Actress/Wives of Stars Who Owe their Careers to Hubby

Not an actress but Stevie Nicks owes her entire career to Lindsey Buckingham.

Rita Wilson.

Betty White

Laura Branigan

Chrissy Tiegen.

What did I win?

Mia Farrow

Nicole Kidman stars in About Time You Asked: The Meghan Markle Story

Mrs. Gordon MacRae

If I'm going to be honest then I have to admit that Angelina Jolie's meteoric rise that came after she got with Brad Pitt was because of him. Her career was in steep decline before she hooked him. Even getting the role in Mr. and Mrs. Smith was his doing after Nicole Kidman had to drop out. Jolie would have still had some career but not like she ended up having.

Please, children...The QUEEN of all of this is Miss Sondra Locke.

Linda Lovelace

[quote]Mia Farrow

Absurd. Mia was established as a working actress on TV still in her teens, then became a TV star on PEYTON PLACE before starting a career in feature films shortly thereafter.

She married two very famous, accomplished men after she'd already become famous. She only met Woody Allen in the 80s when she began working with him.

DL may not like Mia Farrow, but they should at least respect her longevity in the biz.

Farrah

Sondra owed the destruction of her career to Clint, r10.

Natalie Wood

Mia Farrow was given the greatest roles and opportunities of her life by Woody Allen. He presented every facet of her character and talents. He made her Film Valentines. Her career was virtually over when she met him. And it's been over since he dumped her, again.

Relax R12. You sound a bit old and high strung. Are you drunk so early?

Annette Benning / Warren Beatty

r12 Agree. Fun fact: Mia replaced Britt Ekland on Guns at Batasi...Britt had been cast and began principal photography but then married Peter Sellers and he whined so much about missing her that she left location shooting, went to Sellers in LA, and never came back. Mia stepped in.

Mia Farrow's greatest film will always be ROSEMARY'S BABY, directed by Roman Polanski. With whom she had no personal relationship.

Learn your film history.

Not an actress but Georgina Chapman owes her career to her rapist ex-husband Harvey Weinstein.

Jennifer Jones and David O. Selznick

Lizabeth Scott, mistress of Hal Wallis.

Mia's husband Frank Sinatra actually divorced her for making Rosemary's Baby and served her with divorce papers on the set.

We all know Mia's pathetic story. Always some man doing her wrong. She's a fucking BPD LOON. And nobody needs to be lectured to by that ANCIENT WHITE FAG aka, R19.

Put the bottle down Gramps.

Mia Farrow's best performances were in Woody's films. The end. Just because I wasn't born in 1969 or even 1979, doesn't mean I don't know films, you old FUCK.

r24 = Ageist FUCK

R19 is a well known old troll on this site. He attacks and harrasses posters continuously. Let's keep it civil.

I hate the fame adjacent.

Already mentioned but

RITA WILSON

owns this thread.

Joan and Broderick Crawford

Camilla Sparv/Robert Evans

Jill Ireland was actually a decent actress. Deserved a bigger career.

Sarah Brightman

Angie Dickinson

Oh please, r28. Rita was the breakout star of The Brady Bunch and her star never stopped ascending!

The atrocious Jennifer Jones.

Norma "cross eyes" Shearer... not the wife of a star, but the wife of the man who made her one.

You're nuts R33.

Horror douchebro Rob Zombie is doing a MUNSTERS remake just so his whorewife can cosplay Lily. Insufferable

Nicole Kidman - yes, she's a beautiful woan but not a great actress. All the good parts came after she married Tommy.

Mrs. Dave Annable (not that either of them have much of a career).

Joyce and Addison DeWitt

R40 I'm the poor man's James Wolk, I just have to show up and be hot and I get cast in shit.

After I dicked Sally with my huge donger, word just got around, I guess!

Angelina? Please… I don’t think they qualify if they already had an Oscar and multiple blockbusters.

In regards to her television career, Lucille Ball. Desi was a genius in pushing her brand.

R44 And Gary Morton advised her against some questionable choices later on, saving Lucy’s career.

Nicole Kidman got international attention for Dead Calm before Tom.

Again, Annette Benin’s did The Grifters before Warren Beatty.

It's BENING, you fat whore!

Bad enough that mannish mopheaded mess stole both my Oscars!

It doesn't matter that Jolie had an Oscar already. Since that her career was pretty much downhill. It happens. Without Pitt she would be more like other supporting Oscar winners with so so careers and finances. She sure as hell wouldn't have had the fame which attracted her resurgent career and box office.

Annette Benin was the daughter-in-law of Margaret O' Sullavan

[quote]We all know Mia's pathetic story. Always some man doing her wrong. She's a fucking BPD LOON. And nobody needs to be lectured to by that ANCIENT WHITE FAG aka, [R19].

