Meryl Streep on screen and stage Deer Hunter" (1978) proved to be a breakthrough for Streep and she received her first Academy Award nomination for it. She won the award the following year for playing a troubled wife in the top-grossing drama "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979). Also in 1978, Streep played a German married to a Jew in Nazi Germany in the television miniseries "Holocaust", which earned her the Emmy Award for Best Actress. Streep established herself as a leading Hollywood actress in the 1980s. She played dual roles in the period drama "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), and starred as a Polish Holocaust survivor in
Mary Wilkinson Streep Mary enrolled her daughter in voice lessons at the age of twelve after noticing her daughter's need to perform. Streep died at Cornell Medical Center from complications of heart disease after a short illness. Her husband died two years later on July 22, 2003, aged 92. They were residents of Mason's Island, Connecticut. Mary Wilkinson Streep Mary Wolf Wilkinson Streep (July 30, 1915 – September 29, 2001) was an American fine-artist and art editor. She was also the mother of actress Meryl Streep. Born Mary Wolf Wilkinson in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Mary Agnes (née Wolf; 1886-1976) and