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In New Interview, Sissy Spacek Explains How a Childhood Nickname Became Her Stage Name

She says the moniker from her older brothers reflects a Southern naming tradition.

Overview

  • Speaking with Ethan Hawke for Interview magazine, Spacek said her legal name is Mary Elizabeth.
  • She recalled deciding in first grade to fight to be called Sissy after being asked to choose between Mary or Elizabeth.
  • She described Sissy as a common nickname for Southern girls, saying calls of the name on the Coal Miner's Daughter set prompted a stampede.
  • Raised in Quitman, Texas, she moved to New York at 17, later marrying production designer Jack Fisk in 1974, with whom she has two daughters.
  • The Oscar winner currently appears in Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, which is now in theaters.