Name	John Cazale
Birthname	John Holland Cazale
Birth date	August 12, 1935
Birth place	Winchester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death date	March 12, 1978
Death place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Yearsactive	1972–1978

John Holland Cazale (, ) (August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978), was an American film and theater actor. During his six-year film career he appeared in five films, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter.

From his start as an acclaimed theater actor he became one of Hollywood's premiere character actors, starting with Coppola's The Godfather in which he played Fredo Corleone, the weak link in the Corleone crime family. "Cazale broke hearts on screen with portrayals of volatile, vulnerable, vacillating men, including Pacino's tragic bank-robbing partner in Dog Day Afternoon," writes David Germain of the Associated Press. He is described as an actor "whose intense face is known to just about any serious cinema fan but whose name often escapes them." In his final film, The Deer Hunter, he chose to continue acting despite being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer which had spread to his bones, and died in New York City on March 12, 1978, shortly after completing his role. He was 42.

Cazale was characterized as "an amazing intellect, an extraordinary person and a fine, dedicated artist" by Joseph Papp, producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival. A film documentary and tribute about Cazale, titled I Knew It Was You, was an entry at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and featured interviews with Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss, Francis Ford Coppola, and Sidney Lumet.

Early career

An Italian American, Cazale was born in Winchester, Massachusetts. He graduated high school at Winchester High School He studied drama at Oberlin College and Boston University, from which he graduated. He then moved to New York City and worked as a messenger at Standard Oil, where he met Al Pacino, another aspiring actor.

"When I first saw John, I instantly thought he was so interesting," recalled Pacino. "Everybody was always around him because he had a very congenial way of expressing himself." While living together in a communal house in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Cazale and Pacino were cast in a play by Israel Horovitz, The Indian Wants the Bronx, for which they both won Obie Awards. He later won another Obie for the leading role in Horovitz's Line, where he was noticed by Godfather casting director Fred Roos, who then suggested him to director Francis Ford Coppola.

Cazale had acted on stage with Robert De Niro and Cazale's fiancée at the time of his death, Meryl Streep, whom he met when they were both in the Public Theater's 1976 production of Measure for Measure. In that role, wrote Mel Gussow of The New York Times, "Mr Cazale, often cast as a quirky, weak outsider, as in The Godfather, here demonstrates sterner mettle as a quietly imperious Angelo who sweeps down, vulturelike, to deposit virtue."

Films

The Godfather and The Godfather Part II

Cazale made his feature film debut, alongside old friend Al Pacino, playing the role of Fredo Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. The film broke box office records and made Pacino, Cazale and several previously unknown co-stars famous, and earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

He acted in the same role in 1974 in The Godfather Part II. Bruce Fretts, in Entertainment Weekly, wrote, "Cazale's devastatingly raw turn intensifies the impact of the drama's emotional climax, in which Michael (Pacino) orders Fredo's murder. "John could open up his heart, so it could be hurt," said Dominic Chianese. "That's a talent few actors have." For his role as Sal, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor .

:Sidney Lumet commentary "In the screenplay, Cazale's role was written to be a smart-ass street kid. But Al came to me and said, 'Sidney, please, I beg you, read John Cazale for it.' And when John came in I was so discouraged and thought 'Al must be out of his mind.' This guy looks thirty, thirty-two, and that’s the last thing I want in this part. But Al had great taste in actors, and I hadn’t yet seen him in the Godfather. And Cazale came in, and then he read, and my heart broke. . . . "One of the things that I love about the casting of John Cazale ... was that he had a tremendous sadness about him. I don’t know where it came from; I don’t believe in invading the privacy of the actors that I work with, or getting into their heads. But my god - it’s there - in every shot of him. And not just in this movie, but in Godfather II also.

:Al Pacino commentary "It's great working with John because he has a way of getting involved - in the whole thing, in the characters. He asks so many questions - he was just brilliant. It was tough to sell Johnny, but once Sidney got to see him read, and work with me, it turned out great."

The Deer Hunter

Despite being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, Cazale continued work with fiancée Meryl Streep in The Deer Hunter. "I've hardly ever seen a person so devoted to someone who is falling away like John was," said Pacino. "To see her in that act of love for this man was overwhelming." He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.

