Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges | |
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![]() Bridges at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International
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Born | Jeffrey Leon Bridges December 4, 1949 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Occupation | Actor, singer, producer, composer |
Years active | 1950–present |
Spouse(s) | Susan Geston (m. 1977) |
Children | 3 |
Parent(s) | Lloyd Bridges, Dorothy Bridges |
Family | Beau Bridges (brother) Jordan Bridges (nephew) |
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor, singer, and producer. He comes from a prominent acting family, and appeared on the television series Sea Hunt (1958–60), with his father, Lloyd Bridges and brother, Beau Bridges. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart, and earned Academy Award nominations for his roles in The Last Picture Show (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Starman (1984), The Contender (2000), True Grit (2010), and Hell or High Water (2016). His other films include Tron (1982), Jagged Edge (1985), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Fisher King (1991), Fearless (1993), The Big Lebowski (1998), Seabiscuit (2003), Iron Man (2008), Tron: Legacy (2010), and The Giver (2014).
Contents
Early life[edit]
Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born on December 4, 1949, in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of show business parents, actor Lloyd Bridges (1913–1998)[1][2] and actress and writer Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson; 1915–2009). His older brother, Beau Bridges, is also an actor. He has a younger sister, Lucinda, and had another brother, Garrett, who died of sudden infant death syndrome in 1948. His maternal grandfather was an English emigrant from Liverpool.[3]
Bridges and his siblings were raised in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles.[4] Growing up, Bridges shared a close relationship with his brother Beau, who acted as a surrogate father when their father was working.[5] He graduated from University High School in 1967. At age 17, Jeff toured with his father in a stage production of Anniversary Waltz. After graduating from high school, Bridges moved to New York City, where he studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio. Also, after turning 18, Bridges joined the United States Coast Guard Reserve, where he served for seven years.[6]
Career[edit]
Film[edit]
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170204214612im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Jeff_bridges_0001.jpg/220px-Jeff_bridges_0001.jpg)
Bridges made his first screen appearance at the age of almost two years in The Company She Keeps in 1951. In his youth, Bridges and brother Beau made occasional appearances on their father's show Sea Hunt (1958–1961) and the CBS anthology series, The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962–1963). In 1969, he played Cal Baker, a Jobs Corps crew member, in the TV series Lassie episode "Success Story". In 1971, he played the lead role Mike in the TV movie In Search of America. His first major role came in the 1971 film The Last Picture Show, for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[7] He co-starred in the 1972 critically acclaimed neo-noir boxing film Fat City, directed by John Huston. He was nominated again for Best Supporting Actor for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.[7] In 1976, he starred as the protagonist Jack Prescott in the first remake of King Kong, opposite Jessica Lange. This film was a commercial success, earning $90 million worldwide, more than triple its $23 million budget, and also winning an Academy Award for special effects.
One of his better-known roles was in the 1982 science fiction film Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer (a role he reprised in late 2010 with the sequel Tron: Legacy). The same year (1982), he also starred in Kiss Me Goodbye, an American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Mulligan that also starred Sally Field. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984, for playing the alien in Starman.[7] He was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds (1984) and the crime drama Jagged Edge (1985). His role in Fearless (1993) is thought by some critics to be one of his best performances.[8] One critic dubbed it a masterpiece;[9] Pauline Kael wrote that he "may be the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived."[10] In 1994, he starred as Lt. Jimmy Dove in the action film Blown Away, opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Forest Whitaker. His real life father Lloyd Bridges also featured in the film, playing the father of Bridges' character. The film managed to recoup $50 million of its $30 million budget at the box office. It was up against another explosive-themed film, Speed, which had been released a few weeks before Bridges' film. On July 11, 1994, Bridges received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture industry at 7065 Hollywood Boulevard.[11][12] In 1998, he starred as what is arguably his most famous role, The Dude, in the Coen brothers' film The Big Lebowski.[7] He has said that he relates to The Dude more than any of his other roles.[citation needed]
In 2000, he received his fourth Academy Award nomination, for his role in The Contender.[7] He also starred in the 2005 Terry Gilliam film Tideland, his second with the director (the first being 1991's The Fisher King). He shaved his trademark[13] mane of hair to play the role of Obadiah Stane in the 2008 Marvel comic book adaptation Iron Man.[14] In July 2008, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, he appeared in a teaser for Tron: Legacy, shot as concept footage for director Joseph Kosinski; this developed into a full 3D feature release in 2010.
