Jessica Lange

Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange, cover of Town & Country, May 2009
Born	Jessica Phyllis Lange (1949-04-20) April 20, 1949 Cloquet, Minnesota, U.S.
Education	Cloquet High School (1967) University of Minnesota (1967)
Occupation(s)	Actress, Photographer, Producer, Humanitarian
Years active	1976–presenttwo Emmys
Spouse	Francisco Grande (1970–81)
Partner(s)	Mikhail Baryshnikov (1976–82) Sam Shepard (1982–2010)
Children	Aleksandra Baryshnikov (1981) Hannah Jane Shepard (1985) Samuel Walker Shepard (1987)

Jessica Lange (born Jessica Phyllis Lange; April 20, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Oscars, five Golden Globes, two Emmys and one SAG Award, Lange is regarded as one of the most celebrated actresses of the modern era.

Lange was a model for the Wilhelmina modelling agency when she was discovered by producer Dino De Laurentiis. She made her professional film debut in his 1976 remake of the 1933 classic, King Kong. In 1982, she became the first actor in forty years to receive two Oscar nominations within the same year; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a soap opera star in Tootsie and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the troubled actress Frances Farmer in Frances. Lange received three more nominations for Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985) and Music Box (1989) before being nominated a sixth time and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a manic depressive in Blue Sky (1994). She later won her first Emmy for her portrayal of Big Edie in HBO's successful Grey Gardens (2009) and won her first Screen Actors Guild Award along with a second Emmy for her work on FX's smash-hit television series American Horror Story (2011–2012).

In addition to acting, Lange is a photographer with two published works. She has also been a foster parent and currently holds a Goodwill Ambassador position for UNICEF, specializing in HIV/AIDS in the Congo and in Russia.

Lange once admitted to suffering from severe bouts of depression, revealing:

Though my dark side is dormant right now, it continues to play a big role in whatever capacity I have to be creative. That's the well I'm able to tap into where all the anguish, rage and sadness are stored."

Early years and education

Lange was born in Cloquet, Minnesota on April 20, 1949. Her father, Albert John Lange (1913–1989), was a teacher and traveling salesman and her mother, Dorothy Florence (née Sahlman; 1913–1998), was a housewife. She has two older sisters, Ann and Jane, and a younger brother, George. Her patrilineal ancestry originates in Germany and Dutchland, while her matrilineal ancestry originates in Finland and Poland. Due to the nature of her father's professions and to his "extreme personality" and hard-drinking, her family moved often - twelve times before she graduated high school - throughout Minnesota.

In 1967, Lange received an art scholarship to study art and photography at the University of Minnesota, where she formed a relationship with a Spanish photographer by the name of Francisco "Paco" Grande. The two married in 1970, and Lange dropped out of university in favor of a bohemian lifestyle, opting to travel throughout the United States and Mexico in a pick-up truck. She then relocated to Paris, France where she studied mime under the famed instructor, Étienne Decroux, and danced with the Opéra-Comique.

In 1973, Lange returned to New York and began work as a waitress at the Lion's Head Tavern in Greenwich Village. While sharing an apartment with Jerry Hall and Grace Jones in Manhattan, she was discovered by fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez and subsequently became a model for the Wilhelmina modelling agency.

It was at Wilhelmina that Lange was discovered by Hollywood producer Dino De Laurentiis.

Career

1970s

Lange made her professional film debut in 1976's King Kong. Despite being a box office success - it became the fifth highest-grossing movie of 1976 - the film and her performance were widely panned. Nonetheless, renowned film critic for the New Yorker, Pauline Kael praised Lange's "fast, dreamy, comic style," comparing her to Carol Lombard. Lange would later go on to win the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year.

In 1979, Lange was cast as the 'Angel of Death', a part written specifically for her, in Bob Fosse's semi-autobiographical film, All That Jazz. The two were romantically linked until Lange met and became involved with Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, with whom she had her first child. Soon thereafter, she was contacted by Bob Rafelson regarding a project he and Jack Nicholson were working on. After several meetings and auditions, Rafelson would offer Lange the lead role opposite Nicholson in 1981's The Postman Always Rings Twice, a remake of the classic film noir. Although the controversial film received mixed reviews, Lange was widely praised for her performance.

