Chris Ann Affleck, the mother of Oscar winners Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck, died on June 2, her family announced. She was 83 years old and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December.
Christine Ann Boldt was born in New York City in December 1942. She graduated from Harvard University and spent 35 years as a public school teacher. She retired in 2008 and has been a fierce advocate for civil rights all her life, having been one of the original Freedom Riders who went to the Deep South during the 1960s.
Chris and her ex-husband Timothy Affleck welcomed their first child, Ben, in 1972. Ben’s brother, Casey, was born in 1975, around the time their family moved to Massachusetts, where she continued her teaching career.
“My mother taught public school, then went to Harvard and then got her master’s degree there and taught fifth and sixth grades in public school,” Ben said. Hollywood Reporter In 2012. “My father lived a working-class life. He didn’t go to college. He was an auto mechanic, a waiter, and a janitor at Harvard.”
When Ben was twelve years old, his parents divorced. As his passion for entertainment grew during his teens, Chris played a role in his early industry career, connecting her son with her former Harvard roommate, casting director Patty Collins, who helped him audition for commercials and TV movies.
She was a huge supporter of her sons’ acting careers and attended the 1998 Academy Awards alongside Ben and Matt Damon, who also brought his mother as his date, after the pair were nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Goodwill hunting – It is a film in which the duo starred alongside Casey. Penn and Damon won an Oscar, and the film became a classic.
“We were sitting next to our moms and we won, and we kind of hugged our moms. I remember how everyone made a big thing out of this as if this was a new thing,” Ben said. Vanity gallery The moment. “I remember thinking, and feeling insecure, like: ‘Why? Why is it weird that we bring our mothers?” Who else do you think we’ll bring?”
Penn would go on to win his second Academy Award for Best Picture Argo in 2012. Casey would win Best Actor in 2017 for his performance in Kenneth Lonergan’s film. Manchester by sea.
Chris was given six months to live in December, her family said, and her greatest wish after her diagnosis was to see her grandson Atticus graduate from high school. She attended the event with her family on May 31 and died peacefully in her sleep two days later.
In addition to her children, survivors include her five grandchildren: children Casey, Atticus and Indiana, and children Ben, Violet, Finn and Sam.
