What happened to Priscilla Pointer’s husband Jules Irving? All we know as Steven Spielberg’s ex Amy Irving pays tribute to late mother

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Opening Night Of "A Safe Harbor For Elizabeth Bishop" - Source: Getty
Amy Irving [L] with her late mother Priscilla Pointer [R] in 2006 (Image via Getty)

Veteran Hollywood icon Priscilla Pointer, 100, died on Monday, April 28, her daughter confirmed.

Irving, Steven Spielberg's former spouse, paid tribute to her mother in a heartfelt Instagram post. Amy shared multiple pictures of her late parent and wrote,

“Priscilla Pointer, acclaimed stage television and film actress, and mother of David, Katie, and Amy Irving, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 100, hopefully to run off with her 2 adoring husbands and her many dogs. She most definitely will be missed.”

Amy is the daughter of Priscilla Pointer and her first husband, Jules Irving. They were married for almost 32 years until the latter’s death in July 1979. According to The New York Times, Irving was vacationing in Reno, Nevada when he suffered a heart attack. He was 54 years old when he died.

Jules was a well-known film and stage director who once served as artistic director at the Lincoln Center’s Repertory Theater. In the ‘50s, Irving co-founded the San Francisco Actor's Workshop with his colleague, Herbert Blau. Both were part of the San Francisco State College faculty, per The New York Times.

Jules and Priscilla shared three children – Katie, David, and Amy. David pursued a career as a film director-screenwriter, while his sister Amy became an actress and earned multiple accolades, including an Oscar nomination and two Golden Globe nods.


Priscilla Pointer married Robert Symonds, actor and former associate director at Lincoln Center

After the death of her first husband, Jules Irving, the Dallas actress remarried a couple years later. She tied the knot with Robert Symonds in 1981, per IMDb. Symonds was also Jules Irving’s former colleague at Lincoln Center and served as an associate director. Robert and Priscilla met in 1954 at the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop.

Robert told in a 1998 interview with Backstage magazine,

“We've been acting together over 45 years, married 18. It's been a long history.”

Priscilla added,

“We met at the San Francisco Actors Workshop. I was a founding member, my husband (Jules Irving) and I had started it in '52.”

Robert Symonds shared he joined the workshop in 1954, and Priscilla Pointer recounted the praises she heard about his work,

“You did some very nice things in Ashland. Jules and I had gone up and we'd been told: "Watch out for Robert Symonds. He's doing Polonius and lots of different things." You were very good.”

According to his IMDb bio, Symonds was previously married to Elizabeth Janel Kaderli and had three kids with her. They divorced in 1969, and Robert’s marriage with Priscilla lasted until his demise in 2007. Per Variety, the former associate director of Lincoln Center’s Repertory Theater died from complications of prostate cancer.

More than 18 years after her second husband’s passing, Priscilla died in a Ridgefield, Connecticut-based assisted living facility, her son David Irving confirmed to USA Today. He also told the outlet that his late mother passed away due to natural causes.

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Edited by Ayesha Mendonca