Phoebe Cates

Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates at 81st Annual Academy Awards, February 22, 2009
Born	Phoebe Belle Cates (1963-07-16) July 16, 1963 New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Model (1977–1981) Actress (1982–1994, 2001) Entrepreneur (2005–present)
Spouse(s)	Kevin Kline (m. 1989)
Children	2

Phoebe Cates Kline (born Phoebe Belle Cates; July 16, 1963), better known as Phoebe Cates, is an American film actress, model, and entrepreneur. She is known for her roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins.

Early life

Cates was born Phoebe Belle Cates in New York City to a family of television and Broadway production insiders. Her parents are Lily and Joseph Cates (originally "Joseph Katz"^[1]), who was a major Broadway producer and a pioneering figure in television, who helped create The $64,000 Question.^[2][3] Her late uncle, Gilbert Cates, produced numerous television specials, often in partnership with Cates' father, and several annual Academy Awards shows. Her paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother were Russian Jews, and her maternal grandfather was Chinese Filipino.^[4][5][6]

Cates attended the Professional Children's School and the Juilliard School.^[7] When she was ten, she wanted to become a dancer. She eventually got a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, but after suffering a serious knee injury at age 15, she gave up her dancing career.^[8] She next began a career as a professional model, which was short-lived, although successful.^[8] Cates, however, did not like the industry: "It was just the same thing, over and over. After a while I did it solely for the money."^[9]

Acting career

After ending her modeling career, Cates decided to begin acting.^[8] Although her father was an actor as well, he was not enthusiastic about his daughter's new acting career.^[8] Cates's acting debut was in Paradise (filmed 22 March 1981 - 6 May 1981 and released May 1982^[10]), a role she won after replying to a casting call in New York.^[11] At age 17 she played the role of Sarah and did several full nude scenes in the movie, which had a plot very similar to The Blue Lagoon. In a 1982 interview, she recalled having trouble with the change of career, because as a model she had to be conscious of the camera, whereas in front of the movie camera, she could not.^[9] Cates later regretted being in the movie and said: "What I learned was never to do a movie like that again."^[8] According to her co-star Willie Aames, "she will have nothing to do with the film. She's really upset about it. She won't do any promotion with me."^[12]

Later in 1982, Cates starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which features "the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history".^[13] She was quoted as saying that she had the most fun in filming that movie.^[8] The following year, she was in the sex comedy Private School (which co-starred Matthew Modine and Betsy Russell), for which she sang on two songs of the film's soundtrack.

Her later film roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger audiences, such as the two Gremlins films and the 1991 film Drop Dead Fred. Her face graced the covers of teen magazines such as Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, and others. In 1984, she starred in the TV mini-series Lace. She played the role of Lili "to get away from a sameness in her movie portrayals".^[14] During her audition, she so impressed the writer, that he wanted to hire her there and then.^[14] Cates struggled with the portrayal of a bitter movie star because, despite her character's vicious persona, she intended for the audience to sympathize with her.^[15] She did not read the novel on which the movie was based because she did not want to have a "fixed image".^[15]

In 1985, Cates appeared Off-Broadway in Rich Relations, written by David Henry Hwang of the Second Stage Theatre.^[16] In 1994, she starred in the romantic comedy Princess Caraboo.

Cates retired from acting in 1994 in order to raise her children. She returned to acting in 2001 for one film, The Anniversary Party, as a favor to the director, her best friend, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Music career

Cates sang the title song (of the same name) for the film Paradise.^[17] She also sang the songs "Just One Touch" and "How Do I Let You Know" for the Private School soundtrack.

Personal life

In the early 1980s, Cates shared an apartment in Greenwich Village with her then boyfriend Stavros Merjos. She met him in 1979, when she went out to her first night in Studio 54 with family friend Andy Warhol.^[9]

In 1983 during her audition In for Meg Tilly in The Big Chill, Cates met actor Kevin Kline, and became romantically involved. In 1989 they were married, and she changed her name to Phoebe Cates Kline.^[18] The Klines live in New York City with their two children, son Owen Joseph Kline, born in 1991, and daughter Greta Simone Kline, born in 1994. Both Owen and Greta appeared along with their parents in the 2001 movie, The Anniversary Party. Owen also appeared in the 2005 film, The Squid and the Whale.

In 2005, Cates opened her own boutique called Blue Tree on New York's Madison Avenue.^[19]

Filmography

Film and television

Cates and Kevin Kline at an after party for the 1989 Academy Awards

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phoebe Cates.

• Phoebe Cates at the Internet Movie Database
• Blue Tree Cates's NY boutique website