Why do many of their equally attractive female co-stars fade away after a few years while some Hollywood leading men remain on the A-List for decades?
Find out more about Kathleen Turner, who played with Steve Martin, Michael Douglas, and Jack Nicholson in the movie Romancing the Stone.
Kathleen Turner was born in Springfield, Missouri, on June 19, 1954, to devout Christians who discouraged her desire to pursue acting.
As Turner put it, “Because my father was of missionary stock, theatre and acting were just one step up from being a streetwalker. ”.
Due to her father’s work for the USFS, they lived in Venezuela, Cuba, and Canada. To pursue a career as a stage performer at a high school in London, Kathleen relocated away from her parents.
Seven of us made up the theater mafia, Turner recalled of her youth”.
In addition to choosing plays, producing, directing, and performing them, we also fired one teacher and hired another.
When Kathleen was 17 years old, her father passed away, and her family relocated to Springfield, Missouri.
Ever since she volunteered at a local Planned Parenthood, she has been a lifelong supporter of women’s rights and access to healthcare. She provides assistance to Child Help USA, City Meals On Wheels, and the Board of Advocates for Planned Parenthood in New York City.
Turner was stumbled upon by Herbert Blau at Southwest Missouri State University. He encouraged her to enroll in the University of Maryland, from which she graduated with a BFA.
Turner rose to fame after her The Doctors role debut for her sensational work in the 1981 thriller Body Heat.
After Body Heat’s box office success, Turner went on to star in The Man with Two Brains and Romancing the Stone. Turner, DeVito, and Douglas reconnected in the movies War of the Roses and Jewel of the Nile.
Turner received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her roles in Prizzi’s Honor (1985) and Romancing the Stone (1984).
When reviewing Prizzi’s Honor in 1985, Robert Ebert said the following: “This is the strangest comedy in many a month, a movie so dark, so cynical, and so funny that probably only Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner could have kept straight faces during the love scenes. ”.
Turner is a seductive mob hitman who works with Jack Nicholson’s character, Charley Partanna, a hitman from New York City.
“Prizzi’s Honor reinforced the perception of me as a cunning woman, but I must admit there are times in Prizzi when my character is just this newlywed—got her job, but she’s making casseroles—that I like,” Turner acknowledged to David Sheff.
It’s out there, according to my husband and friends,” she insisted. I don’t really care to learn anything. ”.
Turner portrayed Peggy Sue in Peggy Sue Got Married, a time traveler who returns to her 1960s school days.
It was a very unwelcoming environment for women, Turner remarked in 2018.
”.
“The contempt, the sense of being a prop.”.
Turner’s theater career has been successful since the middle of the 1980s, but there’s no guarantee that she will receive another award.
In 1990, Turner’s portrayal of Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, her second significant stage performance, earned her a Tony Award. She received Theatre World’s Outstanding Broadway Debut award for her work in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Turner was followed by Tallulah, The Graduate, and transgressions.
She played Martha for three years in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which led to the actor receiving a second Tony nomination for the role.
The 1966 adaptation, which Turner hated, starred Elizabeth Taylor as Martha. In a 2018 Vulture interview, she said the following about the Hollywood legend: “Pay attention to her tone of voice. For a while, I felt like half my existence was doing her wrongs right. It is awful”.
“She wasn’t very skilled,” she said in conclusion.
But for the love of God, I was fortunate to present the comedy and perform the play”.
Turner built on her stage success with roles in Undercover Blues, The Virgin Suicides, and Beautiful.
In the animated movie Roger Rabbit from 1988, Jessica Rabbit’s voice was gruff. She portrayed Chandler Bing’s drag queen father Charles Bing in the television series Friends.
Turner admitted to Vulture that she had a hard time fitting in with the snobby Friends cast.
I’ll be honest, as I always am, about how I felt about the cast, Turner said.
”.
“I can still feel the pain from my high heels as I wore this difficult sequined gown. I thought it odd that none of the actors offered to seat me. ”.
At some point, Miss Turner recalled, one of the more senior crew members instructed her to find a chair. “The Friends actors were such a clique, but my interaction with them was not exceptional. ”.
In the 1990s, Kathleen Turner experienced “inexplicable pains and fevers” as a result of rheumatoid arthritis. ”.
By 1994, she needed help getting out of bed. By combining biotech medicine with gymnastics, Turner was able to control her rheumatoid arthritis.
She said, “The year before I was diagnosed was terrifying,” when speaking of her 2002 rheumatoid arthritis awareness campaign. ”. I couldn’t understand it. ”.
I didn’t know why I was in such a lot of pain and sickness, she admitted. “I am interested in this campaign because I want people to know they can get information, manage this illness, and stand up for their lives and way of life. Help is easily accessible. ”.
Turner’s circumstances were often distressing, especially in the news, but she didn’t let that stop her.
She claimed in 2018 that she disregarded the doctor’s advice to live the rest of her life in a wheelchair after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1992. I can’t emphasize enough the fight I put up against the agonizing pain and horror of who I had become.
She claimed, “I had to conceal my illness for years. It was awkward to be referred to as drunk and to receive criticism for my appearance. Robert Downey Jr. still performed despite having a drinking issue. the studios utilized. If I acknowledged having an untreated illness, people wouldn’t approach me.
Jay Weiss, a real estate tycoon, and Kathleen Turner divorced in 2007.
The 66-year-old Jessica Rabbit actor claims that he doesn’t mind that he is still referred to as a sexual icon nearly 40 years after [Body Heat]. Long ago, that happened.
At New York University, Turner teaches a class called Practical Acting.
She said, “I love teaching,” to Shondaland in the year 2020. I can give a thorough explanation”.
I’m hard on them, and I only accept people with a certain level of skill, she remarked”.
“If not, I wouldn’t be helpful. ”.
Kathleen Turner has a lot more years in the spotlight ahead of her.