Legacy

Cazale was described by those close to him to be "often shy" and "very emotionally sensitive." Close friend and frequent co-star Pacino collaborated with him on three films and various theater productions. Although he never received an Oscar nomination, wrote Bruce Fretts, he "was the walking embodiment of the aphorism acting is reacting, providing the perfect counterbalance to his recurring costars, the more emotionally volatile Al Pacino and Robert De Niro." Pacino once commented, "All I wanted to do was work with John for the rest of my life. He was my acting partner."

Cazale's image was used for video game, as his character, Fredo. He has a theater named after him, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre (currently inhabited by the company Second Stage Theatre), located at 2162 Broadway at 76th Street in New York City. Cazale was cited as a "Distinguished Performance" by the Off-Broadway Obie Awards for the 1967-68 season for his performance in Israel Horovitz's play The Indian Wants the Bronx.

His life and career was profiled in the documentary film, I Knew It Was You, directed by Richard Shepard, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and was scheduled by HBO.

Filmography

John Cazale appeared in five full-length feature films while alive, plus a sixth using archival footage, after his death. All six films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Three of the films won the Award: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and The Deer Hunter.

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Release date ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | March 15, 1972 | The Godfather | Fredo Corleone | |- | April 7, 1974 | The Conversation | Stan | |- | December 12, 1974 | | Fredo Corleone | |- | September 21, 1975 |Dog Day Afternoon | Salvatore Naturile |Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |- | December 8, 1978 |The Deer Hunter | Stanley "Stosh" | |- | December 25, 1990 | | Fredo Corleone |(archive footage) |}

References

External links

eFilmCritic.com Interview with director Richard Shepard on the John Cazale Documentary "I Knew It Was You"

Natural Born Plumbers: John Cazale and the Character Actors of the 1970s

Category:American film actors Category:Boston University alumni Category:American people of Sicilian descent Category:American actors of Italian descent Category:Oberlin College alumni Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:1935 births Category:1978 deaths Category:Cancer deaths in New York

Caption	Meryl Streep at the 56th San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2008
Birth name	Mary Louise Streep
Birth date	June 22, 1949
Birth place	Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
Spouse	Don Gummer (m. 1978–pres.) 4 children
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1971–present

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. She is widely regarded as one of the most talented and respected actors of the modern era.

Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with Julia. Both critical and commercial success came quickly with roles in The Deer Hunter (1978) and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), the former giving Streep her first Oscar nomination and the latter her first win. She later won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Sophie's Choice (1982).

Streep has received 16 Academy Award nominations, winning two, and 25 Golden Globe nominations, winning seven, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, four New York Film Critics Circle Awards, five Grammy Award nominations, a BAFTA award, an Australian Film Institute Award and a Tony Award nomination, amongst others. She was awarded the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

Early life and background

Streep was born Mary Louise Streep in Summit, New Jersey, the daughter of Mary Wolf (née Wilkinson), a commercial artist and former art editor, and Harry William Streep, Jr., a pharmaceutical executive of German ancestry. She has two brothers, Dana and Harry. Her heritage can be traced back ten generations to Loffenau, from where her second great-grandfather, Gottfried Streeb, emigrated to the United States, and where one of her ancestors served as mayor. Another line of the Streep family was from Giswil, a small town in Switzerland. Her maternal ancestry can be traced to Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Her eighth great-grandfather, Lawrence Wilkinson, was one of the first Europeans to settle Rhode Island. Streep is also a distant relative of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and records show her family were among the first purchasers of land in Pennsylvania.

She was raised a Presbyterian, and grew up in Bernardsville, New Jersey, where she attended Bernards High School. She received her B.A., in Drama at Vassar College in 1971 (where she briefly received instruction from Jean Arthur), but also enrolled as an exchange student at Dartmouth College for a semester before it became coeducational. She subsequently earned an M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. While at Yale, she played a variety of roles onstage, from the glamorous Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream to an eighty-year old woman in a wheelchair in a comedy written by then-unknown playwrights Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato. "It was immediately apparent," said then-dean Robert Brustein, "that she was destined for greatness."

Early career

Streep performed in several theater productions in New York after graduating from Yale School of Drama, including the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew with Raúl Juliá, and Measure for Measure opposite Sam Waterston and John Cazale, who became her fiancé. She starred on Broadway in the Brecht/Weill musical Happy End, and won an Obie for her performance in the all-sung off-Broadway production of Alice at the Palace.

