Meryl at her Most Beautiful

She had nice hair up until the 90s now it’s a mess and she always looks frumpy

yes she looked great in that pic, OP

[quote]She had nice hair up until the 90s now it’s a mess and she always looks frumpy

She's an old woman now. You Americans!

Yes, she'd be more appreciated outside the Anglosphere.

Did you know that John Cazale was the love of her life? He was a great actor, died way too young and broke Meryl's heart. But look at his legacy!! The Godfather movies, Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation. He and Meryl appeared on Broadway in their early years...

[quote]Did you know that John Cazale was the love of her life?

I think she's pretty happy in her marriage somehow.

R2 she’s not too old she just seems to have shunned glamour. I’m happy that she’s natural though..by no means should she go surgical on her face. But a bit of a nice hair do every now and then wouldn’t kill her.

I've always felt she would look better with a nose job

R5 John died YEARS ago, long before she married.

John Cazale died in March 1978 and Meryl married in September of the same year.

She sure rebounded quickly if Cazale was the love of her life.

R9 Yes she did. Happens all the time.

When Cazale died she lost the lease on their apartment. She stayed in an empty friend of a friend's place while he was away. When the friend of the friend came back, she fell for him and they married.

This pic is probably how she looked around the time that Dino De Laurentiis asked his son, "Why did you bring me this ugly thing," when she auditioned for King Kong. The son had seen her on stage and was probably captivated by the whole actress package, and not just her face.

She's ethereal in The Deer Hunter. I don't know what it was, but Cimino brought something out in her that very few directors have been able to. Not to say that Meryl isn't attractive, but she's approaches bombshell territory in some Hunter scenes.

"At her most beautiful" would mean she was beautiful. Not.

The new Bette Davis.

Maybe "beautiful" is a little strong but I think she was fairly attractive in the late 70s.

Woody Allen: "My analyst warned me, but you were so beautiful that I got another analyst."

Yes she was attractive. The OP does not understand the expression, or may actually think Meryl was beautiful.

I love the way Woody cast women like her as his ex-wife. Imagine them as a couple?

She was gorgeous in Manhattan!

To me she is the best example of a unique beauty. One that many wont find beautiful. She wasnt your basic pretty girl. Her look has helped her acting career.

She didn't like working with him.

I think she was beautiful in the ‘70s.

And interesting looking.

She was also in Holocaust remember? Wonderful in that, though she disses it now.

AND in DL fave '70s movie, Julia, of course.

Has that ever happened in real life: a beautiful woman decides to marry an unattractive, neurotic, unemployed Jew just because his musings on life in New York City are so true to life?

We were told Meryl was beautiful, even though back then, I didn’t see it. But now I do. Could Meryl have altered the beauty paradigm?

R24 Meryl is a WASP.

Is washing your hair and brushing it to one side considered styling. She looked really good in The Devil Wears Prada.

[quote]Has that ever happened in real life: a beautiful woman decides to marry an unattractive, neurotic, unemployed Jew

There have been many beautiful shiksa women who have married ugly Jewish men, yes...and strangely the marriages often work.

Beautiful basic bitches don't do particularly well in Hollywood. They can be an old man's girlfriend in an action movie until they get over the hill at 25, they can play femme fatales until maybe 35, and then that's all she wrote. Charlize would be in that category if she didn't go ugly for Monster.

And, to be fair, this often applies to male actors who are excessively handsome, especially if their beauty falls in pretty boy territory. They can play character actors or villains, but rarely leading men.

For excessively beautiful male and female actors, the audience may not take them seriously, may find them threatening, and/or can't relate to them.

Meryl is fortunate she had a more unique look.

M’s of primarily German origin not English, I thought?

The Internet seems to think she’s Jewish.

She did rebound VERY quickly from the loss of John Cazale. She got involved with the sculptor Don Gummer (awful name, isn't it) and boom, she was in love again. They'd known each other only a few months before they got married. Seems that she lost the great love of her life and then immediately found the SECOND great love of her life. Obviously the marriage worked, because they're been together for decades and had four children. I'd say Meryl Streep has been very lucky. Right after losing her Great Love she found another Great Love. I guess after Cazale's death she was ripe for another man. She made the statement that she was "no good at being single."

Oh for fuck's sake, this cunt again?

R32 I know you’re still butt hurt about going down in flames for the 7th time last year Glennie. It’s been about a year now. Time to move on. 😘 kisses.

Perhaps not this particular shot, but definitely somewhere in this scene of "The Hours".

