WAMG Spotlights Stars of Comedy BOOK CLUB

(L-R) Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen in the film, BOOK CLUB, by Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Melinda Sue Gordon © 2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The new comedy BOOK CLUB, opening May 18, focuses on something that has long been a favorite of women of all ages – the book club. But this comedy has something extra to offer: four legendary stars with long and storied careers. Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen have garnered enough awards and nominations, including Oscars, and have demonstrated enough star staying-power on the big screen and the small one to qualify as bonafide Hollywood legends. Yet each woman has carved out her own unique path to that title.

They have some things in common, these legendary women. Each is multi-talented, playing both drama and comedy while working with an array of big-name directors and actors. As in any long career, each has had their hits and misses, but the hits have really been stand-outs. Defying the usual rules of Hollywood, each is still a star and still beautiful, even though over the age of 65. They are all fairly tall, ranging from Fonda and Steenburgen at 5’8″ to Keaton at 5’6 1/2″. Each woman also has added producer, author, or musician to their career accomplishments and each of them has passionately pursued interests and causes beyond their acting careers.

In honor of these worthy women, and with a nod to Mother’s Day, We Are Movie Geeks is offering a brief retrospective on their careers.

Jane Fonda in the film, BOOK CLUB, by Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Melinda Sue Gordon © 2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

JANE FONDA

Jane Fonda has recently reportedly said that her new ensemble comedy BOOK CLUB is the most fun she has had making a movie. With her long career, that is saying something but that sentiment probably reflects the sterling cast of women she worked with on this film.

On screen and off, Jane Fonda often has been a controversial figure, often outspoken, known for her political activism, and for her marriage to media mogul Ted Turner.

Born Jane Seymour Fonda in New York City in December 1937, the beautiful daughter of movie star Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Ford Seymour Brokaw had no problem breaking into movies but it takes more than a famous name to have the kind of long, stellar career Jane Fonda has had. Initially she had little interest in following her father’s profession but that changed after she appeared in a community theater production with her father, and then met Lee Strasberg and joined the Actors’ Studio. Her first film was TALL STORY (1960) and then she was cast as a fresh face beauty in a string of romantic films.

Fonda shattered that girl-next-door image when she starred as the barely-clad title character in BARBARELLA, director (and then husband) Roger Vadim’s sexy, sci-fi spoof. The film sparked controversy but it also changed Fonda’s screen image, perhaps opening the door to more serious, edgy dramatic roles. She followed it up with an Oscar-nominated performance in the dark Depression-era drama THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON”T THEY? (1969) and her Oscar-winning performance as a high-priced call girl in the thriller KLUTE (1971).

Fonda also won an Oscar for COMING HOME (1978), about a returning disabled Vietnam War veteran, and more Oscar nominations for JULIA (1977), THE CHINA SYNDROME (1979), THE MORNING AFTER (1986) and ON GOLDEN POND (1981), in which she appeared with her father Henry for the only time.

Fonda’s career has not been just about drama. She has plenty of comedies on her resume, including the quirky Western romp CAT BALLOU (1965), FUN WITH DICK AND JANE (1977), and the hit NINE TO FIVE (1980).

In the 1980s, Fonda branched out from appearing in films, and released a wildly successful series of exercise videos and books, helping spark the exercise craze. She took a break from acting from 1990 to 2005, but returned to star in MONSTER-IN-LAW (2005) with Jennifer Lopez.

In recent years, Fonda has appeared in several films, sometimes in small but pivotal film roles, notably as the movie star diva in YOUTH (2015). She also starred in a Netflix series, GRACE AND FRANKIE, with Lilly Tomlin.

Fonda has re-defined herself over and over during her long career, keeping her on top and always a star.

Diane Keaton in the film, BOOK CLUB, by Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Melinda Sue Gordon © 2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

DIANE KEATON

Diane Keaton first captured the hearts of audiences with her quirky character in Woody Allen’s comedy ANNIE HALL (1977), where her eccentric clothing style sparked a fashion trend and her performance won her an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Writer/director Woody Allen had written the role specifically for her, and given the character her family nickname, Annie, and the star’s original last name.

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles, California, in January 1946, Diane Keaton took her mother’s maiden name for her stage name because the Actors Guild already had a Diane Hall. She studied acting at college in California but left early to move to New York and work on the stage.

ANNIE HALL might have made her a big star but it was hardly the first hit film she had appeared in. While her first film was LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS (1970), she appeared in the Oscar-winning THE GODFATHER (1972) and THE GODFATHER, PART II (1974), where she played Kay Adams, Michael Corleone’s girlfriend, then wife. She also appeared in Woody Allen’s early hit comedies PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM (1972), SLEEPER (1973), and LOVE AND DEATH (1975).

Eager not to be typecast as the quirky character she played in ANNIE HALL, Keaton followed it up with one of her darkest dramatic parts in LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR (1977), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. She received Oscar nominations for her work in Warren Beatty’s historic epic REDS (1981), as journalist Louise Bryant, and for MARVIN’S ROOM (1996).