Streep began auditioning for film roles, and later recalled an unsuccessful audition for Dino De Laurentiis for the leading role in King Kong. De Laurentiis commented to his son in Italian, "She's ugly. Why did you bring me this thing?" and was shocked when Streep replied in fluent Italian. Streep's first feature film was Julia (1977), in which she played a small but pivotal role during a flashback scene. Streep was living in New York City with her fiancé, Cazale, who had been diagnosed with bone cancer. He was cast in The Deer Hunter (1978), and Streep was delighted to secure a small role because it allowed her to remain with Cazale for the duration of filming. She was not specifically interested in the part, commenting, "They needed a girl between the two guys and I was it."

She played a leading role in the television miniseries Holocaust (1978) as an Aryan woman married to a Jewish artist in Nazi era Germany. She later explained that she had considered the material to be "unrelentingly noble", Streep travelled to Germany and Austria for filming while Cazale remained in New York. Upon her return, Streep found that Cazale's illness had progressed, and she nursed him until his death on March 12, 1978. She spoke of her grief and her hope that work would provide a diversion; she accepted a role in The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) with Alan Alda, later commenting that she played it on "automatic pilot", With an estimated audience of 109 million, Holocaust brought a degree of public recognition to Streep, who was described in August 1978 as "on the verge of national visibility". and that she had not been permitted to improvise a word of her dialogue. Asked to comment on the script for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), in a meeting with the producer Stan Jaffee, director Robert Benton and star Dustin Hoffman, Streep insisted that the female character was not representative of many real women who faced marriage breakdown and child custody battles, and was written as "too evil". and frequented the Upper East Side neighborhood in which the film was set. Jaffee and Hoffman later spoke of Streep's tirelessness, with Hoffman commenting, "She's extraordinarily hardworking, to the extent that she's obsessive. I think that she thinks about nothing else but what she's doing."

Streep drew critical acclaim for her performance in each of her three films released in 1979: the romantic comedy Manhattan, the political drama, The Seduction of Joe Tynan and the family drama, Kramer vs. Kramer. She was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her collective work in the three films. Among the awards won for Kramer vs. Kramer were the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

1980s

After prominent supporting roles in two of the 1970s most successful films, the consecutive winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture, The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs. Kramer, and praise for her versatility in several supporting roles, Streep progressed to leading roles. Her first was The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981). A story within a story drama, the film paired Streep with Jeremy Irons as contemporary actors, telling their modern story as well as the Victorian era drama they were performing. A New York Magazine article commented that while many female stars of the past had cultivated a singular identity in their films, Streep was a "chameleon", willing to play any type of role. Streep was awarded a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work.

Her next film, the psychological thriller, Still of the Night (1982) reunited her with Robert Benton, the director of Kramer vs. Kramer, and co-starred Roy Scheider and Jessica Tandy. Vincent Canby, writing for the New York Times noted that the film was an homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, but that one of its main weaknesses was a lack of chemistry between Streep and Scheider, concluding that Streep "is stunning, but she's not on screen anywhere near long enough".

As the Polish holocaust survivor in Sophie's Choice (1982), Streep's emotional dramatic performance and her apparent mastery of a Polish accent drew praise. William Styron wrote the novel with Ursula Andress in mind for the part of Sophie, but Streep was very determined to get the role. After she obtained a pirated copy of the script, she went to Alan J. Pakula and threw herself on the ground begging him to give her the part. Streep filmed the "choice" scene in one take and refused to do it again, as she found shooting the scene extremely painful and emotionally exhausting. Among several notable acting awards, Streep won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. Roger Ebert said of her performance, "Streep plays the Brooklyn scenes with an enchanting Polish-American accent (she has the first accent I've ever wanted to hug), and she plays the flashbacks in subtitled German and Polish. There is hardly an emotion that Streep doesn't touch in this movie, and yet we're never aware of her straining. This is one of the most astonishing and yet one of the most unaffected and natural performances I can imagine."

She followed this success with a biographical film, Silkwood (1983), in which she played her first real-life character, the union activist Karen Silkwood. She discussed her preparation for the role in an interview with Roger Ebert and said that she had met with people close to Silkwood to learn more about her, and in doing so realized that each person saw a different aspect of Silkwood. Streep concentrated on the events of Silkwood's life and concluded, "I didn't try to turn myself into Karen. I just tried to look at what she did. I put together every piece of information I could find about her... What I finally did was look at the events in her life, and try to understand her from the inside."

