Dorothy Tristan, a model, screenwriter and actress best known for her roles in “Clute,” “The Looking Glass,” and “Scarecrow,” has died in North West after battling Alzheimer’s for more than ten years. She died at her home in Indiana, her husband, director John D. Hancock, announced on Facebook.
“I was lucky. She was something,” wrote Hancock. “In life, she was a gentle soul and my dearest sweetheart.”
Tristan was most active in the 1970s, where he starred in several films, including “Klute”.
After taking a break from the big screen, she re-emerged in 2015 and starred in a film she wrote, and her husband directed, “The Looking Glass”.
The independent film was about a troubled 13-year-old girl who lost her mother and had to move to Indiana and live with her grandmother, who was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Her grandmother wanted to tell her granddaughter everything she knew before it was too late.
Northwest Indiana was home in recent years, but Tristan was born in Yorkville Heights, Westchester County, New York, just north of New York City, on January 1, 1942. He started working in films on the big screen in the early 70s. such as “The End of the Road” (1970) and “Scarecrow” (1973) with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino.
Tristan not only played roles on the big screen, but he also appeared on TV in films and series such as: “Isn’t it shocking?” (ABC, 1973–74) and “Journey from Darkness” (NBC, 1974–75) and “The Waltons” (CBS, 1972–1981).
Hancock said he is hosting an open house on Saturday, Jan. 14, to celebrate her life.
For more information about the Open House, click here,