Kathleen Turner

Before and after.

She ain't romancing the stone no more!

OP, let’s see photos of you now and 35 years ago.

Hasn't she been taking some pretty hardcore medication for rheumatoid arthritis?

To answer your question -- when she played Chandler Bing's father on Friends.

She looks like someone on corticosteroids.

I think you're right, r4.

[quote] She ain't romancing the stone no more!

i think staring at her can turn you into stone!

If they were to ever do a reboot of the Golden Girls (heaven forbid), I think she'd make a decent Dorothy Zbornak.

Loved her in Serial Mom.

She has some movie coming out, about a wedding and she's one of the mothers-in-law. She looks like she is huge as a house.

Kathleen needs to do more theatre, where her physical attributes--her height and figure, her marvelously low, resonant voice, and her (large!) expressive face serve her well.

I saw her a few years back in a Charles Ludlam play and she was funny and terrific and winning. She's always been an underappreciated comic actor, if only because she's been associated with some truly awful projects.

And no, she'll never look like her 25-year-old self again, and I suspect she's really okay with that.

My cousin's niece used to be playmates with Kathleen's daughter. When Kathleen called to set up play date, my cousin's niece answered the call and said, "Uncle Paul , is that you?"

lol, R13.

Menopause, it happens to most women.

I love her - War of the Roses was awesome.

Let's make fun of people on medication for chronic illness.

It's not menopause, you jerk (r15). The poster(s) upthread who said she's on heavy doses of corticosteroids were correct. She's had this condition for years, and I'm sure it doesn't make her happy.

She's fabulous

I love her too and was lucky enough to see her as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

She looks like she ate a chocolate covered Buick.

And who could forget this?

[quote] Kathleen needs to do more theatre, where her physical attributes--her height and figure, her marvelously low, resonant voice, and her (large!) expressive face serve her well

She was good in VIRGINIA WOOLF but the last play she did was a bomb called HIGH where she played a tough-love nun, who in one scene wrestles a naked Evan Jonigkeit.

It closed after 7 performances

Kathleen should have won the Oscar for Serial Mom.

R13 show your niece who framed roger rabbit and let her know "uncle paul" does the voice of Jessica rabbit. It's so sad, not only was she hot as fuck but her voice was considered the epitome of sexy back in the day.

I often thought there was something Anne Baxterish about her.

More Ted Baxterish.

She looka like a man.

She's always had a deep voice. Perhaps she was a man the hole (no not that one) time.

Not just a great actress but a great Movie Star. Kathleen was a kick. And so fucking brave in "Crimes of Passion".

You bitches are going to drive me to use the Brown Word.

I always heard she had some kind of disease and the medication she took for it made her blow up. Anyway, she should play Melissa McCarthy's mother in a movie. They look very much alike.

"At what point did she start turning into a man?"

When she went to Helena Handbasket.

She's a big drinker. I read her bio. She recounts it got so bad she was passing out in the ladies' room at Joe Allen's in between shows of The Graduate. Her husband had enough and left her. At the time of the book at least she admits to still drinking.

Kathleen as sexy/dangerous Matty Walker - Spectacular!

Love her, China Blue in 'Crimes of Passion' was breathtaking.

Wasn't she rude to Anthony Perkins during the making of Crimes of Passion? Also, isn't it true that she arrogantly claimed that she was going to portray Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? "the right way"?

Perkins was in a fucked up place, well, most of his life but definitely on Crimes of Passion'. HA Her Martha was apparently great, and ya gotta love her moxy

She was known to be sort of arrogant. I remember she caused a bit of a fuss when after seeing Natasha Richardson play Anna Christie on Broadway she said something like this was the first time I ever saw a performance where I didn't think I could do it better.

R38: Anthony Perkins was acting before Kathleen Turner was even born.

R40 Acting being straight? He badly failed the miserable wretch

I never knew Michael Douglas had to sue her to get her to do the Romancing the Stone sequel she had signed onto.

Body Heat was a fantastic movie and she was great in it.

R37, if memory serves, she even called the 1966 Woolf "that horrible movie."

Ooof, HIGH, r23.

I saw it in its out of town tryout, when Michael Berresse was still in it. He played a priest, of all things, and left the production before it hit Broadway. Smart move. It was one of the worst plays I've ever seen,. How Matthew Lombardo got it to Broadway is a mystery.. HIGH was so heavily papered that at one point, the average ticket price was $17. I took a comp out of curiousity, to see what improvements had been made, only to find out it was far worse, a melodramatic mess. All the priest's best lines had been stripped from him and given to Turner's nun. It became the Kathleen Turner Show with Two Guys, one of whom stripped naked and chased her around for no apparent reason,

Gah,. Bad theater.

