UdeMan: Jeff Bridges

I'm rooting for him to win Best Actor for his role as Bad Blake in "Crazy Heart", even though the Oscars are hype and mirrors, and that Golden Globe win was sweet enough.

Just like nominee Christopher Plummer, recognition for Bridges is long overdue.


Jeff Bridges has been one of my favourite
sc
reen actors since he was the vulnerable boy discovering life in "The Last Picture Show" in 1971. He was twenty-one.

To create the lead character in "Starman" in '84, Bridges took what he called "grace training", dance and t'ai chi, and this enhanced fluidity stayed with him.

Suave and lost in "The Fabulous Baker Boys", stoned and stolid as The Great Lebowski: Bridges will dazzle with his considerable glamour or submerge it completely to become the guy you'd walk by in the parking lot.

He said, "Most cynics are really crushed romantics: they've been hurt, they're sensitive, and their cynicism is a shell that's protecting this tiny, dear part in them that's still alive."

A Jeff Bridges performance is like listening to jazz. You think you hear the beat, then think the player is off, then
realize
he is on and you're off. In "Crazy Heart" he's a master soloist, lifting a clichéd story with his risks and riffs.

Shown above, Bridges at the "Crazy Heart" premiere with his wife of 33 years, Susan Geston.

In 2006 Bridges said, "In the 28 years we've been married, we've done 50 movies together. I say 'we' because Sue deserves a credit too. I'm the guy who makes the buck, but she's the one who takes care of everything else. I really am more in love with her than ever."


Comments

Anonymous said…
I think he is lovely. He is good in everything he does - I really enjoyed his performance in the Men Who Stare At Goats recently. It's also nice to see someone in Hollywood who can stick at a marriage and not have serial relationships with their co-stars.
LPC said…
Aw:). They were really a family, I always thought, the Bridges.
Belle de Ville said…
Yes Duchesse, he does deserve to win!
How unusual for any man, not just an actor, to say those lovely things about his long standging wife.
materfamilias said…
Oh, yes! Hedeman indeed!
diverchic said…
I have adored him ever since Starman. That 'birth' scene was one of the most exciting pieces of film I have ever seen. He was gorgeous! I am delighted to see that he is uxorious also.
Susan B said…
Love. Him. He is still hunky after all these years, and a graceful and nuanced performer. My first "OMG he's GORGEOUS" experience was watching him in a little seen movie about stock car racers, "The Last American Hero." There's a scene where the camera stays in tight as he slowly breaks into a smile that just about made me swoon.
Mardel said…
Agreed on all counts. Hope he does win; he certainly deserves it.
Tiffany said…
Oh, I LOVE him. Gorgeous gorgeous.
Glennis said…
Sigh. Loved him since Starman.
mette said…
I would award him for his long marriage! I think that everyone, who have managed over 35 years, should be honored with a medal ;)!
Anonymous said…
I liked him in Tron! Plus, he was the voice of Prince Lir in The Last Unicorn.
Kristine said…
I love his quote about cynics, it's often so true. And it's so lovely to see a man still in love with his wife.

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