Linda Haynes, ‘Rolling Thunder’ and ‘Brubaker’ Actress, Dies at 75

Linda Haynes, an actress in films including Rolling Thunder and Brubaker, has died. She was 75.

She died “peacefully, with her family by her side” on July 17 in Summerville, South Carolina, it was announced. No cause of death was revealed.

“As an only child, I have dreaded these times my entire life,” her son, Greg Sylvander, wrote Friday on Facebook. “I find peace in the knowing that my mother was at peace and had the most beautiful life these final years together with her grandchildren, [my wife] Courtney Sylvander and I. We are going to miss my mom immensely.”

Born Linda Lee Sylvander on Nov. 4, 1947, in Miami, Haynes made her acting debut as Dr. Anne Barton in Latitude Zero (1969). She played barmaid Linda Forchet in the psychological thriller Rolling Thunder (1977) opposite William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones and Carol in Brubaker (1980), starring Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman.

Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of Rolling Thunder and Haynes. “The performance of the film for me is Linda Haynes as Linda Forchet,” he has said. “Linda Forchet is my favorite female character in a Paul Schrader [-written] movie. … She has that look that Ava Gardner got, you know blousey, but it took Ava years to do it, and Linda Haynes just did it naturally. And I mean that in a good way.”

She also starred in Coffy (1973), The Nickel Ride (1974), The Drowning Pool (1975) and Human Experiments (1979) and made appearances in a handful of TV shows, including This Is the Life, My Three Sons and Room 222.

A lifetime member of The Actors Studio, Haynes stepped away from acting in the early ’80s, worked as a legal secretary and moved to South Carolina to live with her son and family in 2019. She often described the years that followed as “where I know I belong, truly home.”

Survivors include her grandchildren, James and Amelia.