She was the last "noir" star...

R45 Jealous as fuck. R46 Perfectly put x

Thanks for sharing, R45.

She was a heavy drinker, if not alcoholic, for decades. That didn't help her looks, either.

But I liked her in most of her movies before all that caught up with her.

It's like she and Micky Rourke morphed into the same person.

VI Warshawski. She got her nose broken while she made that and they botched fixing it - it never looked the same afterward - just the wide , flat way it is now. And she had already started the weight gain by then.

A month or so ago, I saw her ‘Finding my voice’ solo show in London: she told stories from her life and sang some songs in English and Spanish. It was very entertaining, funny, and quite moving. Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys was sitting behind me, enjoying her humor and diva-ness. The audience was full of eldergays and elderfraus. Anyone else who saw the show?

R50 lol. Alcohol, chronic illness requiring steroids (not all people become blimps you know), and I suspect just a certain amount of no discipline. I like her work past and present even if her manner of speaking is affected.

R41: No, I was referring to professional acting.

R44: Hilarious! It was a brilliant movie in every way in my opinion. I'm curious why she would feel that way.

Body Heat the sweatiest movie ever made. She was great in it.

R56: Is it pornographic? With that title, I'd imagine it has its share.

I knew the writer/producer on "Crimes..." and Kathleen didn't like him, mostly because he wanted her to play the sweet scene with the dying old man topless. She refused, they battled over it, she won. But I think she got along with Perkins okay. She (and others) were disappointed that the leading man was an unknown; they all wanted and went after Jeff Bridges first.

But no horror stories like she felt opposite Nick Cage later.

(Imagine a major mainstream American star doing scenes like THIS now. And the S&M leather scene with the handcuffed cop where she actually penetrates him with his nightstick. She took risks big time and still worked for Disney. These days... probably not).

Kathleen cannot be too happy with this thread!

R60 Some Gin and Pound Cake will turn her frown upside down!.

[quote]Hasn't she been taking some pretty hardcore medication for rheumatoid arthritis?

That sure doesn't explain what happened to her nose! She had very nice nose.

Was she a cocaine addict, she has the deformed nose of a former coke abuser.

I don't buy the broken nose story, she sure had enough money to have gotten a botched nose job fixed.

She was my idol -

Kathy, call me -

She's in her 60s, she looks like most women her age.

[quote]R62 That sure doesn't explain what happened to her nose! She had very nice nose.

Some stars photograph a little differently than they actual are in person.

In Julia Philips book, she talks about meeting Turner to discuss a project, and says "Her features are more pug-like than they appear onscreen."

And that was the 80s (I think)

R65 You get a reach around handsome

Send Yourself Roses.

Turner always had a puggy nose. It was the feature that kept her from being a true beauty. She was sexy looking and had a great body for a very brief period of time.

Fun Fact: It was so cold when they made Body Heat (in Florida) that Turner and Hurt had to suck on ice cubes before each take so their breath wouldn't show through all their heavy "sweaty" makeout scenes.

Come for the Kathleen Turner impression but stay for the Drew Barrymore!

She reminded me of Kim Novak, but who could act.

[quote]She's in her 60s, she looks like most women her age.

Not true at all. It also depends where you live, most women in their 50s-60s in NYC and LA, don't look like typical bloated overweight women who live in the Mid-West. The average womens size in the Mid-West is 16-18, not in NYC and LA.

R12 - are you referring to the Charles Busch play she was off-Broadway in 2009 called The Third Story?

She’s a cunt.

“She’s a powerhouse!”

[quote] I remember she caused a bit of a fuss when after seeing Natasha Richardson play Anna Christie on Broadway she said something like "this was the first time I ever saw a performance where I didn't think I could do it better."

I can't express how much I adore this. I'm gonna write it down and tack it to my wall.

I see that as a backhanded compliment because it's all about Kathleen and not about Natasha. She could have just said you were wonderful and left it at that.

Rheumatoid arthritis. It's a very serious disease and is typically treated with steroids, which will make you blow up.

When she came out and publicly said she had the disease (at least 10 years after it broke out), she also said that she had for years been pretending to be a drunk to cover up the truth, because she could get insured for a movie role if they thought she was an alcoholic, but not if they knew she had a serious, progressive illness. Not saying she didn't drink, but that wasn't her main problem or the reason she became a blimp.

The thing about the insurance is interesting, and would explain why someone like Depp can still get roles (and insurance cover), which I never understood.

R74 - The fact that she has gone through so much personal shit and can still play around, talk shop, and be "an actor" is nice to see, actually. I love seeing that kind of power/ability come out of people whom you might not initially find attractive or interesting. It kinda makes you fall in love with them a little bit.

