Jessica Lange | |
---|---|
Lange at the 62nd Annual Academy Awards in 1990. |
|
Born | Jessica Phyllis Lange April 20, 1949 Cloquet, Minnesota, United States |
Nationality | American |
Education | Cloquet High School (1967) University of Minnesota (1967) |
Occupation | Actor, producer, photographer |
Years active | 1976–present |
Spouse | Francisco Grande (1970–81) |
Partner | Mikhail Baryshnikov (1976–82) Samuel Shepard (1982–2010) |
Children | 3 |
Awards | Academy Awards (1983, 95) Golden Globes (1977, 83, 95, 96) Emmy Award (2009) |
Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.
Lange was discovered by producer Dino De Laurentiis while modeling for Wilhelmina Models, and made her professional film debut in 1976 with King Kong, which earned her a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year and became the fifth highest-grossing film of the year. She had her first true major critical and financial success, however, with a starring role in 1981’s The Postman Always Rings Twice. The following year, Lange became the first film actor in forty years to receive two Academy Award nominations within the same year; she was nominated for the Best Actress award for her portrayal of former Hollywood actress Frances Farmer in Frances and received the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a soap opera star in the comedy Tootsie, the second-highest grossing picture of 1982.
Lange followed it with several critically acclaimed performances throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, garnering several awards and nominations for such films as Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985), Music Box (1989), and the television movie O Pioneers! (1992). She finally won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a manic depressive army wife in Tony Richardson's last film, Blue Sky (1994). The following year, she appeared as Blanche DuBois in CBS's television production of A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she received her fourth Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and her first Emmy Award nomination. Lange was later nominated twice for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Movie for her work in the HBO drama films Normal (2003) and Grey Gardens (2009), among other honors, eventually winning for the latter. In 2011, Lange starred in FX's successful American Horror Story.
In total, Lange has received six Academy Award nominations, winning two, twelve Golden Globe nominations, winning four, three Emmy nominations, winning one, along with three Screen Actors Guild nominations and one British Academy Film Award nomination. Her work has also earned her a National Society of Film Critics award, a New York Film Critics Circle award, a Los Angeles Film Critics Association award, a Boston Society of Film Critics award, a Moscow International Film Festival award and a Theater World Award, among several other awards and nominations. In addition to acting, she is an award-winning photographer with two published works,[1] and is a humanitarian, holding a position as a Goodwill Embassador for UNICEF and specializing in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Congo and Russia.[2][3]
Contents |
Lange was born in Cloquet, Minnesota on April 20, 1949. The third of four children, she is the daughter of Dorothy Florence (née Sahlman; 1913–98) and Albert John Lange (1913–89), a teacher and traveling salesman.[4] Her maternal grandparents were of Finnish descent, while her paternal grandparents were German and Dutch.[5][6][7] Due to the nature of her father's professions, Lange and her family moved often throughout her childhood, though they eventually returned to and settled in Minnesota.
Lange studied art and photography at the University of Minnesota where she formed a relationship with photographer Francisco "Paco" Grande. The two married, and Lange dropped out of university in favor of travelling with Grande throughout the United States, both of them living the "bohemian life" out of a "beat-up van" throughout the late 1960s. She then relocated to Paris, France, where their relationship would eventually end. Lange, however, remained in Paris and studied mime with the renowned Étienne Decroux. In 1973, Lange returned to New York to "witness Nixon get impeached". Supporting herself as a waitress at the Lion's Head Tavern while sharing an apartment with Jerry Hall and Grace Jones in Manhattan, she was discovered by fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez[8] and was briefly a fashion model for the Wilhelmina Models agency before being discovered by Hollywood producer Dino De Laurentiis.
Lange made her professional film debut in 1976's King Kong. Despite being a box office hit, the film and her performance were panned and dismissed by the majority of film critics and Hollywood. Still, renowned and often feared film critic Pauline Kael praised Lange for her performance, comparing her to Carol Lombard and calling the film "campy fun". Lange's role would garner her the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year and the film would go on to become the fifth highest-grossing movie of 1976. Lange wouldn't work for nearly three years, however.[9][10] Still, she was determined to pursue her dream of becoming a professional actress, persevering, once again, as a waitress for the Lion's Head Tavern while attending classes at the Actor's Studio in Greenwich Village.