Put the bottle down Gramps.

Mia Farrow's best performances were in Woody's films. The end. Just because I wasn't born in 1969 or even 1979, doesn't mean I don't know films, you old FUCK.

I find it amusing how most of the posts that go off on people who allegedly have BPD, seem to be from posters who are likely afflicted with it themselves.

Leslie Mann, but not in a bad way.

Girls! Girls! You're BOTH heinous cunts!

Would Joanne have had the film career she had without Paul?

Joanne who?

Mia would never have had all of those great films in the 1980s without Woody. She'd been a famous flower-child ingenue in the 60s, but by 1980, she was 35 and her ability to play the cute young thing was over. Woody gave her a second chance in prestigious films. Even while they were splitting, Mia thought she still had a right to star in his films. Her personal attacks on him really ramped up once he replaced her with Diane Keaton in Manhattan Murder Mystery.

Michael J. Pollard (Oscar nominated, Bonnie and Clyde) and Beth Howland.

Majel Barrett

I disagree with Mia Farrow owing her career to Woody- she was pretty well established as an actress by the time she met Woody, her career COULD have stalled but likely didn't due to Woody, that is correct.

Annette Benning is a toss-up, she was a rising star for sure (The Grifters is her only truly sublime performance, IMHO, she's a good not great actress overall), Beatty cemented her as a permanent A-Lister.

Angelina is a tabloid star, so I do see the argument for her relationships with both Brad and Billy Bob making her the permanent A-Lister she is rather than an Oscar footnote ala Marcia Gay Harden.

How much of Anjelica Huston's success in film can be owed to Jack Nicholson? Like Mia and Angelina, her father was an A-Lister, but she only really became respected after Prizzi's Honor.

Barbara Bosson

Norma was a star before she married Irving like Jennifer was a star before she married David. They were Hollywood power couples who both brought equal wattage to the marriage.

Also, if we're generally talking relationships, it's much more accurate to say Diane Keaton owes her career to Woody Allen - likely why she hasn't jumped onto the Woody cancel train.

Does Camille Grammer count?

Demi Moore and Bruce Willis were a "power couple." Not sure about the timeline with "Ghost." They probably both benefited from being married to each other.

Christa Miller owns this thread.

Esther Blodgett

Gloria Loring and Alan Thicke

Jenna Dewan Tatum, who has done nothing since the divorce.

r55 - Whalley, Rose.

Nicole Kidman is Queen of this thread. Marriage to Tom gave her the exposure she needed to parlay her talents into A-list fame. It worked so well that Katie Holmes tried it 15 years later with far less success.

Hilaria Baldwin was promoted endlessly by her husband, not that any of it took.

Hilaria Baldwin, star of Snatch Game 2021!

Michelle Visage

73 posts and nobody mentions Nancy Allen.

Jada Pinkett Smith, Kelly Preston, Rita Wilson

R37 Oh please is right. Angie was a big star after Rio Bravo, bigger after the Rat Pack...she helped Burt Bacharach's image, not the other way around. Of course after Police Woman, Angie was even bigger.

r54 Good question. I think she would have gotten lost in the Eva Marie Saint Dina Merril mix.

Sheila Matthews Allen and her uncredited wiglet

Teresa Wright

Norma Shearer owns this thread.

How so, r79?

R79 She was married to two different screenwriters who got her roles in movies they penned.

Tom Arnold

R15 With RJ or Lana?

r52 I thought of her, too. She's alright but was horribly miscast in Blithe Spirit.

Lest we forgot Joan's brother Hal LeSueur

That’s a good one R58. She never had big parts, but she consistently worked into her elder years, which not a lot of actresses can claim.

Ruth Gordon

Brigitte Nielsen deserves a mention. Her acting career lasted longer than just Red Sonja as a result of marrying Sly.

It's not like she owed her career to them, r82.

Hardly, r88.

[R86] Joan tried to help Hal but had to give up. He had the good looks that Joan did but none of the ambition or work ethic. Hal killed someone in a traffic accident in the Cahuenga Pass (where I live). He died as a motel clerk from a heart attack. Joan/Lucille didn't attend his funeral as she was on location. Joan supported Hal and her mother for their whole lives, although she cut Hal off because he was still mean to her and still wouldn't respect her.

Joan Crawford was a talentless whore. And a bore. She fucked her way to the end.

Clooney's beard.

Londoners report that she was just a junior lawyer and had never led a case until she changed her name to his and then suddenly she was "world renowned".

The misfortune of the twink who went splash over the cliff turned into her good fortune.

His people gave her a great makeover, she really did look like Corporal Klinger before they cleaned her up.

There's a fragile DLer who gets very emotionally triggered any time George or his beard are criticized. He will be here shortly in a tizzy and hurling distractions. LOL and fuck off.