1980s

Lange on the red carpet at the 62nd Annual Academy Awards

In 1982, Lange became the first performer in 40 years to receive two Academy Award nominations in the same year for her performance in Frances, co-starring Kim Stanley, and for her supporting role in Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman. Lange also received two Golden Globe nominations that year for these performances. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Tootsie, which became the second highest-grossing film of 1982 (following Steven Spielberg's E.T.). Her performance also earned her a second Golden Globe in the supporting category, along with awards from the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle. Lange also won Best Actress at the Moscow International Film Festival for her performance in Frances.

Filming Frances was a grueling and emotionally taxing experience for Lange, who has spoken of "going over the edge" during the shoot. However, it was during this time that she and co-star Sam Shepard entered a relationship, and later had a child.

Lange then went on to act in Crimes of the Heart, Far North, and Everybody's All-American. Both starring in and acting as executive producer in 1984's Country, Lange won a third Academy Award nomination and fourth Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. In 1984, she made her television debut as Maggie the Cat, starring opposite Tommy Lee Jones in a CBS Playhouse production of Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The following year she testified before the United States Congress on behalf of the Democratic House Task Force on Agriculture, alongside Jane Fonda and Sissy Spacek. At the close of 1985, she would portray legendary country singer Patsy Cline in Karel Reisz's biopic, Sweet Dreams, opposite Ed Harris, Ann Wedgeworth and John Goodman, for which she was nominated for her fourth Academy Award. In several interviews, Meryl Streep has stated that she "begged" Reisz, who directed her in 1981's The French Lieutenant's Woman, for the role of Cline but that his first choice had always been Lange. Streep has also been quite vocal and adamant in her praise of Lange's performance, calling her "beyond wonderful" in the film and stating:

I couldn't imagine doing it as well or even coming close to what Jessica did because she was so amazing in it.

Lange's films throughout the mid and late 1980s were mostly low profile and underperformed at the box office. In 1989, she starred in Costa-Gavras' Music Box, written by Joe Eszterhas. Lange played a Hungarian lawyer defending her father of Nazi war crimes. Her performance earned her a fifth Academy Award nomination and sixth Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

1990s

Lange's film work during the 1990s became somewhat sporadic due to her taking time off to raise her children and to her increasing interest in stage work. In 1989 she starred in Paul Brickman's Men Don't Leave, and in 1991, Lange was approached to star in a remake of Cape Fear, starring Robert De Niro along with Nick Nolte and Juliette Lewis. In 1992, Lange starred in a television adaptation of Willa Cather's O Pioneers!, receiving her seventh Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Her Broadway debut also occurred that same year as she portrayed Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Alec Baldwin, which earned her mixed reviews.

Tony Richardson's Blue Sky, Lange was lauded for her performance as a manic depressive army wife in the 1960s. She won the 1994 Academy Award for Best Actress, along with the Golden Globe Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award and the Sant Jordi de Cine award for Best Actress. She would follow her victory with further critically lauded performances in 1995's Losing Isaiah, opposite Halle Berry, and Rob Roy, with Liam Neeson. That same year, Lange would reprise her role as Blanche DuBois in a CBS television adaptation "A Streetcar Named Desire", opposite Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane, and John Goodman. This time primarily receiving praise, Lange won her a fourth Golden Globe and her first Emmy nomination for Best Actress.

In 1996, Lange made her London stage debut, starring again as Blanche DuBois. The following year she starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in a film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, A Thousand Acres, which received generally mixed reviews. Lange was nominated for her ninth Golden Globe and won the Venice Film Festival's Schermi d'Amore award. In 1998, she starred opposite Elizabeth Shue in a film adaptation of Balzac's Cousin Bette, for which she would receive strong reviews. That same year Lange also starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the semi cult classic, Hush, which generally received mixed reviews, but was notably praised by Roger Ebert.

The film's most intriguing element is the performance by Jessica Lange, who by not going over the top provides Martha with a little pathos to leaven the psychopathology."

Lange received strong reviews for her performance in Titus, Julie Taymor's 1999 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, opposite Anthony Hopkins and Alan Cumming. Entertainment Weekly film critic, Lisa Schwarzbaum then included Lange in a "for your consideration" article directed at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Jessica Lange already has two Oscars and six nominations to her credit, so her appearance near the words Academy Awards should never be a surprise. But everything about her daring performance in Titus as Tamora, the Queen of the Goths, is an astonishment. Donning breastplates, vowing vengeance, tearing into Shakespeare for the first time as if nothing could be more fun, Lange steals the show — and when the star of the show is Anthony Hopkins, that's grand theft.

