Priscilla Pointer (born May 18, 1924) is an American stage, film and television character actress. She began her career in the theater, including productions on Broadway. Later, Pointer moved to Hollywood to act in films and on television. She is the mother of Academy Award nominee Amy Irving, the former mother-in-law of filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Bruno Barreto and the mother-in-law of documentary filmmaker Kenneth Bowser, Jr. Pointer was born in New York City, the daughter of Augusta Leonora (née Davis), an artist and illustrator, and Kenneth K. Pointer, an artist. Pointer is of Welsh and Cherokee descent. Pointer is the mother of director David Irving, actress Amy Irving and singer Katie Irving, who performed two songs heard in the prom sequence in Carrie. Pointer was married to film and stage director Jules Irving, former artistic director of the Lincoln Center, from 1947 until his death in 1979. In 1980, she married actor/director/producer Robert Symonds, who had been Jules Irving's producing partner at the Lincoln Center. She appeared several times in stage productions alongside Symonds and they remained married until the latter's death in 2007.