FAMOUS FAMILY

Oscar Winners’ Mother Dies at 83 After Cancer Diagnosis

Chris Anne Affleck, a longtime public school teacher, civil rights advocate, and Freedom Rider, has died.

The mother of Academy Award winners Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Chris Anne Affleck was 83. Affleck’s family said she was diagnosed in December and given six months to live. Her final wish was to see her grandson, Atticus, graduate from high school. She attended the ceremony with her family on May 31 before dying peacefully in her sleep two days later. Born Christine Anne Boldt in New York City in 1942, she graduated from Harvard University and spent 35 years as a public school teacher before retiring in 2008. She was also a lifelong civil rights advocate who served as one of the original Freedom Riders traveling through the Deep South during the 1960s. She and her former husband, Timothy Affleck, welcomed Ben in 1972 and Casey in 1975 before raising their family in Massachusetts. Chris remained one of her sons’ biggest supporters throughout their Hollywood careers. She attended the 1998 Academy Awards alongside Ben and Matt Damon, where Good Will Hunting won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Ben later won a second Academy Award for Argo, while Casey won Best Actor for Manchester by the Sea.