She's got the chops regardless of how she looks, and that's what an actor needs. Just use what you've got and make it real. She was so funny as Chandler's trans dad. Kathleen was in on the joke that she looked pretty mannish IRL and she ran with it.

I love her, she was gloriously vain and beautiful, outspoken and singular. Brave and gutsy actress who found her way through what would destroy most others, if she had only been vain and beautiful. Ah, but she had deep talent and nerve and curiosity and willpower too. Enough belief in self to show all she had to offer. Not an easy woman, why should she be?

Then there's this notorious misogynist ASSHOLE.

If she can do a decent English accent, OP’s photo makes me think she should be cast to play Ned Stark’s sister.

Men

opause

Burt said that because she was horrible to him on Switching Channels.

She wanted Michael Caine.

She writes on her memoir, Send Yourself Roses, that on his first day Burt told her he had never taken second billing to a woman. She says that made her go crying into her dressing room, though her emotions may have been heightened as she was pregnant at the time. Kathleen felt Burt was being nasty and she claimed she turned into a puddle if somebody yelled at her, though she doesn't say Burt yelled his statement at her. Kathleen went back and every day she claimed Burt had nasty little digs, and he also made fun of her using a golf cart to get around in because of her pregnancy. Kathleen writes she and Burt became sworn enemies, and later he commented that the sound of her name made him want to vomit. Kathleen says she never bad-mouthed him but he said every day she had tried to get him fired.

Lawrence Kasdan should reunite Turner and Hurt for another film. Make it a trilogy.

Yes, they could call it Body Bag.

Why, why, why did Kathy stupidly decide to turn her exquisite natural nose into a 'Teddy Bear Nose'?

Juror number 9 is wearing white shoes after Labor Day!

Probably, OP, at about the time you started turning into a woman.

Daughter at 2:43.

I always thought this was a great cover...

She was gorgeous in her prime.

R91 even then she was the queen of curves. She was always a big boned woman.

I want to know who high society’s new guru is.

Young Kathleen at 04:40 mark

Trivia: The actress with her also plays the woman killed right at the beginning of [italic]The Eyes of Laura Mars.

She was very dismissive of her soap days.

Funny, she uses all her usual tricks in that soap clip. It's like "How did a movie star get on this set?" Not since Joan Crawford....

She looks rough.

She really does look divine in that soap opera scene. Her hair's glorious.

[italic]"You know, Mona, I didn't sleep well last night, and you keep pushing orange juice on me when I've told you it makes my teeth hurt, and now you're asking me to do mathamatics...I'm sorry, I'm getting a headache!"

My favorite KT role of all time.

R95, for a brief time in the 70s she worked at a bar/restaurant on the UWS called Hanratty's. I hung out there. I think this was just about the time she was in the soap. Just a couple years later, there she was in Body Heat, up on the big screen.

I loved that movie, R99. And Kathleen was great in it.

AND R23, she has facelift ears.

I saw her in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She was pretty good. At one point, the Houseboy was speaking and a mobile phone went off. He rocked back and forth, waiting for the ringing to stop, then restarted at the beginning of his monologue. The best actors make it look easy, so this was an interesting reminder that it is not easy.

Her cabaret show in London was awesome. Her pal Dame Maggie Smith was at the final performance.

I miss Kat

I loved her in NAKED IN NEW YORK.

Her and Ralph Macchio were the only good performances in it, and both as weepy horny drunken hot messes.

Need to see it. Somehow it was never on my radar and it looks like it was from her hottest "War of the Roses" period. Weird how that happens.

(Ordered it cheap off ebay for $9.99. Thanks for the tip. It looks very Noah Baumbach '90s but I like that era).

Kat had lots of health issues

R106 I wanted to fuck Macchio as he looked in 'Naked in New York', all skinny and arty-preppy and flouncing around with wine coolers in his hipster slacks. He played a remarkably subtle gay man. I believed he wanted Stoltz to split him in half and yet from his performance there was not a limp wrist to be had (although I do remember a few flamboyant hair tosses and queeny eyerolls).

Turner was fantastic in the little-seen kids' movie A SIMPLE WISH, with a post-MATILDA Mara Wilson.

She was a pure campy feast, and practically glowed as the vain & beautiful evil sorceress. She had excellent chemistry playing off Martin Short's dry quips and gave the whole production a sparkle.

Anyone see that off. Broadway thing she did at new world stages? She played the mother of a transitioning girl.

She always looked mannish to me

Pussy willows!

I give her a pass because of her health issues and because RTS is one of my favorite movies...

OP, where is Kathleen Turner and why are you linking to a photo of John Goodman in a wig?