R24 is or is trying to appear to be the "Only Black Man Here and You Old White Fags Should Be Killed" troll. A constant nuisance here, poorly educated, a racist, homophobic dog.

You didn't mention his flatulence issues, r95.

Lance Bass’s gurl. Michael says he is an actor, but I only know him for being married to Lance.

George C Scott's talentless wife, Trish Van Devere.

Amy Irving/ Steven Spielberg

Marsha Mason/ Neil Simon

Leslie Mann. I couldn’t understand how such a bland, unexceptional actress was getting so many major movie roles until I found out she’s married to Judd Apatow

I think Neil held Marsha back, r99.

[quote] Mia Farrow was given the greatest roles and opportunities of her life by Woody Allen.

I'm sorry, but you just don;t know very much, and were clearly not around in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Peyton Place" was just enormous in the 1960ds--everyone talked about it all the time. it was so big that Barbara parkins was top-billed over Patty Duke and Susan hayward (not to mention Sharon Tate) in Valley of the Dolls just because she succeeded Mia farrow was the lead on the show--and Mia Farrow was the star of stars from that show,. She was a huge deal all on her own, and then she became even bigger with "Rosemary's Baby." She didn't get many good parts afterwards, but she was still considered one of the top 5 or ten film actresses in America in the early 70s--certainly below Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda, but not far below.

Jocelyn Brando

Barbara Bosson.

Infamously, at a press conference, her successful producer husband Steve Bochco, who cast her in everything, spelled her name thus for reporters: "B-O-S-S-O and N, as in 'nepotism.'"

Nicole Kidman's career got better after she and Tammy split. She got her first Oscar nom the year after they got divorced.

[quote]Amy Irving/ Steven Spielberg

I think Amy Irving already had a sweet career going before Spielberg. She's a talented and fun to watch actress whose career was slowed down by marriage and motherhood, imo.

R3 HellOOOOO Rita. I watched a bit of “Bonfire of the Vanities” the other day (yes I know, pee-yoo) and there she was in the opening scenes. I was like, does she really have to be in every other Tom Hanks film?

R106 Amy got so much money from the Spielberg divorce. She probably figured, fuck it. I would.

Amy Irving more or less devoted herself to stage work post Spielberg, and she is a worthy stage actress.

R56 You’re right about the Woody-Mia collaboration. I’m glad it happened. Woody gave Mia wonderful opportunities and in return she gave wonderful performances.

Woody Allen's films went downhill after his films with Mia.

[Quote] She probably figured, fuck it. I would.

Because neither of you are real artists.

I don't dare say the name, but it rhymes with "Fagin Starkle"

Mia got Daisy which was one of the most coveted roles of the 70s without Woody.

Not an actress but the lady director that was married to James Cameron. Kathrine Biegelow (spelling?).

Rosemarys Baby is why Farrow has a place in motion picture history. Woodys movies had niche audiences and the only one that holds any influence or relevance in 2021 is Annie Hall which didn’t star Farrow.

Pia Zadora. Her husband spent millions on her career.

R109 Amy got $100 million in the Spielberg divorce, in 1989. She could do whatever she wanted. I’ve always thought to be that kind of divorcee is the greatest piece of luck. OK, so you put up with some loneliness or bad behavior, what a return on investment! Then you get to relax and do anything you desire!

Here’s a list of the most expensive divorces. It makes me green with envy.

[quote] Jennifer was a star before she married David.

The reason she became a star in the first place was because she was his mistress, and he was determined to make her a star.

He thought DITS was going to be another GWTW...

Henny Backus, wife of Jim.

I used to work with this lesbian (who later claimed she turned straight, no kidding) who hated Will Smith and told me it was her opinion that the only reason he had a film career was because he married Jada Pinkett, an A-list star whose status in the industry helped make him a success. And no, she was not kidding when she said it.

R98 Good one, I forgot about Trish. Coleen Dewhurst was such a better actress-spouse and mum to that dewey Campbell Scott.

R106 Amy was definitely a star prior to Spielberg.

R107 Did you ever read “the devils candy” about the making of bonfire? The book skewers them all, including Tom and Rita.

R115 yes, he helped propel her to the hurt locker, etc

It’s on my list, R125. Bonfire was one of my favorite novels, the whole thing was just appalling.

R116 Mia admittedly let her career fall to the wayside in the late 70s, with fare such as Hurricane. She was a survivor and I think she probably would have had a long career in TV for practical purposes in the 80s and 90s had Woody not been in her life. I can easily imagine her leading an hour long hospital program or revisiting nighttime soaps. Mia was all about putting food on the table for her family and if she had to go back to TV, so be it. The fact was she was getting older, had let her film career slip, and younger actresses like Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver had come along by the 80s. Woody’s films allowed for Mia to play rich female characters in films and gain a new respect from the film community. If she had stopped with Woody after “Hannah,” she may have done more diverse feature film roles for other directors for a few more years.