Lange at Taormina Film Fest on June 20, 2009 in Italy.

2000s

Lange began the new millennium with a London stage production of Eugene O'Neill's, Long Day's Journey Into Night, playing the part of the heroin-addicted Mary Tyrone, for which she received positive reviews and an Olivier Award nomination.

She appeared mostly in supporting roles after, most notably opposite Christina Ricci in the 2001 adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's best-selling memoir on depression, Prozac Nation. In 2003, Lange starred opposite Tom Wilkinson in HBO's Normal, a film about a man who reveals to his wife his decision to have a sex change. She followed this with performances in the Bob Dylan vehicle, Masked and Anonymous (2003), Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003), Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers (2005) and Wim Wenders' Don't Come Knocking (2005), before starring opposite Christian Slater and Sarah Paulson in a Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie for which she received generally mixed reviews. She later starred with Tammy Blanchard in a remake of Sybil in 2007.

In 2009, Lange co-starred as Big Edie, opposite Drew Barrymore, in HBO's Grey Gardens, directed by Michael Sucsy and based on the 1975 documentary of the same name. The film was a huge success, garnering seventeen Emmy nominations and winning five. Lange won her first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Movie after two previous nominations in the same category. She also received her eleventh Golden Globe nomination and second Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her performance, losing both awards to Barrymore.

2010s

In 2011, Lange joined the cast of FX's horror anthology series American Horror Story. Series co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk originally wrote the part of Constance Langdon as a supporting character, but after Lange acquired the role they expanded it considerably. Murphy, a long-time admirer of Lange, stated that he chose her because he wanted to expose her work to a new generation of viewers. He also cited her performance as Blanche DuBois on Broadway in 1992, which he saw twice, as another motivating factor in hiring Lange, calling it his favorite performance. The show was a huge success not only for the network and creators, but also for Lange, who experienced a resurgence in her popularity, receiving rave reviews and several awards for her controversial role.

Lange was chosen by TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and MTV for giving one of the "best performances of 2011". In addition, she won a second Emmy Award, a fifth Golden Globe Award and her first Screen Actors Guild Award, after two previous nominations. She was also awarded a Special Achievement Satellite Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series by the International Press Academy, a Dorian Award by the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association for Television Performance of the Year, and was further nominated for a Saturn Award, a Television Critics' Association Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Drama and a Critics' Choice Television Award.

2012 proved to be another successful year for Lange, who not only had a supporting role in her Grey Gardens director's box-office hit The Vow (2012), opposite Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, but also returned to star as the lead in the second installment of American Horror Story, titled American Horror Story: Asylum. Once again, with ratings up from the the series' freshman year, the second season was another hit for the network and creators, and also for Lange, who was praised by critics and nominated for several awards.

Lange was chosen by TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly for giving one of the "best performances of 2012". She also received a fourth nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award and a fourteenth nomination for a Golden Globe Award.

In addition, Lange replaced Glenn Close in a film adaptation of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin, which co-stars Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton, Oscar Isaac and Matt Lucas and is set for a 2013 release.

Humanitarian work and political views

Lange is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), specializing in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Congo and in spreading awareness of the disease in Russia. She has also been a public critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush, once calling his administration, "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence," and has been a fervent human rights supporter of the Buddhist monks in Nepal.

Personal life

Lange was married to photographer Francisco "Paco" Grande from 1970 to 1981. Since 1982, she lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard; they separated in 2010. She has three children: Alexandra (born 1981) from her relationship with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Samuel Walker (born 1987) with Shepard.

In 2008, Lange published her own collection of black-and-white pictures entitled 50 Photographs (powerHouse Books) with a special introduction by Patti Smith. An exhibition of her work, along with a series of her films, was presented at the oldest international museum of photography and film, the George Eastman House, after which Lange was presented with the first George Eastman House Honors Award in 2009. In 2010, she published a second collection of photographs, En México.