Out of Africa (1985) starred Streep as the Danish writer Karen Blixen and co-starred Robert Redford. A significant critical success, the film received a 63% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Streep co-starred with Jack Nicholson in her next two films, the dramas Heartburn (1986) and Ironweed (1987), in which she sang onscreen for the first time since the television movie, Secret Service, in 1977. In A Cry in the Dark (1988), she played the biographical role of Lindy Chamberlain, an Australian woman who had been convicted of the murder of her infant daughter in which Chamberlain claimed her baby had been taken by a dingo. Filmed in Australia, Streep won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for several other awards for her portrayal of Chamberlain.

In She-Devil (1989), Streep played her first comedic film role, opposite Roseanne Barr. Richard Corliss, writing for Time, commented that Streep was the "one reason" to see the film and observed that it marked a departure from the type of role for which she had been known, saying, "Surprise! Inside the Greer Garson roles Streep usually plays, a vixenish Carole Lombard is screaming to be cut loose."

1990s

From 1984 to 1990, Streep won six People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture Actress and, in 1990, was named World Favorite.

In the 1990s, Streep continued to choose a great variety of roles, including a drug addicted movie actress in a screen adaptation of Carrie Fisher's novel Postcards from the Edge, with Dennis Quaid and Shirley MacLaine. Streep and Goldie Hawn had established a friendship and were interested in making a film together. After considering various projects, they decided upon Thelma and Louise, until Streep's pregnancy coincided with the filming schedule, and the producers decided to proceed with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis.

Biographer Karen Hollinger describes this period as a downturn in the popularity of Streep's films, which reached its nadir with the failure of Death Becomes Her, attributing this partly to a critical perception that her comedies had been an attempt to convey a lighter image following several serious but commercially unsuccessful dramas, and more significantly to the lack of options available to an actress in her forties. Streep commented that she had limited her options by her preference to work in Los Angeles, close to her family,

In 2009, she starred in Julie & Julia, in which she played the late Julia Child. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and also shared the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress with Sandra Bullock. Streep also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for this performance. She then starred in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy It's Complicated, with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. She also received nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for this film. Streep also lent her voice to Mrs. Felicity Fox in the stop-motion film Fantastic Mr. Fox.

In July 2010, it was announced that Streep will star in an upcoming comedy entitled Mommy & Me alongside Tina Fey who will play her daughter. The film is being directed by Stanley Tucci. Streep has also been cast as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, a look at the Prime Minister during the Falklands War and her years in retirement.

Accents and dialects

Meryl Streep is well-known for her ability to imitate foreign and domestic accents. In Out of Africa she displayed a Danish accent, and in The Bridges of Madison County she used an accent from southern Italy. Sophie's Choice, in which Streep spoke English and German with a Polish accent, is regarded as her linguistic magnum opus. In A Cry in the Dark she played a woman from New Zealand, (Lindy Chamberlain), who had been exposed to Australian English for many years. In order to accurately reproduce her accent, Streep visited Lindy in prison and studied the tape recordings of her trial. The character of Sister Aloysius in Doubt (2008) required Bronx tonalities, whereas her performance in A Prairie Home Companion was equipped with a Midwestern dialect. For the film Dancing at Lughnasa, Streep handled an Irish accent, while British Received Pronunciation was prominent in The French Lieutenant's Woman and Plenty. Streep's upcoming movie The Iron Lady (a biopic about former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) will be her third role in RP. Despite the accolades accorded her, Streep has responded to praise with the assertion that adopting accents is an element she simply considers an obvious part of her task in creating characters. When asked whether accents help her get into character, she replied, 'I'm always baffled by this question. It's, like, how could I play that part and talk like me?'

Theatre

In New York City, she appeared in the 1976 Broadway double bill of Tennessee Williams' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Arthur Miller's A Memory of Two Mondays. For the former, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her other early Broadway credits include Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical Happy End in which she originally appeared off-Broadway at the Chelsea Theater Center. She received Drama Desk Award nominations for both productions. Once Streep's film career flourished, she took a long break from stage acting.

In July 2001, Streep returned to the stage for the first time in more than twenty years, playing Arkadina in the Public Theater's revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. The staging, directed by Mike Nichols, also featured Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden, and John Goodman.

In August and September 2006, she starred onstage at The Public Theater's production of Mother Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The Public Theater production was a new translation by playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America), with songs in the Weill/Brecht style written by composer Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change); veteran director George C. Wolfe was at the helm. Streep starred alongside Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton in this three-and-a-half-hour play in which she sang and appeared in almost every scene.

Music

]] After appearing in Mamma Mia!, Streep's rendition of the song "Mamma Mia" rose to popularity in the Portuguese music charts, where it peaked at #8 in October 2008.

