Guy" (1986).

Blount returned to college in 1986, this time at San Francisco State University (SFSU), where she completed her degree in Theater Arts and spent the 1986/1987 academic year competing on SFSU's Forensics (Speech and Debate) Team. In the fall of 1987, Blount was cast as the female lead in the American Conservatory Theater's revival of the musical ''Hair''.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}}

Blount later became a producer, and with her husband Ray McKinnon, won the Academy Award in 2001 for best live action short film for the film ''The Accountant''. That film also credits her as wardrobe mistress.<ref>''The Accountant'', DVD end credits.</ref> Blount produced and acted in ''Chrystal'', which starred Billy Bob Thornton and was directed by McKinnon.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Devon Wilke |first=Lorraine |date=2011-02-28 |title=Oscar-Winner Lisa Blount Is Remembered... "As Is and Still Loved" |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lisa-blount-memoriam_b_828967 |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=Huff Post |language=en}}</ref>

Blount's last acting role was in the film ''Randy and the Mob,'' which she also produced and was directed by McKinnon.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nostalgia |first=John |title=The Oscar-Winning Life and Tragic Death of Lisa Blount |url=https://eightieskids.com/lisa-blount-a-promising-acting-career-cut-short-by-tragedy/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=80s Kids |language=en}}</ref>

==Death== Blount was found dead in her home in Little Rock, Arkansas by her mother on October 27, 2010.<ref>[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/afterword/2010/10/actress-lisa-blount-memorable-for-officer-and-a-gentleman-found-dead-at-53.html "Actress Lisa Blount, memorable for 'An Officer and a Gentleman', is found dead at 53"], ''Los Angeles Times''. October 27, 2010</ref> The coroner told the ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' that Blount appeared to have died two days earlier, on October 25, 2010. No foul play was suspected, according to the Pulaski County coroner.<ref>[http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/oct/27/actress-lisa-blount-dies-53/?subscriber/features "Oscar-winning actress Lisa Blount dies at 53"], ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette''. October 27, 2010</ref><ref>[http://thenewsoftoday.com/lisa-blount-found-dead-on-wednesday/4289 "Lisa Blount Found Dead on Wednesday"], ''The News of Today''; accessed September 3, 2015.</ref>

Although the coroner did not release an official cause of death, Blount's mother told RadarOnline.com that her daughter had had idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Preston |first=Michael |date=2010-10-29 |title="An Officer and a Gentleman" Star Lisa Blount Dies |url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/national-international/natl-an-officer-and-a-gentleman-star-lisa-blount-dies/2088432/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=NBC Bay Area |language=en-US}}</ref> in which low levels of platelets keep blood from clotting and lead to bleeding and bruising. "I think that might have been part of the problem when she passed away because when I found her she had a purple look on her neck that looked like blood on the surface".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/10/exclusive-interview-officer-and-a-gentleman-star-lisa-blount-lived-excruciating|title=EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: An Officer and a Gentleman Star Lisa Blount Lived in Excruciating Pain, Says Mom|date=October 28, 2010 |accessdate=September 3, 2015}}</ref>