I love her in Reckless.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Sans Woody Mia would be thought today as being in the Tuesday Weld class. Except Tuesday wouldn't have done Avalanche and wouldn't have married Frank. (She married Dudley who was fun - and age appropriate!)

Not quite married but the rumours of a relationship are enough… Gayle King.

From her Wikipedia: King's career began as a production assistant at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, where she met Oprah Winfrey, an anchor for the station at the time.

R119 Totally. He spent an inordinate amount of time and energy on her development. The number of memos he wrote on her potential screen names alone could sink a ship. Poor Robert Walker was doomed.

I was never keen on Leslie Mann UNTIL her husband gave her roles that really let her shine. Now I love her. She’s the best example of the good that can come from this scenario.

Mis Nanette Newman owns this thread.

R135 I’ll just die if I don’t have this recipe

Sherri Moon Zombie obviously would have played plenty of leading roles in films had she not been married to Rob Zombie.

[quote] Barbara Bosson.

Amen, R104 Barbara “Bosom” had one acting expression—looking annoyed. Zero acting talent. Her only qualification to star in shows like Hill Street Blues, was being married to mega-hit tv producer husband Steven Bochco RIP.

Pia Zadora

Lauren Bacall

R132 Oprah ate Gayle out, but it didn’t go further than that.

Dustin Lance Black kept his name in show biz by the power of association to Tom's dazzling youth. Otherwise I feel Dustbin would have even LESS work or no work at this point.

Tom's dazzling youth? Tom Daley? He's a homely little troll face boy. Nobody knows who he is in "show bizness" Tom Daley? That little gnome won A bronze medal, 9 years ago. That's it bitch. DLB won an Oscar.

Garry Shandling and Linda Doucett - she played Hank’s secretary Darlene on the Larry Sanders Show.

Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold ………. Casey Kasem and Linda Kasem

This is going to sound weird...but it's not actresses. Now it's the wives of younger male actors who have nothing better to do (like get a real job), so they start an influencer business with most of their "fans" already being those of the person they are married to.

Like that "wifey" of actor Matt Lanter who now has the whole beauty blogger/Christian lifestyle influencer business.

R146 you rang?

R115 Kathryn Bigelow's a great director, but you're still correct. She flat-out admits that he helped her early in her career, because at the time women directors basically couldn't get hired.

R146 Hilaria Baldwin is their queen.

r125 r127 The "Bonfire" debacle is the subject of the latest edition of TCM's podcast.

[R148] Because most female directors suck balls - especially for large, complex, creative productions. They’re okay for rom coms and formulaic TV show, however.

R15 = RJ Wagner. Sorry, RJ, but Nat was a megastar long before she met you, and if anything, you just sunk her career twice

Michelle Phillips, and she's the first to say it.

[quote]and if anything, you just sunk her career twice

SANK

When I was a kid, Mia was a superstar because of Peyton place, Gatsby and Death on the Nile. Good pleoplez like my parents didn't see Rosemary's baby, and probably didn't even know Mia was in it. Polanski was considered evil and linked to Manson. When she hooked up with the pedo, people were horrified, but since he had also fucked Diane Keaton, the grown ups were joking that "to score such beauties, he must have hidden talent"

R154 OK RJ, "sank" but are you sure you should insist here ????

P to P with P&J

R89 Brigitte Nielsen sent a bikini shot to Stallone to get his attention…resulting in marriage…she deserves props for this pre-Internet ingenuity, sort of the mid-80s low tech version of Raya.

Linda Harrison (Zanuck), cast as Nova in “Planet of the Apes.”

I'm sorry OP but Laurence Olivier owns this thread. Fired by Garbo, stuck in pretty boys 'parts on stage, almost fired again by Wyler, he finally married Scarlett O'hara and the publicity boosted his profile. Everybody knows that the crowds were chanting " Scarlett! Scarlett" at the stage door of their every production.

[quote] In spite of being the more Shakesperi-enced actor of the two, Olivier was far worse than Miss Leigh. But his greatest sin was not his acting but his directing.

Dyan Cannon

Betsy Drake

[quote] Linda Harrison (Zanuck), cast as Nova in “Planet of the Apes.”

Jesus, her Wikipedia page is longer than Albert Einstein's.

Woody Allen wasn't a pedo. Mia Farrow is an opportunist, husband stealer, nutjob, fake flower child, munchausen by proxy mom and (allegedly) a child killer. And she slept with Ronan.

