Legends- Michelle Pfeiffer

     With the recent releases of three new films, "New Year's Eve", "Dark Shadows", and "People Like Us", it seems like the right time to talk about my favorite actress. Why Michelle Pfeiffer, you ask? She's the best actress to never win an Academy Award, but her list of credits is more impressive than most of the women that have the gold statue. She's led a remarkably low-key personal life devoid of tabloid scandal and controversy- a real rarity these days. She shared the screen with almost every major male actor for two decades and didn't get overshadowed by any of them. She's without question one of the great beauties in all of cinema and at age 54, still looks amazing with no obvious signs of plastic surgery. Her fabled beauty isn't even a matter of opinion. It's backed by scientific fact. A study in 2001 determined that Pfeiffer had the exact facial proportions for feminine beauty based on the ratio of her mouth to the width of her nose. I'm not trying to make any females out there feel bad about themselves, but this woman is as close to perfect as it gets.


    Born and raised in a middle class family in Southern California, she stumbled onto acting after winning an Orange County beauty pageant and after appearing in a string of forgettable movies and TV shows, her big break came when she was cast as one of the leads in "Grease 2", the sequel to the 1978 smash hit musical. Lightning didn't strike twice however, and although it has something of a cult following now, "Grease 2" was a critical and commercial disaster upon it's release in 1982 and could have killed her career before it even got started. Fortunately, Al Pacino and Brian De Palma gave her a huge second chance to make a first impression. To say that "Scarface" was a popular and successful film would be a massive understatement and Pfeiffer's role as Tony Montana's icy, coke-snorting object of desire brought her widespread recognition. How many 24 year olds with only bad movies and TV on their resume could hold their own with a heavyweight like Pacino who was already a legend by this point? She wisely followed "Scarface" with the comic thriller "Into the Night" as a gorgeous jewel thief that shows Jeff Goldblum's sad sack insomniac the time of his life. Her stock continued to rise with Richard Donner's "Ladyhawke" and the supernatural comedy hit "The Witches of Eastwood" in which she co-starred with Jack Nicholson, Cher and Susan Sarandon.


    She truly arrived as a superstar in her own right in 1988 with the release of three films that were well received by critics and audiences. She was delightful as brassy mob widow Angela DeMarco in the quirky comedy "Married to the Mob" and she struck sparks with Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell in the slick crime drama "Tequila Sunrise". She completed this trifecta of wildly different roles with her Oscar nominated performance as the demure Madam De Tourvel in the superb "Dangerous Liaisons". Many feel her single greatest moment in film came the following year when she sat atop a piano in a red dress in the role of slinky nightclub singer Susie Diamond and stole "The Fabulous Baker Boys" right out from under Jeff and Beau Bridges en route to a second Oscar nomination. As the decade drew to a close, Pfeiffer was arguably the hottest actress in the world until Julia Roberts showed Richard Gere her horse grin in 1990(nothing against Roberts, I like her but this is Michelle Pfeiffer's blog). With every script in town coming her way, it's worth noting that she turned down "Silence of the Lambs", "Thelma and Louise", and "Basic Instinct"- all films that made the careers of the actresses that did them. Instead she gravitated toward projects with less commercial appeal that allowed her to stretch as an actress like "The Russia House" with Sean Connery and the romantic drama "Frankie and Johnny" which reunited her with Pacino.


    In 1992, she nabbed the role that perhaps she is best known for in Tim Burton's blockbusting sequel "Batman Returns". Her instantly iconic turn as Catwoman/Selina Kyle forever earned her the love and appreciation of hormonal fan-boys everywhere. That same year she starred in "Love Field", a quiet drama that dealt with the aftermath of the JFK assassination which earned her a third Oscar nod. She carried on a forbidden love affair with Daniel Day-Lewis in Martin Scorsese's prestigious 1993 period piece "The Age of Innocence" and 1994's underrated "Wolf" brought her and Nicholson together again. "Dangerous Minds" and "Up Close and Personal" were star vehicles that did respectable business thanks to her good standing with moviegoers. But as the '90s wore on, some of her choices were disappointing. There's not much to say about "One Fine Day", "The Deep End of the Ocean", and "The Story of Us". She bounced back alongside Harrison Ford in the Robert Zemeckis mystery thriller "What Lies Beneath", a big box office hit in the summer of 2000. She provided strong support to Sean Penn in 2001's "I Am Sam" and got good reviews for her role as an imprisoned mother in 2002's "White Oleander". Her career was definitely on an upswing when she took a self-imposed hiatus that lasted nearly five years.

   She came back in 2007 but found it difficult to return to the position she once enjoyed in the industry. "Hairspray" was a hit, "Stardust" was not. Both were supporting roles. After suffering the indignity of having two films go straight to DVD and the failure of 2009's "Cheri", she took another long break. It's a shame Hollywood is so hard on older actresses not named Meryl Streep because Pfeiffer could still have much to offer. Her new movies may not amount to a full fledged comeback but she has no plans to retire. Unlike most of the leading ladies from her era, she's still in the game, and there's hope for one last great role. If not, we'll always have Susie Diamond.






*Updated Nov 2017
"The Wizard of Lies" was Michelle's best work in at least a decade, and Darren Aronofsky's criminally overlooked "Mother!" is destined to be a cult flick.  She's in the "Ant-Man" sequel next. It's a good time to be a pfan.