Jane Fonda's status before Meryl Streep

Jane Fonda has had an incredible life. She is also a great actress. She has also continued to work consistently even into old age. Few do. And she stays in the public eye.

OP I don't know about any of that, but Patty Duke should have been the number one actress. Too bad her bipolarness got in the way 😕

Was Faye Dunaway really ever a contender or is it only the gays who treat her like a legend? I've noticed she only has 3 Oscar nominations to Jane's 7?

No, Faye was legit A-list. Her ego got in her way.

^^^^that, and bad plastic surgery to appear "youthful"

Faye has four iconic movies that are entrenched in pop culture. She doesn't really have to do anything else, her status in film history is long secure.

[quote]and bad plastic surgery to appear "youthful"

That didn't hinder Jane Fonda's career. At least Faye was smart enough not to mess with her upper face/eye area. Fonda just mutilated her face.

Meryl's status was unique, OP. Nobody was giving Jane the title of *greatest* actress. Meryl attained that soubriquet very quickly.

R3 Faye is one-note. She’s always given the same performance and post 1981 she was never again able to modulate her acting below 11.

Fonda is still better than Streep. Streep could never give a performance like Fonda did in Klute. Streep has never let her body be her instrument and she’s always been mechanical, you can SEE her acting no matter how good the performance. Plus that annoying face-touching habit. Once you see it, you’ll see it in every single performance and it’s very annoying!

Faye D was a rare beauty in the 70s and she had talent. Truly A list for a hot minute

But, she didn’t age well, had bad plastic surgery, and was a huge pain in the ass/toxic personality and fell from grace.

Jane is evergreen and still A list (and still looks good!)

Meryl S is a class A actor. Will always have work

Faye was beautiful but I agree that she was one-note. She lacks range as most of her roles have her playing icy, guarded beauties or over-the-topic antics that don't just verge into camp but outright set the standard for camp.

I used to prefer her over Jane but I think Jane has more versatility as an actress. And the same is true when you compare Jane to Meryl who brings her ticks and mannerisms into every role.

Meryl also lacks sex appeal. Jessica Lange was a sex symbol from her debut but even Glenn, who would be considered more handsome than beautiful, had sex appeal in Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Heights, and even as Cruella. Meryl has never had sex appeal and couldn't even begin to imitate it.

Wasn't Meryl's noir thriller from the 80s where she's playing a femme fatale a big flop? Meanwhile Glenn's Jagged Edge (a film she almost was fired from because she wasn't considered beautiful enough) was a big hit.

I love Jane Fonda, but what are her Streep-level performances?

I was born in 1978 and I guess I missed the height of her career. All I can think of that I have seen are Nine to Five, On Golden Pond, Barefoot in the Park and I have seen clips of Barbarella. I like her a lot in the first three but she certainly didn't stand out as a Streep- or Hepburn-caliber heavyweight.

R2- I don't know about Patty Duke but Neely O'Hara married a

FAG

High-five! R10

Jane was both an actress and a star, a star probably first. Her Klute performance is off the charts but that came after years of her playing sexy kittens in a number of films. Meryl shot to the stratosphere as an actress with Sophie's Choice which she had preceded with solid dramatic performances in several films. Both of them also had great range from comedy to intense drama, which Faye never showed.

And Katharine Hepburn was a presumptuous twat.

Glenn Close makes me feel 'wow' almost every time I see her in anything, from The Wife to Damages to Hamlet and on and on.

I haven't seen 1,001 Dalmatians, so no comment on that. And I don't think Fatal Attraction is a good movie but she is pretty believable in it.

R15 What did Ms. Hepburn presume, pray tell?

Most of Meryl's esteemed work hasn't aged well. When was the last time you heard anyone talk about Sophie's Choice? For what was called the Greatest Performance ever given by an actress at the time is pretty much forgotten.

Meanwhile, most of Hepburn's stuff is still regularly played.

Hepburn is terrible. That bizarre fake accent, her homophobia, her closeted dyke ass, not to mention she was a total cunt to everyone. The most overrated one-note actress ever. I’ll give her “Summertime”, though. I love that film.

R18 The one scene in the movie is what won her the Oscar and what is memorable about the movie.

Her best performances are not necessarily her best movies, and her most popular movies are not necessarily her best movies, either.

The Devil Wears Prada is effectively a Lifetime-caliber movie with an upgrade but she is revered for it because her performance is 'iconic.'