R163 are you The Crazy Jewess ? the one who complains that nobody cares that her mother died in Birkenau and was made into a lamp shade, and people go nuts over Woody just fingering the little shiksa ? Look lady, you must realize how out of line and crazy you are ? and I'm sorry about your mother, but there's a silver lining, at least you have a nice lamp shade that's a very personal souvenir.

My, but you are a weak vessel R164. May Jesus visit healing to your troubled mind this day.

r162 LMAO! And talk about filler, way too much detail: "After Way...Way Out, Harrison appeared in a four-minute test segment entitled "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?", created by Batman producer William Dozier, which was supposed to engender interest in a Wonder Woman pilot and an eventual TV series. Harrison played a glamorous mirror image of Wonder Woman, which existed only in the imagination of the homely Diana Prince character, played by Ellie Wood Walker (Robert Walker Jr.'s wife). The "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?" segment failed to engender any interest in a Wonder Woman pilot, although Lynda Carter had great success in the role eight years later."

Gena Rowlands got her best, most notable roles courtesy of her husband John Cassavetes (and later their son Nick).

I can't believe it took until [R100] for a Leslie Mann mention. She is not awful, but entirely forgettable. I realize we're not supposed to mention spawn, but the Apatow daughters are in the family business as well, both just as forgettable as their mother (IMHO).

Sarah "Minnie Mouse on acid"* Brightman; Andrew Lloyd Webber seemed to have been the only person who didn't see she was a second-rate soprano with a horrible technique.

Frances McDormand

R162 Well, to be fair, R52 did get there first. but I would have pegged Mann for top 5!

[quote] Please, children...The QUEEN of all of this is Miss Sondra Locke.

Well, she was nominated for an Oscar before even meeting Eastwood… so chances are she’d have done fine on her own.

Trivia: She was married to her best childhood friend, a gay guy who even designed her red carpet dress. She adored him till the day he died and he was ultimately more loyal to her than Clint Eastwood ever was.

What about the transexual lady married to Walter Findlay-Nott?

R24 = Racist

Gena Rowlands was a spectacular actress, R167.

Barabar Bosson (Hillstreet Blues) married to Stephen Bochco the creator

R172 I had not realized she had died...and look at her with such a chunky estate.

"Locke died at age 74 on November 3, 2018, at her L.A. home, from cardiac arrest related to breast and bone cancers. Her remains were cremated on November 9, at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary and the ashes were given to her widower, Gordon Anderson.

Locke's death was not publicized until December 13, the day before Eastwood's latest blockbuster The Mule (2018) opened in theaters nationwide. The Associated Press said "it is not clear why it took nearly six weeks to come to light." According to the AP report, attempts to reach Anderson for comment were unsuccessful. Locke left Anderson an estimated fortune of $20 million, and seemed to have always supported him financially.

What about that damn Norma!

[quote] I used to work with this lesbian (who later claimed she turned straight, no kidding) who hated Will Smith and told me it was her opinion that the only reason he had a film career was because he married Jada Pinkett, an A-list star whose status in the industry helped make him a success. And no, she was not kidding when she said it.

Sounds like this former lesbian fell in love with Jada. Jada was never an A-lister (unless I missed something). However, after all the brouhaha with the younger man that Jada had an affair with, I'm convinced that the Smith/Pinkett marriage is a mutually-beneficial business arrangement. Meaning: Jada did / does bring something to the marriage, maybe not as much as Will, though.

[quote]R178 Locke left Anderson an estimated fortune of $20 million, and seemed to have always supported him financially.

For some reason I thought he died before she did!

Sorry for the misinformation [bold] : (

Yes, Woody did give Mia some good roles but Mia was a superstar in the late 60s early 70s, a household name. She was in fashion magazines and gossip rags - even 5 year-old little me knew who she was. If Andy Warhol coined the term “superstar” and Edie Sedgwick was his muse, Mia was a (more stable) Hollywood counterpart to poor Edie. Mia hung out with the Beatles in India, Salvador Dali in NY and the old Hollywood elite in Beverly Hills. Mia was already a super-earner by the time she was 18 and when she and Frank Sinatra divorced she did not ask for alimony which was unheard of at that time.

Mia was never a superstar with Woody, but yes, he did give her some good roles. If you weren’t alive during Mia’s youth then you would have no idea of her star power at that time. She could have retired at 25 and never done another film but still have a place in pop culture history.

R182 Yes, agree. Peyton Place was an absolute sensation during its early years and made stars out of Mia, Ryan O’Neal, Barbara Parkins and even gave lesser starlets like Lana Wood a lot of publicity.

Mia Farrow was indeed enchanting, and extremely popular right from that very first job..

[quote]Gena Rowlands was a spectacular actress, [R167].

