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Jeff Bridges
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Spouse
'Susan Geston' (1975 - present)
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
The son of actor Lloyd Bridges (and brother of Beau, also an actor), this boyishly handsome leading man of the 1970s has matured into one of the finest actors in films. He made his debut as an infant, cuddled by Jane Greer in The Company She Keeps (1950), but first gained prominence with performances in the TV movie Silent Night, Lonely Night (1969) and the feature film Halls of Anger (1970). Peter Bogdanovich's Texas-set drama The Last Picture Show (1971) established him as an up-and-coming leading man; he earned his first Oscar nomi nation as a young citizen of a small Texas town. Bridges subsequently played a number of disaffected, fatalistic young men, some of them sympathetic, others not. He also revealed his fondness for interesting and offbeat characters, and his willingness to play them even in patently uncommercial films. Fat City (1972, as a boxer's young protˇgˇ), Bad Company (also 1972), The Iceman Cometh, The Last American Hero (as a race-car driver), Lolly Madonna XXX (all 1973), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974, stealing this Clint Eastwood picture with his Oscarnominated turn as a clever drifter), Rancho Deluxe and Hearts of the West (both 1975) kept Bridges in the limelight.
The failures of King Kong (1976), Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), Winter Kills, The American Success Company (both 1979), Heaven's Gate (1980), Cutter's Way (1981), Kiss Me Goodbye and Tron (both 1982)-none of which, it should be noted, could be traced to Bridges' door-seriously impeded his career. But two 1984 films, Against All Odds and Starman got him back on track. The first, a remake of the 1947 film noir Out of the Past teamed him with Rachel Ward and hit moviegoers just right; the second, in which he played an alien who lands on Earth and assumes human form, brought him another Academy Award nomination. The hugely successful Jagged Edge (1985) teamed him with Glenn Close in an illogical but suspenseful courtroom drama, 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) cast him as an alcoholic ex-cop turned detective, The Morning After (also 1986) saw him come to the aid of a booze-soaked movie star played by Jane Fonda. Nadine (1987) paired Bridges with up-and-coming Kim Basinger to negligible effect.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) gave Bridges his best role in years as the naive but visionary car manufacturer beset by the big automakers and corrupt Congressmen. He followed it with The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), cast opposite brother Beau in an uneven drama about sibling performers whose lounge act is endangered by their female vocalist, Michelle Pfeiffer. Texasville (1990), Bogdanovich's 20-years-later sequel to The Last Picture Show was mildly diverting but no match for the original film. He rebounded in Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King (1991), as a talk-radio host devastated by an emotional crisis but rehabilitated by his association with a street person played by Robin Williams. It was a brilliant and cathartic performance. He followed it by commissioning Martin Bell, the director of the harrowing documentary Streetwise to direct a fictional feature in which he would star. American Heart boasting another superb performance, made its way to theaters in 1993. Other recent films include The Vanishing Fearless (both 1993), Blown Away (1994), and Wild Bill (1995). |  |