Julie and Julia is a well-liked movie by those who saw it and her impersonation of Julia Child is excellent, but it's neither a great movie nor a popular one. Ditto The Iron Lady.

IMO, The Hours is a great movie but the star role is Kidman's and her fake nose's.

Angels in America is brilliant and harrowing, but it's not popular and her casting is kind of a distracting stunt, unfortunately.

[quote] I love Jane Fonda, but what are her Streep-level performances?

Klute comes to mind. I see it regularly considered one of the best performances by an actress here on DL. Personally I preferred her in Julia. I found it interesting that her two Oscar wins are for completely different movies than her two BAFTA wins. Her Oscars were for Klute and Coming Home while her BAFTAs were for Julia and The China Syndrome. The BAFTAs also regularly nominated her in the 60s for she broke out as a serious actress with They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is also considered one of the all-time best performances.

[quote] IMO, The Hours is a great movie but the star role is Kidman's and her fake nose's.

Meryl is easily upstaged by both Kidman and Julianne Moore. In fact, anytime Meryl is paired with another actress of her caliber, it's usually the other actress who gets all the accolades. Cher in Silkwood, Diane Keaton in Marvin's Room, Glenn Close in The House of the Spirits, Shirley MacLaine in Postcards from the Edge, Julia Roberts in August: Osage County, the entire cast of Big Little Lies in Season 2, etc. Meryl's always forgettable next to them.

Faye Dunaway's iconic film roles are Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Network (Oscar win), and Mommie Dearest. :-)

[quote]For what was called the Greatest Performance ever given by an actress at the time is pretty much forgotten.

Hardly, r18.

I'd like to see what Meryl could do with Dunston Checks in.

R18 Agreed, the only role of Meryl's that is still remembered now is The Devil Wears Prada. She's so one-note and herself in every movie that when you think of Meryl, you think of her as the brand rather than any actual roles or movies.

Hepburn probably has the most classic films out of any actress: Little Women, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, Adam's Rib, Woman of the Year, The Lion in Winter, Long Day's Journey Into Night, On Golden Pond, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, and Suddenly, Last Summer.

R26 Holiday is great, too. And Stage Door, mainly for the ensemble though.

Circa 1980—coming out of the 70s—Jane Fonda, Jane Alexander, and Jill Clayburgh were widely considered to be the finest American actresses. The scene was very different just a few years later.

Go ahead, try and name a classic movie I've starred in. Not a classic character I've portrayed, mind you, but an overall amazing piece of cinema. You can't. You just can't.

R27 I thought about those movies but I feel Holiday gets forgotten in comparison to Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. And I love Stage Door but it's also not as remembered these days. Alice Adams is my personal favorite Hepburn movie but that's another one that isn't a household name although it should be.

Meryl was already being proclaimed the best actress around (cover of Time, a big deal then) after Kramer Versus Kramer came out.

Is it of any interest that Streep’s first movie role was in one of Fonda’s movies…. Julia?

[quote]Go ahead, try and name a classic movie I've starred in. Not a classic character I've portrayed, mind you, but an overall amazing piece of cinema. You can't. You just can't.

You probably aren't aware of this, r29, but Meryl is an actress not a director.

R31, she wasn't on the cover of Time until the month The French Lieutenant's Woman came out in 1981, two years after Kramer vs. Kramer. That's when her huge reputation started to take shape.

1981.

[quote]Eldergays, is it true that before Meryl came on the scene, it was Jane Fonda who was considered the greatest actress after Katharine Hepburn?

What?

I'm glad someone brought up The French Lieutenant's Woman because that film was truly garbage. Her performance was also polarizing and it's just as forgotten today as Sophie's Choice.

Fonda, Dunaway, Streisand, Hepburn, Davis, Crawford, Stanwyck, Lange, and Close at least have classic movies they are still known for.

1970.

Glenn Close has been superb in many films: great debut in "World According to Garp", "Dangerous Liaisons", "Fatal Attraction" (huge box-office film), 101 Dalmations, and some other Oscar nominated performances as well. Only thing not good was "Maxie". Then again Streep, while sometimes excellent, can more regularly be "her again" and can be downright bad as in "August: Osage County"

Eldergay at R36 needs a hearing aid.

Fine, r37/OP, Meryl is a hack and should be stoned in the town square. Something tells me that this isn't the first time you've gone on about Meryl not being in any classic movies.

