Mary Steenburgen

She upgraded dick from Malcolm McDowell to Ted Danson

She picks up the tab when she dines out with Ted, Bill, and Hil.

R2 how do you know? She is the only one with a job.

I love her in Philadelphia. She plays the defense attorney who is repulsed by her job. It is so real and so human.

And damn she is beautiful in it.

I loved her in that role @R4

Her voice has always bothered me.

Stunningly gorgeous and incredibly versatile. She can play drama, comedy and she can be funny as a dim bulb or a catty cougar. And she creates music! She composed (if we can call it that) this beautiful song from the film Wild Rose and probably deserved an Academy Award nomination for it and she’s not a musician at all. It’s a really bizarre story about how late in her life she was having some headaches or head trauma and then suddenly original music just started coming to her. She has to hire a musician to translate what she’s hearing to the page, but the melodies and words are what she’s hearing in her head.

R6 why? I love her voice

Another vote for her in "Philadelphia"!

Scene from Philadelphia.

You can tell in her eyes. She is disgusted with the mirror, the case, Andy, and most importantly herself.

She was on The View a few weeks ago, and I noticed Whoopi wasn't there that day. Do those two ever interact?

I liked her in Time After Time (1979)

She's Mom now, so . . .

R13 Mom?

She was good in Cross Creek

Mary makes up the quartet of back-to-back Best Supporting Actress winners with the initials MS.

I loved her in Cross Creek too.

I had a formative gay realization as a young kid while watching her go down on Johnny Depp in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape". I remember desperately wishing that I was her in that scene. For that reason alone, she will forever be a part of my subconscious.

loved her in and love the movie "parenthood"....

without knowing for sure of course, she seems quite normal, too normal for hollywood...

"Dead of Winter" is her best movie.

Loved her in Miss Firecracker.

I *love* Dead of Winter! I watch it every few years.

I love her a lot, but I have actually never seen the movie that won her the Oscar. I should find it.

How could someone not love her voice?

Melvin and Howard is a great film, and Steenburgen is fantastic in it.

I think she's a terrific actress and I've always liked her. I just wish she would stop with the plastic surgery. She hasn't gone overboard but it's noticeable enough.

She is always excellent and i love her in Time After Time, One Magic Christmas, and Parenthood. And I agree that she was a standout in Philadelphia. I don't like the film overall, but watching it again recently, Steenburgen added so many layers to a small role.

R21, I loved everyone in Miss Firecracker. Criminally underrated movie. Good lord, Alfre Woodard almost stole a comedy from Holly Hunter!! I had read the play before seeing the movie and it’s funny, but not nearly as funny as it was with Hunter, Woodard, and Steenburgen.

Could never stand her and thought Nicholson was an idiot for hiring her in the first place.

R14

She was also great as Hannah Nixon in Nixon (1995). She played Tricky Dick's old-English speaking mother who was his conscience.

There is a ghost scene with her and Anthony Hopkins as Nixon that is as close as MacBeth seeing Banquo's ghost.

I’ve never liked her speaking voice or frizzy hair. But this thread makes me want to delve into her better films.

I loved her in Elf; her slightly daft sweetness was a good match with James Caan's grouchy jerk

R29 here you go!

Ted's cheating on her again, as per usual.

Love her.

Agree with those who enjoy Dead of Winter

She had a good turn with Sam Elliott as villains in the last season of [italic]Justified[/italic].

I love almost everything she has been in and find her to be a very versatile actress. I think she could do better than Ted Danson I may be in the minority, but I have never found him attractive. He repulses me.

R20 I watch every few years. Love that movie and hardly anybody knows it any more.

She would have made a good Wendy in The Shining. That was her mousy era.

Loved her in the early seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm where she played herself

She seems to have a good sense of humor!

Not quite sure what I think of her...she seemed to score best in smaller or supporting roles...in lead roles, she was never quite dynamic or faceted enough to hold my attention.

Always thought Dixie Carter and Mary Steenburgen should've played mother and daughter in something.

She’s absolutely perfect in Elf - a small role but hits every note beautifully.

R42 very true!

[quote] Her big break came when Jack Nicholson thought she was "right" for the part in a screwball western-comedy.

Is that code for “she fucked him”?

Yes, love her in Elf.

She seems intrinsically likeable.

Her performance in Melvin & Howard is one of the best to win the Supporting Actress Oscar but it is rarely mentioned as such.

Her voice is grating and seems strained to me. But I find her very appealing, and she seems like a normal person.

