eleanor in `` lion `` will be played by the tall , blond nancy houfek , who was a regular with san jose repertory theatre -lrb- `` quilters , '' `` to gillian on her 37th birthday `` -rrb- until she married playwright al brown and moved to durango , colo. ; she and ramirez last worked together in 1986 , when they played brother and sister in stephen metcalfe 's `` strange snow `` for the rep. -lrb- it became the 1989 robert de niro film `` jacknife . '' -rrb- ;