Kathleen Turner has long been my favorite actress. Ever since I can remember I have admired her. In fact, when I was in junior high school, Mia Nelson and I would pass notes back and forth to each other in the hallways between classes. She would sign her notes Kathleen Turner and I would sign mine Michael Douglas.
Kids.
Not to long ago, my friend Padric and I compiled our list of the all time top 10 Movie Actresses. It took hours, days, weeks to whittle down our favorites, some 80 plus actresses, to just 10. We debated. We argued. We sometimes cried at the thought of who wouldn't make our list. But in the end we got our final 10. Kathleen was among them. You can read more about our grueling process on Padric's fantastic food culture blog, What Would Julia Do? Click here for part 1 of the Best Actresses post. Click here for part 2 of the Best Actresses post.
Kathleen Turner was one of the biggest box office stars of the 80's. In fact, in 1989, her box office totals ranked her the number 1 actress of the year. She has been nominated for Tony's, an Oscar and BAFTA and has won 2 Golden Globes.
She hasn't done much film work since the mid 1990's focusing instead on a stellar stage career. Unfortunately, Hollywood seems to have a short attention span and many may forget some of these fantastic films. Here I select some of her most memorable roles to share with you. For those of you that may or may not know of her career, I present to you the wonderful works of Kathleen Turner.
BODY HEAT - (1981) - *** - dir. Lawrence Kasden. Kathleen Turner, William Hurt, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, Mickey Rourke. Turner exploded on the scene in this 1981 thriller. A wonderful homage to the film noir pictures of the 1940's. Owes a lot to Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity. Sexy and thrilling with a classic jazz score by John Barry and steamy cinematography Richard H. Kline. You practically want to wipe the sweat of the screen. Hurt and Turner are hot as hell and she nails the femme fatale. Turner earned Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for New Star of the Year.
ROMANCING THE STONE - (1984) - *** - dir. Robert Zemeckis. Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Holland Taylor, Mary Ellen Trainor. Turner plays a quite romance novelist who is suddenly finds herself in Columbia looking for her kidnapped sister. With only a cocky American vagabond (Michael Douglas) at her side. Fantastic comedy actioner in the vein of Indiana Jones is held together by Turner's very strong comedic performance. Golden Globe winner for Best Actress and Best Picture Musical/Comedy and an Oscar nomination for Best Film Editing. Followed by the sequel The Jewel of the Nile.
PRIZZI'S HONOR- (1985) - ***½ - dir. John Huston. Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Anjelica Huston, William Hickey, Robert Loggia, John Randolph, CCH Pounder, Stanley Tucci. This is one of the best dark comedies to come out of the 80's. Nicholson play a dim witted hit man who comes from a tight knit Mafia family. All hell breaks loose when he falls in love with Turner. This is the original Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The films is peppered with great performances all around. Especially John Randolph as Nicholson's father and Anjelica Huston in an Oscar winning performance for Best Supporting Actress. Golden Globe winner for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) Actor (Nicholson) Actress (Turner) and Director (Huston). It also received 8 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. When Oscar nominations were announced, one of the biggest upsets was Turner not receiving a Best Actress Nomination.
PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED - (1986) - **** - dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage, Barry Miller, Joan Allen, Jim Carrey, Helen Hunt, Kevin J. O'Connor, Catherine Hicks, Lisa Jane Persky, Barbara Harris, Maureen O'Sullivan, Wil Shriner, Sofia Coppola. This is one of my all-time favorite motion pictures. My favorite Coppola film and my favorite Kathleen Turner film. Look at this cast! This movie asks you, what if you knew then what you know now? What would you do differently? Turner collapses at her 25th high school reunion and when she wakes up she finds she has traveled back in time to her senior year in high school. Turner's performance is many things all at once. Heartbreaking, hilarious, gorgeous, strong. Roger Ebert had this to say, "Turner, who is actually 32, plays a teenager by making certain changes in her speech and movement: She talks more impetuously, not waiting for other people to reply, and she walks in that heedless teenage way of those who have no yet stumbled often enough to step carefully." This is masterful acting. This is a movie Frank Capra would have made if he was alive in the 1980's. Peggy Sue was the highest grossing Romantic Comedy of 1986. It received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) and Best Actress. It received 3 Oscar nominations, including one for Best Actress and one for Jordan Croneweth's dream-like cinematography. I personally think it's one of Oscar's biggest travesties that Kathleen Turner did not win, she lost to someone who's name we will not speak of. Also of note is John Barry's beautiful score.
