Meryl & Her Leading Men

From Dustin Hoffman to Jack Nicholson, the legendary actress worked with some greats – and not always happily . . .

A young actress auditions for the 1976 remake of the iconic movie King Kong. Virtually unknown outside New York theatre circles, she has zero experience working in film. But although people who’ve witnessed her extraordinary performances onstage can vouch for her talent all producer Dino De Laurentiis sees is her face.

“This is so ugly. Why do you bring me this?” he complains in Italian to his son, Federico.

The name of the actress: Meryl Streep. And, unfortunately for De Laurentiis, she studied Italian at Vassar College and understands what he’s saying.

“I’m very sorry that I’m not as beautiful as I should be but, you know, this is it. This is what you get,” she retorts in his native tongue, showing herself the door.

De Laurentiis was hardly the last critic to underestimate Meryl. Through ups, downs, more than 60 feature films, dozens of accents, one husband, and four children, the icon has defied ageism to become the most celebrated actress of the past four decades and counting.

She immerses herself in each role, from learning Polish for Sophie’s Choice (1982) to bringing beloved American chef Julia Child back to joyous life in Julie & Julia (2009), and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2011).

Remarkably, her box-office clout has grown with age. The Devil Wears Prada (2006) earned $326 million (then about R2,2 billion) worldwide. Her wildly popular Mamma Mia! movies nearly tripled that. The irony, of course, is that Meryl risked a lot by refusing to compromise her artistic ideals, and now – at 70 – she’s as bankable as Jennifer Lawrence (29).

We revisit some of her iconic roles.

THE DEER HUNTER (1978)