In 1979, Lange was cast as the 'Angel of Death' in Bob Fosse's semi-autobiographical film, All That Jazz. The two had carried on an affair shortly after Lange's film debut, but soon became close friends after the young actress formed a relationship with the renowned Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, with whom she would have her first child. It is reported that Fosse wrote the part with Lange in mind. Soon thereafter, she was contacted by Bob Rafelson regarding a project he and Jack Nicholson were working on. Coincidentally, Nicholson had auditioned Lange for a part in his directorial debut, 1978's Goin' South. Though Lange lost the role to Mary Steenburgen, Nicholson was impressed and remained extremely interested in working with her, telling the actress that they would soon share the screen together. After several meetings and auditions, Rafelson would offer Lange the infamous lead role, originated by Lana Turner, opposite Nicholson in 1981's The Postman Always Rings Twice, a remake of the classic film noir. Reportedly, after their first meeting, Rafelson wrote Lange's name on a slip of paper and placed it in a sealed envelope, knowing he had found his "first choice". Upon offering Lange the role, he handed her the envelope as a vote of confidence in her abilities. During filming, Nicholson became quite enamored with the actress for both her beauty and strength. He was quoted as referring to Lange as "a cross between a delicate fawn and a Buick."[11] Although the controversial film received mixed reviews, critics took special notice of Lange, who was unanimously praised for her performance, some citing it as her "true film debut". Major critical and financial success soon followed.
In 1982, Lange became the first film thespian in 40 years to receive two Academy Award nominations within the same year for her lead performance in Frances, co-starring Kim Stanley, and for her supporting turn in Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman. Tootsie garnered Lange the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, her first, and a second Golden Globe, also in the supporting category, while becoming the second highest-grossing film of 1982 (following Steven Spielberg's E.T.).
Lange first became aware of the infamous 1930s actress Frances Farmer while living in New York City after her disastrous film debut in the late 1970s and has spoken of fatefully being told by an acting teacher that she would one day play the doomed actress. Film editor for The Postman Always Rings Twice, Graeme Clifford, who had also been fascinated by Farmer's life years earlier and was coincidentally preparing to make his debut as a film director with a biopic on her life, quickly noticed Lange's range as an actress and the uncanny resemblance she bore to Farmer while editing Rafelson's film and immediately suggested her as his first choice to producer Mel Brooks, who favored Tuesday Weld for the highly sought after role. Brooks would later speak of agreeing with Clifford after his first meeting with Lange.
Filming Frances was a grueling and emotionally taxing experience for Lange, who has spoken of "going over the edge" during the shoot. However, it was during this time that she met and fell in love with Sam Shepard, who co-starred as a composite of some of Farmer's male friends. The two would soon move in together and have their first child the following year. Lange's performance in Frances has since become highly regarded as one of the best performances of all time.[12]
The now "established actress" quickly became a highly sought after star and was offered roles in box-office hits such as 1984's Romancing the Stone and 1988's Gorillas in the Mist, but turned them down for more intense material. The power and prestige she had earned with her sudden success afforded her the opportunity to both star in and act as executive producer of her next film, 1984's Country, which was inspired by the farm crisis of the 1980s and, once again, co-starred Shepard. Lange was a staunch supporter of farmers rights, admitting that her own "Midwestern upbringing" made her especially empathetic to their plight. Her performance garnered her a third Academy Award nomination and fourth Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. That same year she made her television debut as Maggie the Cat, starring opposite Tommy Lee Jones in a CBS Playhouse production of Tennessee Williams's Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, which also garnered her much critical praise. The following year she testified before the United States Congress on behalf of the Democratic House Task Force on Agriculture, alongside Jane Fonda, whom she formed a close friendship with, and Sally Field.[13] At the close of 1985, she would portray legendary country singer Patsy Cline in Karel Reisz's biopic, Sweet Dreams, opposite Ed Harris, Ann Wedgeworth and John Goodman. Her performance garnered her a fourth Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She also befriended Goodman, who would go on to co-star with Lange in four films, usually upon her own insistence. In several interviews, Meryl Streep has stated that she "begged" Reisz, who directed her in 1981's The French Lieutenant's Woman, for the role of Cline but that his first choice had always been Lange. Streep has also been quite vocal and adamant in her praise of Lange's performance, calling her "beyond wonderful" in the film and stating:
Lange's films throughout the mid and late 1980's were mostly low profile and underperformed at the box office. Still, she continued to achieve consistent and unanimous critical success which resulted in several prestigious awards and nominations. In 1989, she starred in Costa-Gavras' Music Box, written by Joe Eszterhas and loosely based on the screenwriter's own experiences with his father. Lange played a Hungarian lawyer defending her father of Nazi war crimes. Her performance would garner her a fifth Academy Award nomination and sixth Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
Lange's film work during the 1990s became somewhat sporadic due to her taking time off to raise her children and to her increasing interest in stage work. In 1990 she starred in Paul Brickman's Men Don't Leave, which introduced Chris O'Donnell and co-starred Joan Cusack and Kathy Bates. Her performance would garner her much critical praise and introduce her to O'Donnell, whom she would later suggest for a role in Blue Sky.