At the 35th People's Choice Awards, her version of Mamma Mia won an award for "Favorite Song From A Soundtrack". In 2008, Streep was nominated for a Grammy Award (her fifth nomination) for her work on the Mamma Mia! soundtrack.

Personal life

Meryl Streep was in a relationship with actor John Cazale until his death in March 1978. Streep married sculptor Don Gummer on September 15, 1978. They have four children: Henry Wolf "Harry" Gummer (born November 13, 1979), Mary Willa "Mamie" Gummer (born August 3, 1983), Grace Jane Gummer (born May 9, 1986), and Louisa Jacobson Gummer (born June 12, 1991). Both Mamie and Grace are actresses.

Awards

on May 27, 2010]] Streep holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations of any actor, having been nominated 16 times since her first nomination in 1979 for The Deer Hunter (13 for Best Actress and 3 for Best Supporting Actress).

Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer for a Golden Globe Award (she has 25 nominations as of 2009) and has won the most Golden Globes overall since her win for Julie & Julia in 2010. Streep received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998.

In 2003, she was awarded an honorary César Award by the French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma. In 2004 at the Moscow International Film Festival, Meryl Streep was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school.

In 2004, Streep received the AFI Life Achievement Award.

May 27, 2004 was proclaimed "Meryl Streep Day" by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields.

In 2009, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by Princeton University.

In 2010, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.

Work

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1977 | Julia | Anne Marie | |- | 1978 | The Deer Hunter | Linda | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture |- | 1979 | Manhattan | Jill | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role |- | 1979 | The Seduction of Joe Tynan | Karen Traynor | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Manhattan and Kramer vs. Kramer)National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Manhattan and Kramer vs. Kramer)National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Manhattan and Kramer vs. Kramer)New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Kramer vs. Kramer) |- | 1979 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Joanna Kramer | Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion PictureKansas City Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActressLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan)Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role |- | 1981 | The French Lieutenant's Woman | Sarah/Anna | BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleGolden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best Actress |- | 1982 | Still of the Night | Brooke Reynolds | |- | 1982 | Sophie's Choice | Sophie Zawistowski | Academy Award for Best ActressBoston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaKansas City Film Critics Award for Best Actress (shared with Julie Andrews for Victor Victoria)Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNational Board of Review Award for Best ActressNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role |- | 1983 | Silkwood | Karen Silkwood | Kansas City Film Critics Award for Best ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |- | 1984 | Falling in Love | Molly Gilmore | David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress |- | 1985 | Plenty | Susan Traherne | |- | 1985 | Out of Africa | Karen Blixen | David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign ActressKansas City Film Critics Award for Best ActressLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |- | 1986 | Heartburn | Rachel Samstat | Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actress |- | 1987 | Ironweed | Helen Archer | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress |- | 1988 | A Cry in the Dark | Lindy Chamberlain | Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBest Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama |- | 1989 | She-Devil | Mary Fisher | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- | 1990 | Postcards from the Edge | Suzanne Vale | American Comedy Award for Funniest Lead Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- | 1991 | Defending Your Life | Julia | Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress |- | 1992 | Death Becomes Her | Madeline Ashton | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- | 1993 | The House of the Spirits | Clara del Valle Trueba | |- | 1994 | The River Wild | Gail Hartman | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |- | 1995 | The Bridges of Madison County | Francesca Johnson | Nominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |- | 1996 | Before and After | Dr. Carolyn Ryan | |- | 1996 | Marvin's Room | Lee | Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 1998 | Dancing at Lughnasa | Kate 'Kit' Mundy | Nominated—Irish Film and Television Awards — Best Actor in a Female Role |- | 1998 | One True Thing | Kate Gulden | Nominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |- | 1999 | Music of the Heart | Roberta Guaspari | Nominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |- | 2001 | A.I. Artificial Intelligence | Blue Fairy | (voice cameo) |- | 2002 | Adaptation. | Susan Orlean | Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion PictureChicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressFlorida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActressSoutheastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—London Film Critics Circle Film Award for Actress of the YearNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion PictureNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 2002 | The Hours | Clarissa Vaughan | Silver Bear for Best Actress (shared with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman)Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 2003 | Stuck on You | Herself | |- | 2004 | The Manchurian Candidate | Eleanor Shaw | Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion PictureNominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress |- | 2004 | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | Aunt Josephine | |- | 2005 | Prime | Lisa Metzger, therapist | |- | 2006 | A Prairie Home Companion | Yolanda Johnson | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Devil Wears Prada)Nominated—Gotham Awards – Best Ensemble Cast |- | 2006 | "The Music of Regret" | The Woman | (short musical) |- | 2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy North Texas Film Critics Award for Best ActressLondon Film Critics Circle Film Award for Actress of the YearNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for A Prairie Home Companion)Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Comedic ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain |- | 2006 | The Ant Bully | Queen Ant | (voice) |- | 2007 | Dark Matter | Joanna Silver | |- | 2007 | Evening | Lila Wittenborn Ross | |- | 2007 | Rendition | Corrine Whitman, CIA official | |- | 2007 | Lions for Lambs | Janine Roth | |- | 2008 | Mamma Mia! | Donna Sheridan | Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress – People's Choice National Movie Award (UK) — Best Female Performance Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Comedic ActressRembrandt Award  – Best International ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- | 2008 | Doubt | Sister Aloysius Beauvier | Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress( tied with Anne Hathway for Rachel Getting Married)Iowa Film Critics Award for Best ActressKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress North Texas Film Critics Award for Best ActressPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—London Film Critics Circle Film Award for Actress of the YearNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |- | 2009 | Julie & Julia | Julia Child | Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress North Texas Film Critics Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNew York Film Critics OnlineNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for The Fantastic Mr. Fox)Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressSan Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressSoutheastern Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressOklahoma Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressSatellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or ComedyKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Comedic ActressBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (tied with Sandra Bullock)Nominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—Alliance of Woman Journalists Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated—St Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Actress |- | 2009 | Fantastic Mr. Fox | Mrs. Fox | (voice) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (also for Julie & Julia) |- | 2009 | It's Complicated | Jane Adler | Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress – People's ChoiceNational Board of Review Award for Best CastNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |- | 2010 | Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life | Jennie (voice) | |- | 2011 | The Iron Lady | Margaret Thatcher | |- | 2012 | | Violet Weston | |}