Keaton was taken on a variety of roles, both dramatic and comedic. She appeared in a total of eight of Woody Allen’s films, including MANHATTAN (1979), RADIO DAYS (1987) and MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY (1993). She returned to the role of Kay Adams Corleone in THE GODFATHER, PART III (1990) but then appeared in the comedy BABY BOOM (1987), which echoed a story line from Candice Bergen’s MURPHY BROWN TV show. Keaton played Steve Martin’s wife in the hit comedy re-make FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1991) and its sequel FATHER OF THE BRIDE, PART II (1995).

Keaton had one of her biggest comedy hits with SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE (2003) opposite Jack Nicholson, for which she was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe. She has continued to work in films, while also publishing work as an author, editor and photographer. She also has an AFI Life Achievement Award.

Diane Keaton has never lost her quirky charm and irresistible likability (nor her signature fashion sense), making her a joy to watch no matter what the role.

Mary Steenburgen in the film, BOOK CLUB, by Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Melinda Sue Gordon. © 2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

MARY STEENBURGEN

Mary Steenburgen won an Oscar for her supporting role in the comedy MELVIN AND HOWARD. But her best known role maybe in the sci-fi romantic tale TIME AFTER TIME, where she co-starred with her future first husband Malcolm McDowell, who played a time-traveling, mystery-solving H.G. Wells.

Now happily married to Ted Danson, the star began life as Mary Nell Steenburgen in Newport, Arkansas in February 1953. Steenburgen studied acting at Hendrix College but left early on the recommendation of her acting teacher to pursue her career in New York. She was “discovered” by Jack Nicholson, who cast her in his wild and woolly Western GOIN’ SOUTH (1978) for her first movie role.

Steenburgen has played a mix of dramatic and comedic roles. She impressed audiences with her dramatic prowess playing a strong-willed mother in RAGTIME (1981), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. Her varied career has included films such as the drama CROSS CREEK (1983) in which she played the author of the children’s classic “The Yearling,” the comedy PARENTHOOD (1989), sequel BACK TO THE FUTURE, PART III (1990), Oscar-winning drama PHILADELPHIA (1993), comedy WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE (1993) with Johnny Depp and a young Leonardo DiCaprio, Oliver Stone’s NIXON (1995), the Will Ferrell comedy ELF (2003), and Oscar-winning THE HELP (2011). It is hard to imagine a more varied collection of films. Steenburgen has also appeared on TV, often with husband Ted Danson, in shows such as CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM.

Apart from her acting career, Steenburgen is active in humanitarian causes and is a supporter of the arts. Here’s another bit of trivia: she has dabbled in a musical career, as has Diane Keaton. Want to know some more trivia about Mary Steenburgen? She is close friends with Hillary Clinton, since the days when Clinton was the First Lady of Arkansas, the state where Steenburgen was born.

Still exuding charm and talent, Steenburgen continues to beguile audiences.

Candice Bergen in the film, BOOK CLUB, by Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: Melinda Sue Gordon © 2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

CANDICE BERGEN

Want to know some trivia about Candice Bergen? She once went on a date with Donald Trump, when they both were college-aged. They didn’t hit it off.

To many fans, Candice Bergen will always be the outspoken Murphy Brown, the character she played in the long-running, ground-breaking TV show, but Bergen has also carved out a strong career playing comedy and drama on the big and small screens.

Like Fonda, she had a famous father (ventriloquist Edgar Bergen) and stunning good looks, which likely helped open doors in Hollywood but again she did the work to become and stay a star. Born in Los Angeles in May 1946, Bergen was raised around Hollywood glamour. She made her debut on radio at age six on her father’s show and appeared on Groucho Marx’s “You Bet Your Life” TV game show at age 12. But she also attended finishing school in Switzerland.

With her natural elegance, she worked as a model and initially seemed destined to be cast in the kind of “cool blonde” roles Grace Kelly was known for, but her feisty, feminist bent emerged early. Her first film was Sidney Lumet’s THE GROUP (1966), in which she played a lesbian Vassar-type student, and she appeared in war drama THE SAND PEBBLES (1966) with Steve McQueen. She again played a college student in the X-rated CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (1971) but then played a demure American lady kidnapped by a Moroccan sheikh (played by Sean Connery) in the historical adventure film THE WIND AND THE LION (1975).

Her career picked up steam in the late 1970s with the dramedy STARTING OVER (1979), which won her an Oscar nomination. In a small but memorable role, Bergen played the famous pioneering woman photographer Margaret Bourke-White in the Oscar-winning GANDHI (1982).

She married French director Louis Malle, 14 years her senior, in 1980 and hit it big in TV with MURPHY BROWN in 1988. She was also the first female host of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. As tough, sharp-tongued TV anchor Murphy Brown, Bergen won five Emmys and two Golden Globes over ten seasons. There probably would have been more but Bergen started declining the nominations after winning five.

She took a break from TV and movies with the illness and death of husband Louis Malle in the mid-90s, but returned in 2000 with the comedy hit MISS CONGENIALITY. Other films followed, such as SEX AND THE CITY (2008), RULES DON’T APPLY (2016), and THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (2017). She returned to TV in 2005 as a prickly lawyer in BOSTON LEGAL, which garnered her another Emmy.

From early in her career, Bergen has also pursued a passion for photography and photojournalism, with works published in Life, Esquire and Playboy magazines. She remains an indomitable presence on the small and large screen.