Bridges is one of the youngest actors ever to be nominated for an Academy Award (1972, age 22, Best Supporting Actor, The Last Picture Show), and one of the oldest ever to win (2010, age 60, Best Actor, Crazy Heart).[15][16] Crazy Heart also won him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.
Bridges received his sixth Academy Award nomination for his role in True Grit, a collaboration with the Coen brothers in which he starred alongside Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and Hailee Steinfeld. Both the film and Bridges' performance as Rooster Cogburn, were critically praised. Bridges lost to Colin Firth, whom he had beaten for the Oscar in the same category the previous year.
Music[edit]
Referring to his career as an actor and his passion for music, Bridges says, "I dug what an actor did, but it took me a while to feel it, to truly appreciate the craft and the preparation. Plus, I was still playing music a lot, and I guess I had a hard time choosing: was I an actor or a musician, or could I be both?"[17]
Bridges studied piano at a young age, strongly encouraged by his mother.[18] While working on the 1980 film Heaven's Gate, he often played guitar with his co-star, singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson, between takes.[citation needed] His character in Crazy Heart, Bad Blake, was later based partly on Kristofferson. He released his debut album Be Here Soon on January 1, 2000. In 2005, Bridges, known as "The Dude" in the film The Big Lebowski, showed up at a Lebowski Fest in Los Angeles singing and playing the film's theme song written by Bob Dylan, "Man in Me".
On January 15, 2010, Bridges performed the song "I Don't Know" from Crazy Heart on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. In the film The Contender, in which he co-starred, Bridges recorded a version of Johnny Cash's standard "Ring of Fire" with Kim Carnes that played over the pivotal opening credits. In February 2010, he was among the nearly 80 musicians to sing on the charity-single remake of We Are the World.[19] On October 24, 2010, Bridges appeared at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit concert and played a set with singer-songwriter Neko Case.
On April 19, 2011, Country Music Television announced that Bridges had signed a recording contract with Blue Note Records/EMI Music Group. He worked with producer T-Bone Burnett and released his second album, Jeff Bridges, on August 16, 2011.[20] On November 5, 2011, Bridges played Austin City Limits in support of this album.[21]
In 2015, Jeff Bridges released an ambient/spoken-word album entitled Sleeping Tapes.[22] All proceeds from the album go directly to Bridges' charity No Kid Hungry.[23]
Bridges plays many guitars, including the Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentlemen Model G6122-1959.[18]
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170204214612im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Jeff_Bridges_at_TIFF_2009_Premiere.jpg/270px-Jeff_Bridges_at_TIFF_2009_Premiere.jpg)
Other work[edit]
Author[edit]
In 2013, Bridges authored The Dude and the Zen Master with Bernie Glassman.[24] Bridges found himself at a party with Glassman and Ram Dass and their conversation led to discussing the parallels between "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski and Zen Buddhism.[25] The book was formed from what has been described as a "transcript of a five-day “hang” on a Montana ranch."[26]
Photography[edit]
Bridges has been an amateur photographer since high school and began taking photographs on film sets during Starman, at the suggestion of co-star Karen Allen.[27] Since 1980, he began photographing on and off set shots with his favorite camera, a Widelux F8. He published many of these photographs online and published a book in 2003 entitled, Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges.[28][29][30][31]
Narrator[edit]
Bridges narrated the documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002), about the making of a Terry Gilliam retelling of Don Quixote, tentatively titled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which would have starred Johnny Depp as Sancho Panza and Jean Rochefort as the quixotic hero. Bridges had previously appeared in Gilliam's The Fisher King. Bridges also narrated the documentaries National Geographic's Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002, IMAX), Discovery Channel's Raising the Mammoth (2000), and ABC's Heroes of Rock and Roll (1979). He also voiced the character Big Z in the animated picture Surf's Up. He also hosted VH1's Top 100 Greatest Albums of Rock and Roll series in 2001.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170204214612im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Jeff_Bridges_at_the_2010_Independent_Spirit_Awards.jpg/220px-Jeff_Bridges_at_the_2010_Independent_Spirit_Awards.jpg)
Bridges has performed TV commercial voiceover work as well, including Hyundai's 2007 "Think About It" advertising campaign[32] as well as the Duracell advertisements in the "Trusted Everywhere" campaign.[33]
On December 18, 2010, Bridges hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live; he had hosted the show before in 1983 with his brother, Beau. With the December 18, 2010, episode, Bridges beat Sigourney Weaver's record for longest gap between hosting appearances on SNL (Weaver had a 24-year gap between her first time hosting in 1986 and her second time hosting in 2010 while Bridges had a 27-year gap between his first appearance in 1983 and his most recent one, also in 2010).