Didn't Vanessa Redgrave have the title of greatest actress of her generation in the 70s? Hepburn said that about her and so did Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. Jane Fonda even named her daughter after Vanessa.

Until she said something anti-Zionist at the Oscars. Her reputation was as a beautiful and very fine actress with a few Oscar nominations already. I preferred her sister Lynn's performances, and she was fabulous on stage and screen.

Redgrave's speech at the Oscars holds up today even if she got booed back then. She said she was a pariah at the Oscars that year and no one came up to her after her win.

Meryl had a Newsweek cover in 1980

Oops I knew she had some cover Newsweek/Time after Kramer.

The Time cover while promoting French Lieutenant's Woman was based on her previous work Kramer etc. (No?)

Meryl Streep is the greatest film actress of her generation. Only Glenn Close can compete. I'm also very fond of Emma Thompson.

Jane is quite a bit older. I don't care for Klute, but I do love They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Vanessa is really more of a great stage actress, alongside Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, etc. Her Oscar is for Julia? Meh.

I think if she hadn't married Ted Turner, at least one more oscar would have been hers.

Fonda’s career cooled down for about five years in the 70s and picked up with Fun With Dick and Jane in 1977. From that movie until On Golden Pond in 1981. She was gold during that period career wise and made great commercial and artistic choices. Rollover in late 81 broke her streak and that was around the time she stated to shift her focus towards towards her fitness empire.

[quote]Her Oscar is for Julia?

She'd already won one.

That gap in the seventies came after she sat in the gun turret in Vietnam.

Rollover was just on TCM the other day. Watching it I thought this must have been a favor to some director. Sure enough I looked it up and it was Alan J. Pakula who had directed her in Klute. Dreary movie but she gets points for loyalty.

(so does Streep. She did Still of the Night out of loyalty to Robert Benton. Now she says it is her worst performance.)

no she didn't win for Morgan r50 just for Julia

Barbra Streisand was considered a better actress than Fonda during the 1970s. Barbra was offered most roles first before Jane.

Vanessa Redgrave won Best Actress for Morgan.

Tell that to Liz Taylor.

No she didn't r54

Mea Culpa, no she didn't. I always thought she did....to the extent that I have no idea why I was so certain that she did.

Redgrave did win Best Actress at Cannes for "Morgan."

[quote] Go ahead, try and name a classic movie I've starred in. Not a classic character I've portrayed, mind you, but an overall amazing piece of cinema. You can't. You just can't.

You're an idiot if you think The Deer Hunter doesn't qualify.

Redgrave should have won for Isadora the year Streisand and Hepburn tied. If anyone tied with Hepburn, it should have been Redgrave.

Jayne Fonda is no one compares to Meryl, especially worldwide.

Jayne Fonda is no one compared to Meryl, especially worldwide.

Katharine Hepburn wasn’t a good actress. She was good by Old Hollywood standards. People didn’t talk or act like that in reality. She also always played herself.

[quote] Fonda is still better than Streep. Streep could never give a performance like Fonda did in Klute.

Right. Let’s see Jane do “Sophie’s Choice.” lol

Jane Fonda is no one compared to Meryl, especially worldwide.

Who the fuck ever branded Jane as some amazing actress? lol

[quote] Katharine Hepburn wasn’t a good actress. She was good by Old Hollywood standards. People didn’t talk or act like that in reality. She also always played herself.

Old Hollywood was considered the Golden Age for a reason. Meryl wouldn't even make the cut as a character actress back then. As for Hepburn, watch her in The Trojan Women. It will change your perception of her as an actress. And her character in Bringing Up Baby is definitely not the same as her character in The Rainmaker or Suddenly, Last Summer.

George Cukor said the only role that Hepburn played that was closest to her in real life was her Jo March in Little Women. That was basically Hepburn distilled.

What about ME??!! 2 Oscars and lots of nominations........

[quote] Jane Fonda is no one compared to Meryl, especially worldwide.

A fact you clearly wanted to get across, since you posted it THREE times. Kudos for finally spelling her first name correctly on that third try.

I'm willing to bet that Jane's movies were more profitable overall than Meryl's have ever been. She's never been a box office star. Hell, even Jamie Lee Curtis of all people has made billions at the box office which you can't say about Meryl.