Television

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1977 | The Deadliest Season | Sharon Miller | |- | 1978 | Uncommon Women and Others | Leilah | |- | 1978 | Holocaust | Inga Helms Weiss | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie |- | 1994 | The Simpsons | Jessica Lovejoy | Episode: "Bart's Girlfriend" |- | 1999 | King of the Hill | Aunt Esme Dauterive | Episode: "A Beer Can Named Desire" |- | 1997 | …First Do No Harm | Lori Reimuller | Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Television MovieNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television FilmNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Television Film |- | 2003 | Angels in America | Ethel RosenbergThe RabbiHannah PittAngel Australia | Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a MiniseriesGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a MiniseriesGracie Allen Award for Outstanding Female Lead in a Drama SpecialSatellite Award for Best Actress in a MiniseriesScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Miniseries |}

Stage

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1975 | Trelawny of the Wells | Miss Imogen Parrott | |- | 1976 | 27 Wagons Full of Cotton | Flora Meighan | Theatre World Award – Debut performance, Broadway/Off-BroadwayNominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a PlayNominated—Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play |- | 1976 | A Memory of Two Mondays | Patricia | |- | 1976 | Secret Service | Edith Varney | |- | 1976 | Henry V | Katherine | |- | 1976 | Measure for Measure | Isabella | |- | 1977 | Happy End | Lieutenant Lillian Holiday | |- | 1977 | The Cherry Orchard | Dunyasha | |- | 1978 | Alice at the Palace | Alice | |- | 1978 | The Taming of the Shrew | Kate | |- | 1979 | Taken in Marriage | Andrea | |- | 1980–81 | Alice at the Palace | Alice | |- | 2001 | The Seagull | Irina Nikolayevna | Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play |- | 2006 | Mother Courage and Her Children | Mother Courage | Drama League Award — Distinguished Performance AwardNominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play |}

References

Bibliography

Napoleon, Davi. . Includes discussion of Streep's performance in Robert Kalfin's production of Happy End at the Chelsea Theater and on Broadway. Iowa State University Press. ISBN-0-8138-1713-7, 1991.

Finding Herself: The Prime of Meryl Streep by Molly Haskell, Film Comment, May/June 2008.

External links

Merylstreeponline.net- official website

Meryl Streep at BAFTA 40 minute webcast, January 2009

Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:César Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:People from Union County, New Jersey Category:Vassar College alumni Category:Yale School of Drama alumni Category:Yale University alumni Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Swiss descent