I liked her small role in I Am Sam.

Best in small roles...a little of her goes a long way.

She is fake

[quote] She is fake

She is Mary Steenburgen!

Mary Steenburgen Was in a Jack the Ripper-related film, Time After Time, as was Eric Porter in Hands of the Ripper.

She was convincing in Gilbert Grape. Lonely and kind of broken.

Loved her in Time After Time. So sweet.

She is lovely

OK, you girls know it was coming . . . She was absolutely ghastly in Book Club which was a terrible movie. Only Candice Bergen escaped from that horror show with her dignity intact. Mary has a song and dance number at the end that is beyond cringeworthy.

Hilarious that she and Whoopi would avoid each other over a geriatric love triangle involving the likes of Ted Danson

I never thought about her much.

What’s eating Gilbert’s grape?

What? No love for The Butcher's Wife?

Peasants.

[quote]r26 Could never stand her and thought Nicholson was an idiot for hiring her for “Goin’ South” in the first place.

Our Jessie auditioned for that, too. Nicholson remembered her and later suggested her as his costar in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.

Oh Honey, "Melvin and Howard" a comedy classic? It's all but forgotten and I'd bet if you asked 100 people what movie Mary Steenburgen won the Academy Award for, "Melvin and Howard" wouldn't be in the top 10.

[quote]OK, you girls know it was coming . . . She was absolutely ghastly in Book Club which was a terrible movie. Only Candice Bergen escaped from that horror show with her dignity intact. Mary has a song and dance number at the end that is beyond cringeworthy.

But what about "Book Club: The Next Chapter"?

[quote]Let's discuss the naturally beautiful American actress Mary Steenburgen.

Let's discuss the meaning of "naturally."

While her voice is distinctive and (arguably) appealing it limits what she can do. As someone else pointed out, she seems to thrive in smaller roles, which seems in line with her small voice.

She’s gorgeous and talented.

Love her.

Growing up a movie nut on Long Island we would get Sneak Previews occasionally where the director comes to see an audience reaction. They would hand out cards with questions etc. One Sat night they were sneaking Jack Nicholson's latest. After, we could stay to see Goldie Hawn in "Foul Play".

So they announced Mr Nicholson is on his way and they are delaying the screening for a few minutes. Every fifteen someone from the studio would say something like..."He's on his way from the airport!" finally after an hour he said "He's not coming...roll it!". Very little laughs. "Foul Play" saved the night.

R10 such a great scene in Philadelphia. All the characters are humanised. Denzel Washington is especially good, it may be his greatest performance. And Demme’s use of the camera is masterful.

I liked her in The Last Man on Earth

[quote] she started her modeling career in Dallas and later New York City

She did? I’ve never heard Mary Steenburgen was a model prior to acting. I can imagine her being considered for an occasional aspirin print ad or something when she was young… but I don’t think she was an actual fashion model like Andie McDowell, Gena Davis, Kim Basinger and other New York girls of her era were.

[quote] Hilarious that she and Whoopi would avoid each other over a geriatric love triangle involving the likes of Ted Danson

How was it on The View when Barbara Walters starting “dating” Frank Langella?

Mary's husband should be canceled for the blackface incident.

Corrupted,

OP you forget 2 of her most outstanding films: Time After Time and Ragtime

She is hot

She’s an odd bird. I really can’t tell that she’s had noticeable plastic surgery, but she’s definitely one of those people that got even MORE gorgeous as they got older. I just think everything I saw her in during the 70s and 80s, she was meant to play the plain, little to no makeup, minor characters, often in period pieces, but with some makeup and nice (not frizzed out curly) hair she is STUNNING.

I look at the pic at OP and have no trouble imagining her being a model in NY in the early days.

[Quote] Hilarious that she and Whoopi would avoid each other over a geriatric love triangle involving the likes of Ted Danson

You think Ted was fucking that dyke!

No mention of her fine work in Back To The Future 3? Yeah I’d forgotten that one too

There was a different standard for "beauty" in the 1970s, R71

I don’t know her.

I agree with R71. Never beautiful, but seems really really nice.

[quote]r81 Pam Dawber, model for the prestigious Ford Agency

Damn fuckin’ straight.

And I sing, too.

if youre a fan of hers, watch the TV movie she did with Ted Danson written by Beth Henley (CRIMES OF THE HEART) and directed by the guy who did Door to Door with William H Macy....very special film. goes by different titles but was avail on Amazon Prime a few months ago...