Personal life[edit]
Bridges married Susan Geston in 1977.[34] They met on the film shoot of Rancho Deluxe, which was filmed on a ranch where Geston was working as a maid.[7][35] They have three daughters: Isabelle Annie (born August 6, 1981), Jessica Lily "Jessie" (born June 14, 1983), Hayley Roselouise (born October 17, 1985),[36] and granddaughter Grace (born March 31, 2011) from Isabelle.
Bridges has studied Buddhism. He meditates for half an hour before beginning work on a film set.[37] He has learned Transcendental Meditation.[38]
Humanitarian efforts[edit]
In 1984, Bridges and other entertainment industry leaders founded the End Hunger Network aimed at encouraging, stimulating and supporting action to end childhood hunger. He supports Ex-President Obama's initiative to End Childhood Hunger by 2015. In November 2010, Bridges became spokesman for the No Kid Hungry campaign of the organization Share our Strength. Its goal is to present and undertake a state-by-state strategy to end childhood hunger in the United States by 2015.[39] Bridges also supports environmental causes and organizations such as the Amazon Conservation Team.[40]
Filmography[edit]
Film[edit]
Year | Title | Role | Note |
---|---|---|---|
1951 | The Company She Keeps | Himself (Infant) | |
1970 | Halls of Anger | Douglas (Doug) | |
1971 | Last Picture Show, TheThe Last Picture Show | Duane Jackson | |
1971 | The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go | Nero Finnighan | |
1972 | Fat City | Ernie Munger | |
1972 | Bad Company | Jake Rumsey | |
1973 | Lolly-Madonna XXX | Zack Feather | |
1973 | Last American Hero, TheThe Last American Hero | Elroy Jackson, Jr. | |
1973 | Iceman Cometh, TheThe Iceman Cometh | Don Parritt | |
1974 | Thunderbolt and Lightfoot | Lightfoot | |
1975 | Rancho Deluxe | Jack McKee | |
1975 | Hearts of the West | Lewis Tater | |
1976 | Stay Hungry | Craig Blake | |
1976 | King Kong | Jack Prescott | |
1978 | Somebody Killed Her Husband | Jerry Green | |
1979 | Winter Kills | Nick Kegan | |
1979 | The American Success Company | Harry Flowers | |
1980 | Heaven's Gate | John L. Bridges | |
1981 | Cutter's Way | Richard Bone | |
1982 | Tron | Kevin Flynn | |
1982 | Kiss Me Goodbye | Dr. Rupert Baines | |
1982 | Last Unicorn, TheThe Last Unicorn | Prince Lír | Voice |
1984 | Against All Odds | Terry Brogan | |
1984 | Starman | Starman/Scott Hayden | |
1985 | Jagged Edge | Jack Forrester | |
1986 | 8 Million Ways to Die | Matthew "Matt" Scudder | |
1986 | Morning After, TheThe Morning After | Turner Kendall | |
1987 | Nadine | Vernon Hightower | |
1988 | Tucker: The Man and His Dream | Preston Tucker | |
1989 | See You in the Morning | Larry Livingstone | |
1989 | Fabulous Baker Boys, TheThe Fabulous Baker Boys | Jack Baker | |
1990 | Texasville | Duane Jackson | |
1991 | Fisher King, TheThe Fisher King | Jack Lucas | |
1992 | American Heart | Jack Kelson | Also producer |
1993 | Vanishing, TheThe Vanishing | Barney Cousins | |
1993 | Fearless | Max Klein | |
1994 | Blown Away | Jimmy Dove/Liam McGivney | |
1995 | Wild Bill | James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok | |
1996 | White Squall | Captain Christopher 'Skipper' Sheldon | |
1996 | Mirror Has Two Faces, TheThe Mirror Has Two Faces | Gregory Larkin | |
1998 | Big Lebowski, TheThe Big Lebowski | Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski | |
1999 | Arlington Road | Michael Faraday | |
1999 | Muse, TheThe Muse | Jack Warrick | |
1999 | Simpatico | Lyle Carter | |
2000 | Contender, TheThe Contender | President Jackson Evans | |
2001 | Scenes of the Crime | Jimmy Berg | |