Interview Magazine, 1988.

In the movie Kramer vs Kramer Meryl was BEAUTIFUL. By the mid 1980's her looks were gone. She was average looking. In the forgettable movie Falling In Love, Meryl was MEH but Robert DeNiro was YUM!

In her early years she was beautiful in an unconventional way. But that didn't last long. She's long since stopped being a "beauty." She's pure character actress material now and has been for some time.

She was still a little pretty in “death becomes her” in 1992 then her looks died! To be fair though she was 53 at that point and 53 in Hollywood in the 90s was like 80 today. There weren’t even good non surgical techniques to remain youthful looking.

Unfortunately her hair thinned and the styles that look great on a 30 year old don’t work at 50 or now 70.

She doesn't wear hairpieces, unlike some of her contemporaries. Glenn doesn't either.

....

I love the way she looked in Out Of Africa.

I thought she looked beautiful in "Sophie's Choice."

She turned ugly in the 1980s like most people when she started perming her hair - a look very very few people can pull off (Mary Steenburgen is one of the few who can though she may have naturally curly hair).

In the 1970s she was absolutely gorgeous with that long mane of hair - just stunning as it suited her singular facial features.

Yeah, always thought Meryl looked fantastic in that somewhat thankless role in Manhattan.

Who’s the fairest one...on this magazine cover?

She was plenty beautiful in Plenty.

Still Of The Night (1982).

She-Devil (1989).

That would be in a pine box.

Death Becomes Her (1992).

Defending Your Life.

R45- She was LITERALLY beautiful in that scene/movie.

R48 wow, never seen that movie (it’s supposed to be awful right?) but that’s literally the prettiest I’ve seen her — she looks like a porcelain doll.

And absolutely she WAS beautiful back then.

Still of the Night was a somewhat clunky Hitchcock pastiche, with Meryl as the icy blonde. She did look great in the part though, and it's probably the only time she's come close to playing a femme fatale.

She doesn't like that film/role/performance though...

I wonder why?

I liked her in it.

She's very pretty in the seventies. Exceptionally lovely in the Deer Hunter. Beautiful as Sophie because they gave her hair, different teeth and she had lip injections. After that it all went to her hips and her nose went from aristocratic to witch on a 45 degree angle. Not a fan of her work, but she was pretty. She never looks good glammed up though.

"She never looks good glammed up though."

Wrong.

I didn't know it was her in Bridges of Madison County.

I thought it was an Italian actress.

R46 - I like Tovah's looks the best in that photo.

....

Tovah was very pretty in the Seventies, but by the time she showed up on As the World Turns in 1994 (as Dr. Bethany Rose) she just looked kind of plain. (She and Ben Hendrickson-- Hal Munson-- worked on Romeo and Juliet together in their early stage days, so maybe that's how she wound up on ATWT.)

But then recently she glammed it up on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and looked fabulous again, so...

Thanks for proving my point R59. That's not Meryl, it's Sophie.

Meryl's looks were quirky, but not as quirky as Glenn Close's look. Meryl could still be conventionally pretty. I believe that was the major difference in their careers.

Jessica Lange (another contemporary) was conventionally pretty and not quirky. I read somewhere that Meryl wanted some of the roles that Lange got.

All 3 are good actresses, their looks made a difference in their careers.

Yes, R65. And all of their film careers took off rather late in the game. Lange was a bit more than pretty however. Dreamy.

Is that what you read, R65?

Well, here's what M herself has to say. Fast forward to 4 minutes...

I loved Still of The Night! I was about 12 when I saw it and thought M was absolutely stunning. It was the first thing that saw her in and she had a long monologue at her end that blew me away. I’m not sure why M herself hates this movie...she’s done much, much worse!

P.S. Anyone who thinks Meryl is ugly is nuts. She's always been beautiful with gorgeous bone structure, impeccable skin and dazzling eyes and smile. Never a drinker or a smoker, and not one prone to melancholia, she's managed to preserve herself naturally and looks fantastic.

For me, she's at her most beautiful in The Bridges of Madison County - raw, unadorned, sexy, earthy, still that gorgeous skin and bone structure.

Meryl is unconventionally attractive provided she is sporting a shitty hair-do. Straight hair brings out her beauty the most by far.

I loved her look in devil wears Prada.

Half these posts are by M. Your crooked face, that nose. No, just no.

R63 Oh I love Tovah and I think she is still very beautiful. She was wonderful in A Walk On The Moon and this scene in particular.