Oddly enough, I love her in everything EXCEPT her biggest hit -- "Romancing the Stone" and its sequel. By the book bad '80s filmmaking. I loved her whole New York outsider checking in to Hollywood from time to time persona. And that she hated bimbos and their voices.

Serial Mom and Peggy Sue Got Married are my all time favorites!

She was fantastic recently as Hugh Dancy's alcoholic mother on The Path. I didn't realise she was drawing from real life.

She looks like she is turning into Anne Ramsey. This is not an insult toward her, or to Anne Ramsey. It just means that Kathleen Turner will probably not be doing anymore leading roles, and will now be doing more character roles. I actually admire her for making that transition and continuing to do what she is great at. She shouldn't have to go get a bunch of plastic surgery so she can "play younger," nor should she have to shut herself away like she's kind of diva Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich who doesn't want her public to see her age. Age out in the open with pride! We need to see more of that.

my friend hated her as Martha in the Virginia Woolf revival. In fact, he thought the whole enterprise was lackluster and that the cast of the movie was much better.

The worst night I ever spent in the theatre was the sitcom-y tour of "...Virginia Woolf" with Glenda Jackson, John Lithgow, Cynthia Nixon and Brian Kerwin. I could not wait to see it and that cast. Ended up leaving at intermission. What an abortion.

Turner was an amazing Martha. Taylor could never do what Kathleen Turner did.

Hot off the acclaimed “Marilyn” TV movie, Catherine Hicks was offered the role of Matty in “Body Heat”, but turned it down, saying she didn’t want to be typecast in sex symbol roles. Hicks later admitted that she was daunted by the nudity and graciously added that she couldn’t have played the role as well as Turner did. (Turner would probably agree!) Interestingly, they later co-starred in “Peggy Sue Got Married”.

I always thought the casting of Turner and Alicia Silverstone as mother and daughter in Broadway’s “The Graduate” was inspired.

Leave her alone. She has an illness.

And a legacy. She'll be remembered as one of the greats for a certain generation. Our Gene Tierney.

Add me to the list of people who love that she's owning the fact that she's not a size 2 anymore. Same with Candice Bergen. They still seem comfortable in their own skin and are capable of giving wonderful performances.

Her work in Serial Mom is some of the funniest shit I've ever seen. She really does have great comic timing. I've always admired the risks she took (even when she was the hot young flavor of the month.) Can you imagine Emma Stone or Jennifer Lawrence doing something like Crimes of Passion? She deserves props just for that.

R119 she was so great in The Path. It was such a small role but I really hated/pitied/feared her. The Path also had the creepiest turn from Melanie Griffith where she basically played a fictional version of her mother Tippi.

Whwn she ws China Blue, China Blue, when Kathleen Turner was China Blue.

She was fantastic in the play Mother Courage, one of the greatest plays. "Why wouldn't plain, ordinary soldiers do?"

r123, for one thing Liz did the "What a dump" line much better than Kathleen.

How was her Tallulah?

Forgive me if this has already been said, but she had one of the most spectacular movie debuts in history with Body Heat. That was a hell of a way to start a film career.

Except that it was a bomb on initial release.

Body Heat was a critical and commercial hit upon release.

The War of the Roses is one of those movies I'll sit and watch when I come across it flipping channels, but I think her best work was Peggy Sue Got Married. Maybe its the nostalgic material but she seemed to embody a 17 year old in that performance, not from a looks perspective (because I assume we're seeing what she is seeing, herself approaching 40) but she actually ACTED like a 17 year old: impulsive, unsure, and not quite in control of your body yet because its still growing. It was a remarkable movie.

Yes, Peggy Sue Got Married was a great movie. Even Nicholas Cage couldn't ruin it.

She deserved the Oscar for “Peggy Sue Got Married” — an outstanding performance.

She was a hard drinker and smoker before starting RA meds. Auto immune disease treatment absolutely RUIN a person’s looks. She was so gorgeous and sexy at her peak. I am glad to see she still gets work. She doesn’t look like an alien with horrible plastic surgery and embraces who she is and still is in the public eye. And that public eye is so hard on beautiful people in general when they age, gain weight, and/or have health problems.

Peggy Sue- Jay Weiss-Mumps-Lisa Jane Persky-do tell.Terrill (hush, hush)

Kathleen herself has said she had to go back to soap work after "Body Heat" (or maybe waitressing) because it didn't really launch her. That may just be her being modest but modesty was not her usual tone. She didn't work again until the Steve Martin movie, I think. But 1984 changed everything.

R110 Stoltz let Macchio down in their love scene. He kept smirking and even flinched as if offended when Ralph merely went to nuzzle him. It was meant to be a moment of rebuff, but not played that way.