2001 | K-PAX | Dr. Mark Powell | |
2002 | Lost in La Mancha | Narrator | Documentary |
2003 | Masked and Anonymous | Tom Friend | |
2003 | Seabiscuit | Charles S. Howard | |
2004 | Door in the Floor, TheThe Door in the Floor | Ted Cole | |
2005 | Amateurs, TheThe Amateurs | Andy | |
2005 | Tideland | Noah | |
2006 | Stick It | Burt Vickerman | |
2007 | Surf's Up | Ezekiel 'Big Z' Topanga/Zeek | Voice |
2008 | Iron Man | Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger | |
2008 | How to Lose Friends & Alienate People | Clayton Harding | |
2009 | Open Road, TheThe Open Road | Kyle | |
2009 | Crazy Heart | Otis "Bad" Blake | |
2009 | Men Who Stare at Goats, TheThe Men Who Stare at Goats | Bill Django | |
2010 | Tron: Legacy | Kevin Flynn/Clu 2 | |
2010 | True Grit | Rooster Cogburn | |
2012 | A Place at the Table | Narrator | Documentary |
2013 | R.I.P.D. | Roy Pulsipher | |
2013 | Pablo | Narrator/Professor | |
2014 | The Giver | The Giver | Also producer |
2014 | Seventh Son | Master Gregory | |
2015 | The Little Prince | The Aviator | Voice |
2016 | Hell or High Water | Marcus Hamilton | |
2017 | Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Filming | |
2017 | Granite Mountain | Filming |
Television[edit]
Year | Title | Role | Note |
---|---|---|---|
1958–1960 | Sea Hunt | Davey Crane/Jimmy/Boy/Kelly Bailey | 4 episodes |
1962–1963 | The Lloyd Bridges Show | Various | 3 episodes |
1965 | The Loner | Bud Windom | Episode: "The Ordeal of Bud Windom" |
1969 | The F.B.I. | Terry Shelton | Episode: "Boomerang" |
1969 | Lassie | Cal Baker | Episode: "Success Story" |
1969 | Silent Night, Lonely Night | John Young | Television film |
1970 | The Don Knotts Show | Himself | 1 episode |
1970 | The Most Deadly Game | Hawk | Episode: "Nightbirds" |
1971 | In Search of America | Mike Olson | Television film |
1981 | Great Performances | Michael Loomis | Episode: "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses and Other Stories" |
1983 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Claude / Prince | Episode: "Rapunzel" |
1983 | Saturday Night Live | Himself (host) | Episode: "Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges/Randy Newman" |
1996 | Hidden in America | Vincent | Television film; also executive producer |
2008 | Dog Year, AA Dog Year | Jon Katz | Television film |
2011 | Saturday Night Live | Himself (host) | Episode: "Jeff Bridges/Eminem and Lil Wayne" |
Discography[edit]
Studio albums[edit]
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Country [41] |
US [41] |
US Folk [42] |
US Rock [42] |
||||||
Be Here Soon |
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– | – | – | – | ||||
Jeff Bridges |
|
10 | 25 | 2 | 5 | ||||
Sleeping Tapes |
|
– | – | – | – | ||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Singles[edit]
Year | Single | Album |
---|---|---|
2011 | "What a Little Bit of Love Can Do" | Jeff Bridges |
Music videos[edit]
Year | Title | Director |
---|---|---|
2011 | "What a Little Bit of Love Can Do"[43] | Alan Kozlowski |
See also[edit]
- List of awards and nominations received by Jeff Bridges
- List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees
References[edit]
- ^ "Actress Dorothy Bridges dies, Mother of Beau and Jeff Bridges was 93". Variety Magazine. February 20, 2009. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges Biography (1949–)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
- ^ http://www.suerussellwrites.com/bridges.html
- ^ McLellan, Dennis (February 21, 2009). "Dorothy Bridges dies at 93; 'the hub' of an acting family". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges is still the Dude".