In 1991, Martin Scorcese and Robert DeNiro, who had both auditioned Lange for 1981's Raging Bull, approached her to star in a remake of the 1962 film noir classic, Cape Fear, starring DeNiro along with Nick Nolte and Juliette Lewis. Lange, who had always "desperately" wanted to work with both Scorcese and DeNiro, immediately jumped at the opportunity and was allowed some creative control over her role and dialogue. The film and cast received tremendous critical praise and it became the eighth highest-grossing film of 1991. In 1992, Lange starred in a television adaptation of Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, which garnered her her seventh Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Her Broadway debut also occurred that same year as she portrayed Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Alec Baldwin. Critics panned Lange's performance as being "too cinematic" and criticized her for her lack of stage technique and experience. A few critics, however, lauded her performance, citing it as one of the best and most realistic interpretations of Williams' seminal character on Broadway. The demands of the role coupled with her increasing disinterest in Hollywood led her to star in only two more films in 1992, Irwin Winkler's Night and the City, opposite DeNiro once more, and Tony Richardson's Blue Sky, which reunited her with Tommy Lee Jones, before taking a three year break to focus on her family and photography.
Due to financial difficulties, Orion Pictures did not release Blue Sky until 1994. Lange was lauded for her performance as a manic depressive army wife in the 1960s. She garnered the 1994 Academy Award for Best Actress, along with the Golden Globe Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award and the Sant Jordi de Cine award for Best Actress. During her acceptance speech for the Oscar, Lange dedicated her award to her children and to the memory and brilliance of director Tony Richardson, who had recently died from AIDS-related complications. Her victory placed her in an elite group of thespians who have won Oscars in both the supporting and lead categories. (see Academy Award for Best Actress and Academy Award for Best Actor). She would follow her victory with further critically lauded performances in 1995's Losing Isaiah, opposite Halle Berry, and Rob Roy, opposite Liam Neeson. That same year, Lange would reprise her role as Blanche DuBois in a CBS television adaptation. This time, she received rave reviews for her performance, which garnered her a fourth Golden Globe award and her first Emmy nomination for Best Actress.
In 1996, Lange made her London stage debut in a third reprisal of her role as Blanche DuBois to considerable critical acclaim. The following year she starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in a film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, A Thousand Acres. Lange and Pfeiffer had always wanted to work together and had both optioned the book in galley form in 1991. The film also starred Jason Robards and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It received generally mixed reviews save for the performances by and chemistry between the lead actresses. Lange garnered her ninth Golden Globe nomination and won the Venice Film Festival's Schermi d'Amore award. In 1998, she starred opposite Elizabeth Shue in a film adaptation of Balzac's Cousin Bette, for which she would receive mixed reviews. That same year Lange also starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the semi cult classic, Hush. Her performance was panned as "over the top" by many critics, though Roger Ebert disagreed, writing:
The film's most intriguing element is the performance by Jessica Lange, who by not going over the top provides Martha with a little pathos to leaven the psychopathology."[16]
She received her first and only Razzie Award nomination for her performance.
Lange received rave reviews at the close of the century for her risky performance in Titus, Julie Taymor's 1999 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. She performed opposite Anthony Hopkins and Alan Cummings, with whom she quickly formed a close friendship. During promotional interviews for the film, Hopkins also revealed his admiration for Lange, stating that her performance in Frances was his favorite by an actress. Lange had just turned 50 and Taymor directed her in giving one of her most erotically charged and critically lauded performances. Entertainment Weekly film critic, Lisa Schwarzbaum, even opined:
Jessica Lange already has two Oscars and six nominations to her credit, so her appearance near the words Academy Awards should never be a surprise. But everything about her daring performance in Titus as Tamora, the Queen of the Goths, is an astonishment. Donning breastplates, vowing vengeance, tearing into Shakespeare for the first time as if nothing could be more fun, Lange steals the show — and when the star of the show is Anthony Hopkins, that's grand theft.[17]
Lange began the new millennium with a London stage production of Eugene O'Neill's classic autobiographical play, Long Day's Journey Into Night, playing the part of the heroin-addicted Mary Tyrone. She received the best stage reviews of her career and garnered an Olivier Award nomination.
She appeared mostly in supporting roles after, most notably opposite Christina Ricci in the 2001 adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's best-selling memoir on depression, Prozac Nation. In 2003, Lange starred opposite Tom Wilkinson in HBO's highly-aclaimed Normal, a film about a man who reveals to his wife his decision to have a sex change. She received her tenth Golden Globe nomination and second Emmy nomination. She followed this with notable performances in the Bob Dylan vehicle, Masked and Anonymous (2003), Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003), Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers (2005) and Wim Wenders' Don't Come Knocking (2005), before starring opposite Christian Slater and Sarah Paulson in a Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie for which she received generally positive reviews. She later starred with Tammy Blanchard in a remake of Sybil in 2007.