==Filmography== {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Film |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1977 | ''September 30, 1955'' | Billie Jean Turner | |- | 1979 | ''The Swap'' | Vivan Buck | |- | 1981 | ''Dead & Buried'' | Lisa | |- | 1982 | ''An Officer and a Gentleman'' | Lynette Pomeroy | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year |- | 1984 | ''What Waits Below'' | Leslie Peterson | |- |rowspan=3|1985 | ''Radioactive Dreams'' | Miles Archer | |- | ''Cut and Run'' | Fran Hudson | |- | ''Cease Fire'' | Paula Murphy | |- |rowspan=2|1987 | ''Nightflyers'' | Audrey | |- | ''Prince of Darkness'' | Catherine Danforth | |- | 1988 | ''South of Reno'' | Anette Clark | |- |rowspan=3|1989 | ''Out Cold'' | Phyllis | |- | ''Great Balls of Fire!'' | Lois Brown | |- | ''Blind Fury'' | Annie Winchester | |- | 1991 | ''Femme Fatale'' | Jenny Purge | |- | 1993 | ''Needful Things'' | Cora Rusk | Uncredited |- |rowspan=3|1994 | ''Stalked'' | Janie | |- | ''Murder Between Friends'' | Janet Myers | <ref>Roberta Bernstein, "Murder Between Friends", in ''Variety and Daily Variety Television Reviews, 1993-1994'', January 11, 1994, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PS1g1rnX7rsC&pg=RA9-PA12 p. 12]</ref> |- | ''Judicial Consent'' | Theresa Lewis | |- | 1996 | ''Box of Moonlight'' | Purlene Dupre | |- | 1999 | ''If... Dog... Rabbit...'' | Sarah Cooper-Toole | |- | 2001 | ''The Accountant'' | {{N/A}} | Short film; executive producer only<br>Academy Award for Best Short Film, Live Action <small>(shared with Ray McKinnon)</small> <br>Spirit of Slamdance Award <small>(shared with Ray McKinnon & Walton Goggins)</small> |- | 2002 | ''A.K.A. Birdseye'' | Vicky Sharpless | |- | 2005 | ''Chrystal'' | Chrystal | Also producer<br>Best Actress Award – Stockholm Film Festival |- | 2007 | ''Randy and the Mob'' | Charlotte Pearson |Also producer |}

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1977 | ''The Gong Show'' | Appears on The Gong Show | Episode: Same episode with Pee Wee Herman |- | 1982 | ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' | Talley | Episode: "Daniel's Song" |- | 1983 | ''Murder Me, Murder You'' | Michelle Jameson | Television film |- | 1984 | ''Boone'' | Sonny Watson | Episode: "Hard to Get" |- | 1985 | ''Stormin' Home'' | Sissy Rigetti | Television film |- | 1986 | ''Moonlighting'' | Toby | Episode: "Sleep Talkin' Guy" |- | 1986 | ''Annihilator'' | Cindy | Television film |- | 1986 | ''Deadly Nightmares'' | Miranda | Episode: "One Last Prayer" |- | 1986 | ''Starman'' | Angela | Episode: "Secrets" |- | 1987 | ''Magnum, P.I.'' | Andrea Nicholson | Episode: "Out of Sync" |- | 1988 | ''CBS Summer Playhouse'' | Pat Yaraslovsky | Episode: "Off Duty" |- | 1988 | ''Unholy Matrimony'' | Karen Sader | Television film |- | 1990 | ''Murder, She Wrote'' | Andrea Bascomb Douglas | Episode: "Always a Thief" |- | 1991 | ''Sons and Daughters'' | Mary Ruth Hammersmith | 7 episodes |- | 1992 | ''In Sickness and in Health'' | Carmen | Television film |- | 1992 | ''Picket Fences'' | Melanie Marino | Episode: "Pilot" |- | 1992 | ''An American Story'' | Becky Meadows | Television film |- | 1994 | ''Murder Between Friends'' | Janet Myers | Television film |- | 1995 | ''The Client'' | Bernice | Episode: "Them That Has..." |- | 1997 | ''Get to the Heart: The Barbara Mandrell Story'' | Mary Mandrell | Television film |- | 1997 | ''Fitz'' | Diana Falls | Episode: "Sons and Lovers" |- | 1996–1997 | ''Profit'' | Bobbi Stakowski | Lead role; 8 episodes |- | 1999 | ''Traffic'' | | Television mini-series |- | 2002 | ''Judging Amy'' | Jean Collins | Episode: "Every Stranger's Face I See" |- | 2003 | ''Trash'' | Lisa | Television film |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|89408}} * {{Find a Grave|60737313}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blount, Lisa}} Category:1957 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Jacksonville High School (Arkansas) alumni Category:People from Fayetteville, Arkansas Category:American film actresses Category:Film producers from Arkansas Category:American television actresses Category:Actresses from Little Rock, Arkansas Category:Valdosta State University alumni Category:Directors of Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners Category:20th-century American actresses Category:21st-century American actresses Category:Deaths from blood disease Category:American women film producers Category:San Francisco State University alumni