I completely agree with you. I guess where I was coming from is that by the time she made "A Woman Under the Influence", she was 44 years old -- past her prime by Hollywood standards. We may not have seen how great she was if Cassavetes hadn't cast her in that and "Gloria". If these had been a big studio films, they would've wanted someone 10+ years younger and more bankable, like Jane Fonda or Faye Dunaway.

Ryan Reynolds

Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry (both from La Law)

Didn’t Ben Stiller’s wife get more work once she married him? Is Sachs Baron Cohen’s wife the same?

R151 I hate women as much as the next DLer, but her early films (Point Break, Near Dark, Strange Days) are excellent. I haven't seen any of her recent films because I don't care for military movies, but they're very acclaimed. None are "romcoms."

I was also once a fan of Jane Campion, who mostly makes psychosexual dramas.

Lina Wertmuller made several excellent Italian films in 1970s. She was the first woman nominated for the Best Director Oscar. She's still alive at 92 years old.

Mia got mega-famous from the Frank Sinatra marriage. Not that he got her acting jobs, it’s that she became a cultural phenomenon.

Mia got PR from the start. A 19 year old tv sensation and she is dating Frank Sinatra, she cuts off her hair, starting a trend (my sister chopped her hair off after she saw Mia and my mother was pissed) and keeping her in the news with speculation over what she would do next.

Mary Ellen Trainor, ex-wife of Robert Zemeckis, appeared in [italic]Romancing the Stone[/italic], [italic]Lethal Weapon[/italic] and [italic]Die Hard[/italic] among other films.

Mia was huge after Peyton Place and Rosemary's Baby and was cast in John and Mary (1969) with Dustin Hoffman, Secret Ceremony with Elizabeth Taylor (1968) opposite Redford in the coveted role of Daisy in The Great Gatsby (1973) See No Evil(1971) The Public Eye (1972) Altman's A Wedding (1978), Death on the Nile (1978) and the dreadful The Haunting of Julia(1977). Hurricane (1979) and Avalanche (1978) all before she worked with Woody in 1982s A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy.

Nicole Kidman is an odd case. Yes marrying Tom boosted her profile and took her from an acclaimed Aussie film Dead Calm to major Hollywood roles BUT she really only seemed to hit her stride as an actress after he divorced her. She seemed suddenly to be better, more daring in her choices and really did some interesting films after.

R195 that’s all true. And yet she would have never gotten to that post-Tom point in her career if she hadn’t married him in the first place. So I absolutely see why people here are listing her.

Nicole Kidman is more talented and enigmatic and versatile and daring than Tom Cruise could dream to be. She doesn't owe her career to that dwarf robot.

Mia Farrow DOES owe her fame to the men in her life. Even now....does she still sleep with Ronan?

R192 That’s true, the hair was a big thing.

Nicole earned her reputation after the divorce, but in the beginning it did feel like she was foisted on us.

I've always thought that marrying Tammy, though it made her more famous, hurt Nicole Kidman's acting career. Dead Calm was a critically acclaimed international hit that led to her (and co-star Sam Neill) breaking into American film. Then she married Tammy and was just his wife. I always thought if she didn't marry him, she would've gone a more arthouse route in the early-90s.

However, by being married to arguably the biggest star of the time, she was also protected from things, like Weinstein's casting couch.

It's undeniable that Mia was a star long before she met Woody. But her peak was a good 10 years behind her by the time she started dating Woody. He gave her the second act as a film star that she wouldn't have had without him.

I agree that if she'd never been with Woody, she'd have gone the TV route in the 80s and 90s. Who knows? She might have had a longer (if less prestigious) second act that way, as her career basically fizzled out after the split and the molestation accusations.

The fact that Nicole Kidman is indeed more talented and enigmatic and versatile and daring than Tom Cruise, R197, doesn't mean she really is (talented and enigmatic an so on, that is). It only means she seems to be so, compared to him. I remember a press conference in the Canne Film Festival when Kidman, Cruise and Ron Howard were promoting Far and Away. She was totally bland and generic yet came off as highly intelligent and profound, seated next to those two Hollywood airheads. And that's the secret of her post Cruise success - the huge publicity she willingly basked in during the marriage, the sympathy she was milking, being "the wronged party" of the divorce and the very calculated "artistic" and "highbrow" career choices she made, as opposed to his crowd pleasing ones made by Cruise, fooled many people to believe her to be the kind of gifted and groundbreaking artist she could never be, being a rather talent-free person (acting wise, not self-promoting wise).

When she was first with Tom, Nicole was this red haired corkscrew sort of oddity, as film stars go. But she was Tom’s wife, and he was a huge deal then, so she was put there for us to watch, like it or not.

Kidman was a good actress before Tom, no question about that. I saw her back then in some Aussie film and was very impressed.