Legacy

Totals
Awards won	34
Nominations	65

Awards and honors

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Jessica Lange

In total, Lange has received six Academy Award nominations, winning two Oscars, thirteen Golden Globe nominations, winning five, four Emmy nominations, winning two, four Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, winning one, four Satellite Award nominations, winning one, one British Academy Film Award nomination, and one Laurence Olivier Award nomination, among several other prestigious awards and nominations. Her work has also earned her the National Society of Film Critics award, the New York Film Critics Circle award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award, the Boston Society of Film Critics award, the Chicago Film Critics Association award, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle award, the Moscow International Film Festival award, the Taormina Film Festival award, and the Donostia Award from the San Sebastián International Film Festival, among several other critics' circle and festival awards. Lange has also been awarded a prestigious "Gala Tribute" from the Film Society of Lincoln Center, a Theater World Award, and a Crystal Award, among other specialized awards and tributes.

Selected filmography

Main article: Jessica Lange filmography

Year	Title	Role	Awards and/or nominations
1976	King Kong	Dwan	Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture by a Female
1981	The Postman Always Rings Twice	Cora Smith	Fotogramas de Plata for Best Foreign Movie Performer Bambi Award for International Film (also for Tootsie)
1982	Frances	Frances Farmer	Moscow International Film Festival Award for Best Actress Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated — National Board of Review Award for Best Actress (2nd Place) Nominated — National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (2nd Place) Nominated — New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (2nd Place)
	Tootsie	Julie Nichols	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Bambi Award (also for The Postman Always Rings Twice) Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1984	Country	Jewell Ivy	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1985	Sweet Dreams	Patsy Cline	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — National Board of Review Award for Best Actress (2nd Place) Nominated — National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (2nd Place)
1989	Music Box	Ann Talbot	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1990	Men Don't Leave	Beth Macauley	Nominated — National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (3rd Place)
1992	O Pioneers!	Alexandra Bergson	Western Heritage Award - Bronze Wrangler Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1994	Blue Sky	Carly Marshall	Academy Award for Best Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Sant Jordi de Cine Award for Best Actress Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated — National Board of Review Award for Best Actress (2nd Place) Nominated — National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1995	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
1997	A Thousand Acres	Ginny Cook Smith	Schermi d'Amore Award (shared with M. Pfeiffer and J. Jason Leigh) Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1998	Hush	Martha Baring	Nominated — Razzie Award for Worst Actress
1999	Titus	Tamora	Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2003	Normal	Irma Applewood	Gracie Award for Individual Achievement for Best Female Lead - Drama - Special Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2007	Sybil	Dr. Cornelia Wilbur	Nominated — PRISM Award for Performance in a TV Film or Miniseries
2009	Grey Gardens	Big Edie	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated — PRISM Award for Performance in a TV Film or Miniseries
2011	American Horror Story	Constance Langdon	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Satellite Award for Best Actress - Drama Series Dorian Award for Best Performance on Television Pan-American Association of Film & Television Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie Nominated — Critics' Choice Television Award Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television Nominated — Television Critics Association Award
2012	American Horror Story: Asylum	Sister Jude	Pending — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Pending — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Bibliography

• Lange, Jessica; Smith, Patti (2008). 50 Photographs (Hardcover) (in English) (1st ed.). Brooklyn, New York, USA: powerHouse Books (published 2008-11-18). p. 112. ISBN 978-1-57687-453-0. OCLC 227032407. Retrieved 2012-09-02. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help); External link in |ref= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Lange, Jessica; Trujillo, Julio (2010). En México (Hardcover) (in Spanish and English) (1st ed.). Barcelona, Mexico/Spain/USA: RM Verlag S.L. p. 96. ISBN 978-6-07751-567-8. OCLC 690103514. Retrieved 2012-09-02. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); External link in |ref= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

Further reading

• Jeffries, J. T. (1986). Jessica Lange: A Biography. New York City, United States: St. Martin's Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-312-44200-2. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Shewey, Don (1997). Sam Shepard. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-306-80770-1. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

References

General

• "Jessica Lange — Overview > Biography/Filmography > Awards". AllMovie. AllRovi. allmovie.com. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
• "Jessica Lange — Biography > Highest Rated Movies > Filmograhy". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2012-07-05.

Specific

External links

• ‹The template AllMovie name is being considered for deletion.› Jessica Lange at AllMovie
• Jessica Lange at IMDb
• Jessica Lange at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jessica Lange at the TCM Movie Database