Nancy Dow, Actress and Jennifer Aniston’s Mother, Dies at 79

Nancy Dow, a television actress, model and mother of Jennifer Aniston, has died. She was 79.

Dow, who had long suffered ill health, including a series of strokes in 2011, died surrounded by family and friends, Aniston and her brother John said Wednesday in a statement released to People.

Born in New York, Dow married twice, first to pianist Jack Melick (1956-61), with whom she had one son, John Jr,, and then to actor John Aniston in 1965. Aniston and Dow would remain married until 1981 and had one daughter, Jennifer.

Dow and Jennifer Aniston had a complicated relationship, with the Friends alum revealing to The Hollywood Reporter in 2015 that they didn’t speak for many years as her mother “was critical.” Aniston added that despite their difficulties, in recent years her relationship with Dow was “all fine.”

Dow’s acting career peaked in the 1960s when she had parts on The Beverly Hillbillies and The Wild Wild West. Her last acting credit came in 2004 with the small Canadian film Pure.

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