But this thread is not about talent. Not even previously rewarded talent. That never guarantees success or much of a career. The thread is about women who owe their success - make it the kind of success they wouldn't have had on their own - to their husbands. I think Nicole definitely qualifies.

[quote]r203 When she was first with Tom, Nicole was this red haired corkscrew sort of oddity, as film stars go. But she was Tom’s wife, and he was a huge deal then, so she was put there for us to watch, like it or not.

Her hair was unusual, as was perhaps her ability to actually act (for a starlet).

She consistently got better reviews than Cruise in their projects. I forget which critic noted “she acts circles around him in every scene they share.”

I’ve always found Australians to be hugely starstruck and ambitious.

Here’s Nicole in her first big hit, Dead Calm.

It's too bad, r185, that she didn't get to do her Broadway role on film in Middle of the Night. Instead they went with little Miss Kim Novak. Actually it's one of Kim's better performances.

Wow, that picture at R206 was a lot of plastic surgeries ago.

R193 I think I read somewhere that she was best friends with Goldie Hawn. Pancreatic Cancer is a death sentence.

R202 Kidman started making "daring" acting choices while still married to Tammy. According to Gus Van Sant, she basically called him up and begged to audition for To Die For. After that, she did The Portrait of a Lady, and she even got naked on stage in The Blue Room.

The Blue Room

Hey, R189, psycho boy. We all on DL don’t hate women. Seek help.

^👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Tom Hardy and his wife, Charlotte Riley. I know that not many people know who she is outside of the UK, but she was a nobody until she met Tom on the set of some TV movie. She got with him while his baby mama was pregnant. Nasty, nasty. After she poached Tom, she started getting bit parts in big blockbuster American movies like Edge of Tomorrow and Jack Reacher. She's a D lister in the UK but somehow got a role in the film In the Heart of the Sea with Brendan Gleeson, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland-all A listers. Then she had a recurring part on Peaky Blinders, the same show that her husband starred in, for years. They didn't have any scenes together, at least. When Tom's character was killed off, her character quietly disappeared at the same. She would be a nobody in the north of England working in amateur theatre if she didn't have Tom. There's no way that her raw acting chops got her all those plum roles. The sad part is that Tom probably didn't get those roles for her sake, but for his own. What A list star wants to be married to a nonworking actress who can't get any roles in the biz? She hasn't done anything that big for awhile (thank God). Maybe that's why she puts up with all of his infidelities..

R214 I did not know of this or her. She's kind of a plain-jane, too.

I only like Nicole Kidman in Dead Calm, before Tammy.

I thought her name was Jean R145

Charlotte Riley is very beautiful despite her wonky eye. She is also a good actress. She was chilling in a series of DCI Banks where she played part of a serial killer couple. I like her.

Mia hit it big in the 60s with Peyton Place, the Sinatra marriage and Rosemary's Baby, but would we ever have heard of her if her father hadn’t been a successful Oscar-winning director and her mother a famous actress?

There’s an epidemic among horror directors of shoving their talentless wives down our throats more than any other genre.

Shocked Vera Hruba Ralston hasn't been mentioned yet. She pretty much defines this topic.

R218 I didn't want to mention the eye but it wouldn't be it's so distracting if she could actually act really well, which she can't. I've seen her work too many times to ignore it. She's decent, and that's being generous. It's all so blah. And beautiful? Perhaps, if you like that sort of thing. It feels as though her jaw is stabbing my eye when she's onscreen. See R215 for reference. I love Peaky and In the Heart but I had to skip through during her performances. She was lucky to work with Cillian in most of her scenes on Peaky because his acting elevated whatever she was doing. For someone who's so unremarkable as an actor, she's been everywhere in the last few years. She's already been on 3 different morning shows in the first half of 2021. Anyway, I'm sure that Tom cares for her very much, and that's lovely and all, but really, give some amazing working class actress a chance. It's nuptial nepotism and it has to STOP.

Her marriage to Cruise killed Katie Holmes’s career.

Fortunately, the divorce made the career unnecessary.

Kate Capshaw.

That's a good one R225. Who the fuck was she before she married that creep? And then she starred in one of the great production numbers of all time, in a totally gratuitous opening of one of the Indiana Jones films. SCREAMING was her idea of being an actress.

No one should shade Amy Irving. She can act and she was charming and she tried hard to keep a career after her divorce. Steven Spielberg got a handjob from Victoria Principal at some after party. That's the kind of sexy he is.

Kate Capshaw is fucking RICH, and along with Rita Wilson and Melanie Griffith - they comprise the brainy society wives/best friends of Hollywood. OY. Fuck.

"Steven Spielberg got a handjob from Victoria Principal at some after party."

I've had better.