- ^ "Jeff Bridges Biography". thespiannet. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2003
- ^ "100 Essential Male Film Performances: Part 4 – From the Page to the Screen".
- ^ "Fearless — A movie masterpiece about transcendence".
- ^ Philip French (August 6, 2006). "Here's looking back at you". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges | Hollywood Walk of Fame". www.walkoffame.com. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges". latimes.com. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
- ^ Kepnes, E! Online. "Jeff Bridges Shaves Head, Talks Iron Man". E! Online. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
- ^ "Iron Man — Official Site".
- ^ Sheridan, Emily (March 8, 2010). "Fifth time lucky Oscar winner Jeff Bridges pays tribute to his 'gorgeous wife of 33 years' at Governors Ball". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
- ^ Bridges, Jeff (guest) (24 June 2004). "'The Door in the Floor': Actor Jeff Bridges". USA Today. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
- ^ Guitar Aficionado Magazine – Spring 2010
- ^ a b Gretsch Guitars: Jeff Bridges. YouTube. 20 July 2011.
- ^ "'We Are The World – 25 For Haiti' Artists Include Kanye West, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber".
- ^ "CMT : News : Jeff Bridges signs to Blue Note Records". Country Music Television. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
- ^ "Video: Miranda Lambert / Jeff Bridges Watch Austin City Limits Online PBS Video". Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges-Sleeping tapes". www.dreamingwithjeff.com. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges Lulls Listeners to Bed With New Album 'Sleeping Tapes'". Rolling Stone. January 28, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges On Zen Buddhism And 'The Big Lebowski'". On Point. January 8, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges On The Zen Message In 'The Big Lebowski'". The Huffington Post. February 2, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ Oppenheimer, Mark (January 6, 2013). "If Lebowski Calls, Will You Be in? Or Out Bowling?". The New York Times. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
- ^ "Photography". JeffBridges.com. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ powerHouse Books, 2003, ISBN 1-57687-177-0; Library of Congress control number: 2003046711
- ^ "Library of Congress Online Catalogs".
- ^ "pictures".
- ^ "Pictures: Jeff Bridges" by Jeff Bridges. Published 2003.
- ^ "Oscars: Hyundai debuts clever Academy Awards ad with Jeff Bridges' actor friends". Theweeklydriver.com. March 6, 2010. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ Samaniego, Danielle. "Name That Voice: Ten Celebrity Commercial Voice-Overs". Divinecaroline.com. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ Video on YouTube[dead link]
- ^ "Jeff Bridges: On Marriage". Reader's Digest. February 2006. Retrieved September 9, 2008.
- ^ "Susan Geston and Jeff Bridges Marriage Profile". About.com. Retrieved July 2014. Check date values in:
|access-date=
(help) - ^ Butler, Katy (Fall 2010). "The Natural - How Jeff Bridges works with anxiety and maintaining a joyful mind". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. 20 (1): 54.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges". NNDB. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ^ "Jeff Bridges to Launch Campaign Against Childhood Hunger in National Press Club Address". PRNewswire. November 5, 2010. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
- ^ "Video: Why Does Jeff Bridges Support the Amazon Conservation Team?". Retrieved 27 October 2014.
- ^ a b "Chart News August 24: Country Dominates as Luke Bryan Still Top Dawg". Roughstock. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
- ^ a b "Chart listing for Jeff Bridges". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ "CMT : Videos : Jeff Bridges : What a Little Bit of Love Can Do". Country Music Television. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
External links[edit]
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- 1949 births
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- American Buddhists
- American male singer-songwriters
- American country singers
- American country singer-songwriters
- American male child actors
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- American male voice actors
- American people of English descent
- American people of Irish descent
- American people of Swiss-German descent
- Best Actor Academy Award winners
- Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
- Blue Note Records artists
- Bridges family
- EMI Records artists
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead winners
- Living people
- Male actors from Los Angeles
- Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- Transcendental Meditation practitioners
- United States Coast Guard personnel
- University High School (Los Angeles, California) alumni
- American film producers
- Film producers from California