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? - (1988) - ***½ - dir. Robert Zemekis. Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer, Kathleen Turner. I mean, come on. Who doesn't know this movie. I would say that, arguably, Turner's Jessica Rabbit is the most popular character from the film. With her now infamous line, "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way," etched in pop culture history. This a fun live-action-comedy-cartoon-caper hybrid that pushed visual effects to new heights. It received a special achievement Oscar for animation direction and 3 competitive Oscars including Visual Effects. Also Golden Globe nominated for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) and Best Actor (Hoskins).
THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST - (1988) - *** - dir. Lawrence Kasdan. William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Genna Davis, Amy Wright, David Ogden Stiers, Bill Pullman, Ed Begley Jr. Hurt and Turner reunite for this faithful adaptation of Anne Tyler's novel. Hurt shines in this performance of a grieving father who loses his son. Turner plays his ex-wife and Genna Davis (in an Oscar winning role) plays the eccentric new woman in his life. A film with a deliberate pace that pays off nicely in the end. Received 4 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Golden Globe nominated for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Score (John Williams).
THE WAR OF THE ROSES - (1989) - *** - dir. Danny DeVito. Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Marianne Sagebrecht, Sean Astin. This wonderful satire chronicles the life and marriage of rich yuppie couple Oliver and Barbara Rose (Douglas and Turner), from their first meeting at an estate auction to their fateful demise in a gorgeous chandelier. Yes, in a chandelier. When the Roses decide to get a divorce they cannot decide on what to do with their house. And shit just hits the fan from their. Douglas, Turner and DeVito are all in fine form on this, their third outing together. Very dark and violent at times, this wildly successful comedy was nominated for 3 Golden Globes, Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) Best Actor (Douglas) Best Actress (Turner).
V.I. WARSHAWSKI - (1991) - ** - dir. Jeff Kanew. Kathleen Turner, Jay O. Sanders, Charles Durning, Angela Goethals. What on earth is this movie doing on this list you ask? Well if Jessica Rabbit isn't bad, she's just drawn that way, then V.I. Warshawski isn't bad, she's just written and directed that way. Based on the hit novels by Sara Paretsky, Turner plays Chicago private investigator V.I. Warshawski. Yes the movie has a TV Drama essence about it and yes the directing is banal, at best. What do you expect from the guy who has directed such classics as Troop Beverly Hills and Revenge of the Nerds. However, Turner shines in the role of V.I. The part fits her like a glove and she is the only reason to watch this movie. Every time I catch this late night on KTLA Channel 5, I can't help but wonder at what could have been. Missed opportunities abound.
SERIAL MOM - (1994) - ***½ - dir. John Waters. Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, Matthew Lillard, Mink Stole, Mary Jo Catlett, Traci Lords. This is one of Waters' best films and Kathleen Turner is having a ball as the maniacal Beverly Sutphin. Beverly is the perfect mother who governs the perfect house with the perfect family and if anyone questions this or attempts to, they will be murdered. Also, just don't piss her off. Waters hits the nail on the head satirizing the media's love affair with with turning crazies into celebrities. Full of bizarre cameos, pussy willows and lots of blood. One of the best comedies of the 90's. Quotable for days.
THE PERFECT FAMILY - (2011) - *** - dir. Anne Renton. Kathleen Turner, Emily Deschanel, Elizabeth Pena, June Squibb, Jason Ritter, Richard Chamberlin, Sharon Lawrence, Michael Mc Grady. When Eileen Cleary is nominated for a top honor at her church she goes into overdrive trying to fluff up her family. This is the opposite of Serial Mom and it's a nice ying to that films yang. Here she has a lesbian daughter and alcoholic husband and her son is getting divorced and having an affair. The journey Eileen is on is one that questions her very beliefs in the church that wants to honor her. Great supporting cast. Best line, "I don't have to think, I'm Catholic." Turner needs to do more films. That's all there is to it.
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