I don't think Jane is that great an actress. Faye was better, Meryl is lots better, Hepburn was ok, Davis was very good, Crawford was a movie star, not an actress, the same could be said of Jane and Hepburn. Hepburn and Jane could only really play themselves, same with Keaton who is terribly typecast. The best, in my opinion, in order of talent; Meryl, Davis, Faye, Hepburn, Jane

Joan Crawford will always reign supreme as the Queen of Hollywood. Had she still been acting now, she would have more than one Oscar especially as her work has been reevaluated since her death.

And at least Jane Fonda never whored herself out to Weinstein and then claimed later on that she had no knowledge about his behavior even though she was known to have warned her daughter to stay away from him. Streep is a morally corrupt hypocrite. And not even a loyal friend since she torpedoed Emma Thompson's Oscar nomination for Saving Mr. Banks and then had the gall to call her up afterwards faking chagrin at the lack of a nomination.

I think it’s a fair assessment, OP.

I'd say the best regarded actresses of the seventies were Fonda, Faye and Ellen Burstyn (in no particular order.)

We're better!

oops I mean Miss Dunaway at r75

I broke a DL rule

I would’ve loved to have seen Jane with a perm in SOPHIE’S CHOICE. The movie is a total shitfest so they should’ve camped it up.

Oh please r78. The film is fine.

Didn't Meryl steal the role from Liv Ullmann? Funny how she had no compunctions about taking that role from a real actress but she always bitches about losing King Kong and Sweet Dreams to Jessica Lange and The Remains of the Day to Emma Thompson.

Didn't Meryl say she paid $200 to be on the Newsweek cover?

[quote]Didn't Meryl steal the role from Liv Ullmann?

No. She wasn't in a position to steal roles at that point.

Alan J. Pakula narrowed the field down to two: an American or British actress who would learn Polish or an actual Polish actress. Meryl got the gig over the Polish actress whose name I don't know.

Wikipedia says this.

[quote] Styron wrote the novel with Ursula Andress in mind for the part of Sophie, and the Slovak actress Magdaléna Vášáryová was also considered.[5] Streep was very determined to get the role. After obtaining a bootlegged copy of the script, she went after Pakula, and threw herself on the ground, begging him to give her the part.[6] Pakula's first choice was Liv Ullmann, for her ability to project the foreignness that would add to her appeal in the eyes of an impressionable, romantic Southerner.

Sounds like Meryl literally went on her knees to get the role over Pakula's first choice which was Ullmann. Guess Meryl had good practice for Harvey.

Ullman would have been too old by the time the film got made.

Favorite Meryl Streep performances: She-Devil (1989), Death Becomes Her (1992), Adaptation (2002), The Hours (2002), Angels in America (2003), A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Doubt (2008), Julie & Julia (2009), It's Complicated (2009), August: Osage County (2013), Into the Woods (2014), Let Them All Talk (2020), Don't Look Up (2021).

She was good in The Iron Lady (2011), but I saw the film once and unlike the ones listed above, I have no desire to see it again. I still have yet to watch Meryl in The Post (2017). The Manchurian Candidate (2004) remake will always be dwarfed by the original. Overall, the 2000s was Streep at her best, most prolific, most varied, most rewatchable, and most commercially successful (Mamma Mia!). Also, her best acceptance speeches were during this creative peak: the Emmys (Angels), Golden Globes (Prada), SAG (Doubt), and Oscars (Iron Lady). I have no interest in revisiting her dreary, tedious Oscar bait films from the 80s or her bland, frau domestic dramas from the 90s.

Meryl is the white Viola Davis of her generation.

Jane was snubbed for a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Youth

Jane is the reason our boys were killed in Vietnam. She personally shot several of them using weapons supplied by the Vietnam Army. I’ve seen pictures.

She laughed and clapped while doing it.

Fuck her.

Shirley you squealed in delight when she won her Oscar for Coming Home. Why are you babbling now?

That wasn’t me at the Oscars when she won, that was the soul of a recently deserved 35 year old Vietnamese man who had been reincarnated in my body. Actually, at the precise moment she won, I was being fingered by Joseph Kennedy while being housed in the 1930 version of Gloria Swanson’s vagina.

He had a hangnail, which ripped out my clit.

too crass r90

I haven't delved deep into Fonda's catalog of hits, but I enjoyed her in Monster-in Law, The Newsroom, and California Suite. I need to make time to watch 9 to 5, Grace & Frankie, Klute, etc. She really was great as Leona Lansing on The Newsroom. So too was Marcia Gay Harden as the pricey corporate lawyer. Honestly, that's what Succession is missing. A bit of fun to mix in with the drama.