Jayne Meadows

Tony Perkins and Roddy McDowall invited my 18 year old brother and another busboy back to their room at The Four Seasons in Toronto. My older brother worked at the Hazelton Lanes, back in the day. Tony and Roddy tried to get the guys high on coke and fuck them. Perkins tried to fuck them. Roddy was a bit more gentlemanly. They were both well preserved tight pant wearing pigs. It wasn't my brother's first invitation. He got high and blown, but didn't get fucked. He had a lot more fun with Denise Matthews. Vanity. Many times. Arviv.

So the point of R227's comment was what? Tony Perkins was not subtle.

The Victoria Principal Story is pretty well known. She was desperately auditioning and Spielberg didn't say no. Say what you like about her, but he's a smelly putz.

R226 Meanwhile, I knew Jessica Capshaw and she is a cunt with a capital K. She is one of these kids who completely and thoroughly turned their backs on their birth father once Mommy traded up (like Tina Louise, Kate and Oliver Hudson, Nancy Davis Reagan). Most of their fathers were shits, but they act like they are to the manor born. Pull up a chair. To quote Clairee Belcher: "If you can't say something nice about someone, come sit next to me."

<< Before this goes too far, I must say Robert Capshaw is long D-E-A-D dead, but I am talking about making believe someone just didn't exist at all.

r221 VRH was the '40s/'50s version of Pia Zadora.

I meant VHR.

Charo

I think Jayne would have had the same career (such as it was) without Steve, r228.

R235, I disagree. She played her role as "Mrs. Steve Allen" to the hilt for many decades. Nearly every project he launched, he would include her whether she belonged in it or not.

She wasn't playing a role, r236, she *was* Mrs. Steve Allen.

[quote] Cornelia Sharpe (“Serpico,” married to mega-producer Martin Bregman)

She was one of the final 5 in consideration to be one of the replacement angels. I think for Tiffany (?)

R238 Cornelia's pendulous titties and pencil eraser niplitas—filmed from the perception of the man she was riding in a "hey, it's the '70s, how many unique sex scenes can we include?" kind of way—scarred me for life when my parents took me to see "The Reincarnation or Peter Proud" at the wee age of 7. However, Margot Kidder, Debralee Scott, Michael Sarrazin, and Jennifer O'Neill tweaked my pre-gay sensibilities and...male-model Tony Stephano—in his uncredited role 90% naked role—left a lasting impression on me.

This is a 70s interview with Sharpe. She actually comes across as pretty intelligent.

To bring this back to INFERNO, Kael dismissed Sharpe in one review as, “a lynx faced model, fashioned as the next ice hot princess - the new Faye Dunaway.”

[quote] To bring this back to INFERNO,

Oh dear. Apparently I was in two different threads at once in my mind!

R240 Ha! She does look very Fayesque in that shot. Lord knows she would have done a better job in TTI.

Wasn't Cornelia Sharpe Sister Constance from The Trouble with Angels??

R243 That was Camilla Sparv, who earned a mention back at R30 - Sharpe memorably co-starred with Jayne Kennedy in a Charlie's Angels ripoff called "Cover Girls," as well as a few marquee roles, due to her producer husband Martin Bregman. Sparv was married to Robert Evans, before he was a producer, and in between his disastrous marriages to Sharon Hugueny and Ali McGraw.

Camilla Sparv was the female lead (opposite James Coburn) in a movie with one of my favorite twist endings, "Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round." Of course I was only 14 when I saw it (in the theater) so maybe I was more impressed than I should have been.

It was also notable for featuring a VERY young (uncredited) Harrison Ford. Not to mention DL faves Aldo Ray, Nina Wayne, and Rose Marie.

R229 I enjoyed your post. I remember Victoria in the Bernie Cornfeld days. She had been kicking around for years and was not happening. I wonder if she became an agent after this handjob story began to circulate…or if she became an agent to get her hands on scripts. Either way Dallas really rescued her. And I wonder which role she was auditioning for? My guess is The Sugarland Express (the Goldie Hawn role) and Spielberg had seen her The Naked Ape pictorial in Playboy and wasn’t expecting much.

As far as this: “My older brother worked at the Hazelton Lanes, back in the day. Tony and Roddy tried to get the guys high on coke and fuck them. Perkins tried to fuck them.” Wow. Meanwhile, I never got plying someone with coke to fuck them. You might fuck someone to get more coke, but it never made me horny.

I'm watching Woody Allen's "Alice" right now. Mia is so good in it.

I love the scene where she zones out smoking opium!

Frances McDormand

Sandra Oh's career courtesy of Sideways /Alexander Payne

What are the odds of Mia doing another film with Woody especially if it was a film in which his character is revealed to be guilty of...stuff. Not super impossible because that might be the only way either of them will ever appear on the big screen again, together or apart. Also on based on interest alone it could well open wider than West Side Story.