OMG! It’s Shelley and Pam TOGETHER!

This is interesting

[quote] With four of her classmates, she founded an improvisational comedy group called the Cracked Tokens, which eventually performed regularly at the Manhattan Theatre; [bold]prior to that success, they performed at halfway houses for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.

I first saw her in A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy and haven't seen most of her work but it happens I just saw Book Club: the next chapter only a few hours ago. It really was a very good moive, and she looked good in it.

oh brother, "moive" should be "movie".

I like her. I think she's really pretty, but it's more than superficial...she just seems to shine from within. It's a beauty that seems to emanate from her. I can see her being honest and giving you some good sass if you deserved or needed it though.

She seems like a genuinely funny and good person. I'll bet she's a great friend and fun to be around. She also seems like she'd sit with you during a shitstorm and feed you good food, watch funny movies with you and just be there. She seems real.

But what the hell do i know? I have approximately 1.0 best friend I've know for over 30 years now.

Pam's Junior Bazaar ensemble definitely outshines Shelley's.

R10, I LOVE the little look Denzell gives Hanks when he asks Hanks to remove his shirt and show his Kaposi's lesions to the jury.

LOVE.

I like her in Stepbrothers as Evan's mom.

[quote]"Dead of Winter" is her best movie.

YES, R20!

My new-ish friend and I saw this in the theater in Boulder when we both were acclimating to CO (She from rural Minnesota, me from S. Louisiana). That film deserved a lot more acclaim than it received.

Oh, yeah, as an earlier poster mentioned, she was fantastic in [italic]Time After Time.[/italic] My friend was into Malcolm McDowell, while I'd always loved the sublime David Warner (RIP).

Time After Time was magnificent. Just charming. Apart from the murders of the whores.

r52 Bravo

[quote]… but I don’t think she was an actual fashion model like Andie McDowell, Gena Davis, Kim Basinger and other New York girls of her era were.

McDowell was from South Carolina, Davis from Massachusetts, and Basinger from Georgia.

The Charlie Rose interview

[quote]r97 McDowell was from South Carolina, Davis from Massachusetts, and Basinger from Georgia.

True. Yet they were all [bold]New York [/bold]models in the era Steenburgen allegedly was.

r99 You messed up, and you were called out on it. You've humiliated yourself.

Waited too long to straighten her hair.

No one ever thought McDowell or Basinger were native New Yorkers, you nitwit. They have southern accents, for one thing.

Are you a bitter Mary Steenburgen??

Mary and Kate Bush look like sisters.

[quote]No one ever thought McDowell or Basinger were native New Yorkers, you nitwit. They have southern accents, for one thing.

You never heard of the South Bronx?

She really fucked up her face with cheek implants or fillers.

Nope. I don't think she fucked up her face.

She’s really had a fabulous career, especially for someone who won an Oscar for her third movie. That usually spells doom.

She just seems down to anything; high brow political thrillers like Nixon to juvenile flicks like Step Brothers

[quote] She just seems down to anything

Not anymore other than burial.

[quote]She upgraded dick from Malcolm McDowell to Ted Danson

I've wondered if Danson was well-endowed?

Mary and McDowell were married for 10 years.

She and Ted have been married for 30 years!

She was positively brilliant in "Philadelphia."

She can make almost anything watchable, even "Romantic Comedy."

She's sort of like a modern-day Patricia Collinge, an actress from back in the day mainly cast in supporting parts as kind, gentle, loving women. Collinge was in numerous prestige products but never the headliner, still I imagine like Steenburgen today, she was the go-to for casting the sweet woman of a certain age.

Always loved her. Went to a small screening of a film her son made (Charlie McDowell) and met him afterwards. He was so nice (and very cute) and I "old queened out" telling him how much I loved his mom and dad, and Mary was in his movie and she was amazing......and he was slowly starting to back away lol - and I said OMG he must be thinking who is this dizzy old queen - and he started laughing and said not at all - gave me a big hug, then took a picture with me. It was sweet. And the movie was excellent.

Apparantly, Charlie McDowell trolls his mother by telling people that his mother is Andie MacDowell, which is pretty hilarious.

She's hilarious as Diana Jessup on 30 ROCK -- nailing a Blythe Danner part with surprising ease.

She was in with the Clintons, you know.

[quote]He was so nice (and very cute) and I "old queened out" telling him how much I loved his mom and dad

What? No queening out over his stepdad (Ted Danson) or father-in-law (Phil Collins)?