R91- My apologies Emily Post. Perhaps you should go fuck yourself…….but trim your nails first.

Two of Jane Fonda's early films are among the best rom-coms ever: "Barefoot in the Park" and the sex comedy "Sunday in New York", while somewhat dated in its sexual mores, does have a how-did-it-get-by-censors joke about masturbation, and wonderful performances by Cliff Robertson and especially by the adorable and sexy Rod Taylor.

Does anyone even remember Meryl Streep from ANGELS IN AMERICA? The most memorable performances from that miniseries were Jeffrey Wright, Justin Kirk, Al Pacino, and Emma Thompson.

It’s really a shame we lost those 15 or so years of not only potentially great performances, but from an actress in her 50s and 60s. It actually would have probably helped /pave the way for the actresses just a clip younger than she, the same way it did in the late 70s/early 80s.

Jane Alexander cunted out Streep in the press after Streep got that Time magazine cover. Allegedly, she was also pissed that she had to share her supporting actress nom in Kramer alongside Meryl and didn't go the ceremonies.

4 lousy nominations in 50+ years and no Oscars??? I'd be pissed too, Jane.

What noir thriller with Streep is being alluded to? I don't remember her playing a femme fatale.

"Still of the Night" (1982)

Growing up in the 1970s, early 80s, Jane Fonda was the name most bandied about as the premiere actress of her generation. I think People magazine (or was it US?) used to do readers' and insiders' polls on favorite this, favorite that, and Jane was always #1 Favorite or Most Admired Actress. She was also #1 Least Favorite. She was a polarizing figure in those days.

Meryl Streep came out of the gate already being touted as the greatest. She arrived with a good publicity machine and plenty of supporters from her days at Yale Drama and the New York stage. It wasn't just Time magazine, but Newsweek got in on the action as well.

And Life magazine called it before we even got a chance to see "Sophie's Choice."

Streep’s PR machine really was insane . Who would have handled her at the time?

I love Jane Fonda and she's been excellent in a number of movies. But when she started out she was pretty bad.

R95 Meryl won the awards not Thompson. Wright and Streep played the most characters with four each. She was the rabbi, mom, Rosenberg, and Angel Australia. Thompson was the nurse, Angel America, and homeless person. They loved Streep's scenes with Pacino. Acting titans chewing the scenery for Emmy gold. I enjoyed the seven main actors, but my favorites were the four who won: Wright, Parker, Streep, and Pacino.

Meryl as Ethel Rosenberg is just astounding acting.

Never forget that in 1986, Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange, Sally Field, Barbra Streisand, and Goldie Hawn were dubbed the five most powerful women in Hollywood.

I see no Meryl anywhere on that cover and rightfully so.

R107 she would have belonged more on there than Lange, though - whatever we debate about her acting abilities, if she’s one of the greatest or not blah, one thing she absolutely never was , was a box office draw - almost any major actress in that age group at that time had more pull than her in that regard. Goldie especially.

R108, I believe the article was more about the actresses taking charge of their own destinies by producing, executive producing and/or directing their own films. Fonda, Lange, Field, Hawn, and Streisand had all started their own production companies by 1986.

One of my favorite movies, as 12 year old, was The Electric Horseman. Because it was about a horse & Robert Redford...and Jane Fonda was his love-interest.

R12, you need to see They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

I don’t know what this “Streep-level” bullshit is or why anyone else would want to attain it. But Jane Fonda has her own relationship with the camera that Streep will never have. Streep performs in front of the camera, in her best roles Fonda draws the lens in.

“I looked at AFI's top 100 movies list and Sophie's Choice was No. 91, behind Forrest Gump and The Sixth Sense. And truthfully, all I could say was, ‘That's about right.’”

(LOL!)

2 of Hepburn's Oscars were pity wins. Guess Who's & Golden Pond, and one was a halfsie, shared with Babs. I think Hepburn was enchanting and fun, but the pretension of not attending the awards, then showing up to a standing O in 74, giving out the Jean Hersholt Award was the typical lure Hollywood fell for, hook, line and sinker.

Fonda is a terrible actress. He one mode in acting is of someone terrified/rattled by having been awakened by what might be intruders. That's all she's got.

Fonda is a strange actress, she seems very panicky in all of her roles, agreed. I liked her best in 9 to 5 and On Golden Pond.

