Mary Steenburgen
Year Title Role
1978 Goin ' South Julia Tate Moon
1979 Time After Time Amy
1980 Melvin and Howard Lynda West Dummar
1981 Ragtime Mother
1982 A Midsummer Night 's Sex Comedy Adrian
1983 Cross Creek Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1983 Romantic Comedy Phoebe Craddock
1985 One Magic Christmas Ginny Grainger
1987 Dead of Winter Julie Rose / Katie McGovern / Evelyn
1987 The Whales of August Young Sarah
1987 End of the Line Rose Pickett
1989 Miss Firecracker Elaine Rutledge
1989 Parenthood Karen Buckman
1990 Back to the Future Part III Clara Clayton Brown
1990 The Long Walk Home Narrator ( voice )
1991 The Butcher 's Wife Stella Keefover
1993 What 's Eating Gilbert Grape Betty Carver
1993 Philadelphia Belinda Conine
1994 Clifford Sarah Davis
1994 Pontiac Moon Katherine Bellamy
Filmography -- Film
Mary Nell Steenburgen (born February 8, 1953) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for playing the role of Lynda Dummar in Jonathan Demme's 1980 film Melvin and Howard. Steenburgen, who studied at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse in the 1970s, also received a Golden Globe nomination for the 1981 film Ragtime, a BAFTA TV Award nomination for the 1985 miniseries Tender Is the Night and an Emmy Award nomination for the 1988 TV film The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank. Her other film appearances include Cross Creek (1983), Parenthood (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Philadelphia (1993), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Elf (2003), The Brave One (2007), Step Brothers (2008), The Proposal (2009), The Help (2011) and Book Club (2018).