Cathy Moriarty

While still in her teens, Cathy Moriarty landed the star-making role of Vicki La Motta, wife of the prizefighting champ in Martin Scorsese's classic "Raging Bull" (1980). The tall, blonde, husky-voiced Bronx native earned a richly deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and seemed poised for a promising career. Moriarty followed "Raging Bull" with a fine turn in the black comedy "Neighbors" (1981) but then was off-screen for nearly six years after a bad car accident. Her comeback vehicle was the thriller "White of the Eye" (1987), followed four years later by "Soapdish" (1991). While that performance followed by her stellar work as Armand Assante's lover in "The Mambo Kings" (1992) revitalized her career, she was mostly relegated to supporting parts like the hooker Reba in "The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag" and John Goodman's actress girlfriend in "Matinee" (both 1992).

Moriarty also excelled at playing over-the-top comic villains, as she demonstrated with her nasty heiress in "Casper" (1995) and her homophobic camp counselor attempting to rehabilitate gay and lesbian youth in "But I'm a Cheerleader" (2000). Occasionally, a director would break the mold, as James Mangold did in casting her as Harvey Keitel's wife in "Cop Land" (1997). Moriarty continued to specialize in over-the-top villainesses but also appeared in the occasional serious supporting turn. She was reunited with her "Raging Bull" co-star De Niro in the comedy "Analyze That" (2002).