I watched Still of the Night and thought it was an excellent movie, it was certainly a different role for Streep. The unsung hero was actually Roy Scheider, who was impressive as the shrink. Streep was a poor femme fatale if that's what they were going for. She was more like a slightly repressed socialite who probably read novels by Russian authors late at night.

She’s a mediocre at absolute best actress, more often she’s way too self conscious to be watchable. Totally humorless. Would have been just another forgotten skinny blonde 60s starlet if not for her family name. I don’t like Meryl Streep either so I’m maybe the wrong person to have this conversation.

I loved SOTN. I probably watched it a half a dozen times on HBO in the early 80s. Streep was certainly miscast but she had a nice monologue at the end.

The clothes, furnishings, and style of the movie are something you will never see again, plus people smoking that much. They needed a restaurant scene.

All the posters saying Streep can't be sexy, I disagree, she was sexy in certain parts of Sophie's Choice, Silkwood, Plenty, Adaptation. She just doesn't play women who's main characteristic is their sex appeal.

For my money Toni Collette leaves both of them in the dust, and I’m not Australian.

Fonda was prettier anyday, that's for sure. And she had more cultural clout.

Tell that to the Golden Globes, where Streep waxed on forever.

R103, Lois Smith, Pickwick Public Relations / PMK

R104 Sunday in New York is the movie Jane says most people come up to her and talk about. So clearly she must have done something right in that movie.

Sunday In New York would have been much better if Rod Taylor and Cliff Robertson were in a love triangle with Robert Culp, and Jane was used as a beard. Truly the film was gorgeous, and Cliff's apartment set totally cool.

Jane is just fine in "Sunday in New York" -- it's "Any Wednesday" where she's rather off in her acting. Sandy Dennis won the Tony Award on Broadway for her performance in the latter, and DL fave/legend Barbara Cook replaced her!

I've always love Meryl, and I would say about her that I actually feel lucky to have been alive at the time she was in her prime and giving so many great performances. I don't say that about many people, because no matter when you're around, there are going to be talented people to appreciate. But I think she's a special case...not just on screen, but on the stage as well.

However, I do tend to like HER more than the movies she's in. Whereas with someone like Liv Ullmann, her greatest performances are matched by movies that are equally great.

I'll nominate A Cry in the Dark (aka Evil Angels) as a Streep movie that holds up well long after its moment. I saw it on the Criterion Channel a while back, not having done so since 1988, and it was better than I had remembered as a totality. It's one of her films that's more than a frame for the lead performance. It's even prescient in some ways; I couldn't help thinking about other sensational trials of more recent years and how they were covered, how people reacted to them and fought over them. And Sam Neill matches Streep, in the difficult role of the more fragile husband.

Hepburn, of anyone, is a one note actress. She basically plays the same character in all her performances--strong willed, but vulnerable

Jane Fonda was nothing short of brilliant in 80 For Brady

TCM recently showed the rarely shown Sandy Dennis-Anne Heywood lesbian film "The Fox" with Keir Dullea, and it was pretty good. Dullea was pretty hot, and Heywood (for our lesbians friends here), was nude in it. Mostly a 3-person film, directed by Mark Rydell with some nice scenery and camerawork. I wonder if Jane was offered one of the roles?

[quote]is it true that before Meryl came on the scene, it was Jane Fonda who was considered the greatest actress after Katharine Hepburn?

There are a lot of factors that came together in making Jane Fonda such a reliable star. First, very important by Hollywood standards, as a former model she was physically beautiful. Second, as someone who’d studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, she had the goods and could ACT. Third, she had a lot of visibility due to her famous father, her doing nudie French films in her youth, marrying a politician, marketing bestselling exercise tapes.

So when you’re casting a leading lady, one who’s beautiful, talented and very famous is ideal. (Plus she was intelligent, which appealed to high profile directors.)

Jane also had a lot of experience through her connections. She had some not very good performances, mixed in with some acceptable professional ones starting out. She studied and just got better and better learning from doing.

[quote]r99 What noir thriller with Streep is being alluded to? I don't remember her playing a femme fatale.

Yes, as r100 points out, it’s titled “Still of the Night.” But it was filmed under the title “Stab”. She’s embarrassed it’s on her resume but it’s not a stupid movie - it’s just not good.

The costar she doesn’t discuss much is Charles Dance from “Plenty.” For some reason they didn’t get along. He seems fairly arrogant, though, and I can see him being ruffled by an American who had a bigger role and greater fame than his.