Lange would see a resurgence in her popularity in 2009 with her hugely successful performance as Big Edie, opposite Drew Barrymore, in HBO's Grey Gardens, based on the infamous 1975 documentary of the same name. The two women would form a tight "mother-daughter" bond during filming, spending the entire shoot together "in each other's hotel rooms". Her performance garnered her her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Movie after two previous nominations in the same category. During her acceptance speech, Lange thanked Barrymore, dedicating half of the award to her and Barrymore's taped reaction saw her mouthing the response, "I love you mother darling." Lange would also garner her eleventh Golden Globe nomination and her second Screen Actor's Guild award nomination, losing both awards to Barrymore.
In 2011, Lange joined the cast of the FX horror series American Horror Story. Series co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk originally wrote the role of Constance, a nosy next-door neighbor, as a supporting character, but after Lange acquired the role, they expanded it considerably, ultimately categorizing it as a "third lead". Murphy also stated that he had repeatedly seen Lange as Blanche DuBois on Broadway in 1992 after which he grew "obsessed" with her, citing her and her performance as his ultimate favorites.[18] American Horror Story debuted as FX's highest-rated premiere, quickly becoming one of the network's highest-rated shows ever.[19] Once again, Lange has seen a resurgence in her popularity and has received rave reviews for her controversial role. The International Press Academy awarded Lange a Special Achievement Satellite Award for Outstanding Performance in a TV Series. Lange also received her third Screen Actors Guild nomination and first in the category of Best Actress in a TV Series, along with her twelfth Golden Globe nomination and first in the category of Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series. She was also chosen by TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and MTV for giving one of the "best performances of 2011".[20][21][22]
Lange will next star in Michael Sucsy's The Vow, opposite Channing Tatum, and in a film adaptation of the television show, The Big Valley, in the role Barbara Stanwyck made famous.
Lange is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), specializing in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Congo and in spreading awareness of the disease in Russia.[2][3] She has also been a public critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush, once calling his administration, "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence,"[23] and has been a fervent human rights supporter of the Buddhist monks in Nepal.
Lange was married to photographer Francisco "Paco" Grande from 1970 to 1981.[24] Since 1982, she lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard, but separated in 2010.[25] She has three children, Alexandra (born 1981) from her relationship with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Samuel Walker (born 1987) with Shepard.[26][27][28]
In 2008, Lange published her own collection of black-and-white pictures entitled 50 Photographs (powerHouse Books) with a special introduction by Patti Smith.[29] An exhibition of her work, along with a series of her films, was presented at the oldest international museum of photography and film, the George Eastman House, after which Lange was presented with the first George Eastman House Honors Award in 2009.[30] In 2010, she published a second collection of photographs, In Mexico.[31]
Television | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Director | |
1981 | The Best Little Girl in the World | ? | Sam O'Steen | |
1985 | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Maggie | Jack Hofsiss | |
1992 | O Pioneers! | Alexandra Bergson | Glenn Jordan | |
1995 | A Streetcar Named Desire | Blanche DuBois | Glenn Jordan | |
2003 | Normal | Irma Applewood | Jane Anderson | |
2004 | Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines | Narrator | Lisa Hepner | |
2007 | Sybil | Dr Cornelia Wilbur | Joseph Sargent | |
2009 | Grey Gardens | Big Edie | Michael Sucsy | |
2011 | American Horror Story | Constance | Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk | |
Documentaries | ||||
1981 | Notre Dame of the Cross | Herself | Daniel Schmid | |
1994 | A Century of Cinema | Caroline Thomas | ||
1997 | Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's | Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini |
||
2003 | XXI Century | Gabriele Zamparini | ||
2005 | The Needs of Kim Stanley | Dani Minnick |
In 1992, Lange made her Broadway-theatre début in New York City opposite Alec Baldwin in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. She appeared in the West End in London, United Kingdom, in 2000, as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and was nominated for an Olivier Award. In 2005, she returned to Broadway in another Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie, with Christian Slater.
Theater | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Director |
1992 | A Streetcar Named Desire | Blanche DuBois | Gregory Mosher |
2000 | Long Day's Journey into Night | Mary Cavan Tyrone | Robin Phillips |
2005 | The Glass Menagerie | Amanda Wingfield | David Leveaux |
As a winner of two Academy Awards (from overall six nominations) and four Golden Globe Awards (out of eleven nominations in total), Lange has also earned an Emmy Award, a Boston Society of Film Critics award, a Kansas City Film Critics Circle award, a Los Angeles Film Critics Association award, a National Society of Film Critics award, a New York Film Critics Circle Award, an award at the Moscow International Film Festival, a Theater World Award, a Crystal Award, and a Satellite Award. In addition, she was nominated for another two Satellite Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, another two Emmys, a BAFTA Award, a Chicago Film Critics Association award, and a PRISM Award.[32][33]