"Still Of The Night" was directed by Robert Benton, (Kramer Vs Kramer)

Faye was better than all of them.

Streep is the modern acting legend, despite people constantly trying to put her down. So tired.

Jane was a mentor to Meryl. There is a lot of mutual respect there.

Hepburn was the acting legend of her time but in some roles her voice is like nails on a chalkboard.

Hepburn also was a cunt and scared people, so I associate her with being a mean person. Jane and Meryl ate infinitely more gracious.

^ are

Also, given how fane and entertainers are iso superficial now, I can’t imagine anyone rising to their heights.

I think Natalie Wood was better.

Natalie gave fine perfomance in quite a few classic films -- "Miracle on 34th Street", "Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (both as a kid), "Rebel without a Cause", "West Side Story", "Gypsy" (she's among the best in it), "Splendor in the Grass", etc.

oh jebus

[quote]Also, given how fane and entertainers are iso superficial now, I can’t imagine anyone rising to their heights

Viola Davis (who wiped the floor with Streep's ass in her one scene in Doubt) is already there.

They don't call her the black Meryl Streep for nothing.

Only Viola calls herself that.

[quote] "Faye Dunaway's iconic film roles are Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Network (Oscar win), and Mommie Dearest. :-)"

I'd add "The Thomas Crown Affair" to that, R23. She co-starred Steve McQueen.

Meryl was gorgeous. Why because her nose was long? Look at her cheekbones and that hair? Give me a break.

She’s not built well though, admittedly. Very stocky.

I'm sure 99% of DL would have said yes in Jane's place.

In a StarTribune article entitled "Jane Fonda looks back at the films she loved – and hated," she considers In [italic]The Cool Of The Day[/italic] to be one her worst movies. You can judge for yourself by viewing the trailer.

[Quote]Q: Are there any of your movies that make you cringe?

[Quote]A: There’s enough other stuff going on in the world that makes you want to cringe. But I’m surprised how many people say they love “Sunday in New York.” Why? I made a terrible movie called “In the Cool of the Day.” John Houseman produced it. I can’t even remember the name of the director. It also starred Peter Finch and Angela Lansbury and we shot it in Greece. I’m not even sure that it got released.

(The director was Robert Stevens)

I want to see *In the Cool of the Day* now.

Meryl's a great dramatic actress but she's not especially good at comedy whereas Jane is a natural.

"Joy House" is a great looking movie and Fonda is excellent in it, but the story is a bit silly. René Clément sounds like a horndog: good on young Jane for dodging his advances.

Jane is a natural at comedy? News to me.

R151 M&Ms!!

Agree to disagree, r149. I think Jane’s a great dramatic actress but not much of a fan of her comedic performances. I love “9 to 5” but thought Lily and Dolly were much better.

Jane is very good in "Barefoot in the Park" and "Sunday in New York", two of her best comedic performances. Not so good in "Any Wednesday", where she doesn't have the right tone for her character and seems kind of "off"/not very good.

Neither of them is incredibly funny. Streep is stocky? News to me. I think she's just not particularly tall and willowy so must be "stocky" in comparison to more amazonian like actresses. She looked quite fit in the Still of the Night.

Was the Jane Fonda movie with Anthony Perkins any good?

R155 most actresses of her era weren’t /aren’t particularly tall. Maybe 5’7/8 tops and usually not even that.

Yes. For some strange reason, many many male actors are under average height. Truly tall actresses tower over them, which most often isn’t desirable by Hollywood (or the male star’s) standards.

I'm guessing she's around five six.

Fuck you, R158!

There have always been very tall movie actresses. Both Katharine and Audrey Hepburn were 5'7 1/2, considered very tall at the time. Angela Lansbury was 5'8". Julie Andrews 5'9". Ingrid Bergman 5'10". Vanessa Redgrave 5'11".

Helen Mirren is very tall as well.

Mirren is 5'3"

wow really? She comes across as so much taller in all her movies.

R162 that’s like 3 out of hundreds. And not her generation, either.

Meryl’s about 5’4”/5. Fonda at her peak height was 5’7

OT: but can I just say this is one of the ugliest dresses I’ve ever seen? (I googled “candice Bergen vogue”)

Ive met Janr Fonda several times....shes a tiny woman. Not so much short, but TINY and thin

Julie Andrews is more like 5' 7" or 5' 8"

R167 the decades of bulimia help.