Julie Christie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Julie Christie | |
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| Born | Julie Frances Christie April 14, 1941 Chabua, Assam, India |
| Other name(s) | Jules |
| Occupation | actress |
| Years active | 1963—present |
| Spouse(s) | Duncan Campbell |
Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1941) is a British actress. She was a pop icon of the "swinging London" era of the 1960s, and has won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Christie was born in Chabua, Assam, India, then part of the British Empire, the first of two children[1] of Rosemary (née Ramsden) and Frank St. John Christie. Christie's mother was a Welsh-born painter and childhood friend of actor Richard Burton, while Christie's father ran the tea plantation around which Christie grew up.[2] She had a brother and a half-sibling from her father's affair with an Indian mistress.[3] Christie's parents separated during her childhood. She was baptized in the Anglican church,[3] and studied as a boarder at Convent of Our Lady School in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, (from which she was later expelled), and then at Wycombe Court School in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, also living with a foster mother from the age of six.[4] After her parents' divorce, Christie spent time with her mother in rural Wales. As a teenager at Wycombe Court School, she played the role of the Dauphin in a school production of George Bernard Shaw's "St. Joan". She later studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama[5] before getting her big break in 1961 in a science fiction series on BBC television, entitled A for Andromeda.
[edit] Early career
Christie's first major film role was as Liz, the friend and would-be lover of the eponymous Billy Liar played by Tom Courtenay in the 1963 film directed by John Schlesinger. Schlesinger, who only cast Christie after another actress dropped out of his film, directed her in her breakthrough role, as the amoral model Diana Scott in Darling (1965), a role which the producers originally offered to Shirley MacLaine. Though virtually unknown before Darling, Christie ended the year 1965 by appearing as Lara Antipova in David Lean's adaptation of Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago (1965), which was one of the all-time box office hits, and as Daisy Battles in Young Cassidy, the John Ford-Jack Cardiff directed biopic of Irish playwright Sean O'Casey. In 1966, the 25-year-old Christie was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role when she played a double role in Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 and won the Academy Award for Best Actress and BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Darling. Later, she played Thomas Hardy's heroine Bathsheba Everdene in Schlesinger's Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) and the lead character, Petulia Danner, (opposite George C. Scott) in Richard Lester's Petulia (1968).
In the 1970s, Christie starred in such films as Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) (her second Best Actress Oscar nomination), The Go-Between (again co-starring Alan Bates, 1971), Don't Look Now (1973), Shampoo (1975), Altman's classic Nashville (also 1975, in an amusing cameo as herself opposite Karen Black and Henry Gibson), Demon Seed (1977), and Heaven Can Wait (1978). She moved to Hollywood during the decade, where she had a high-profile (1967-1974), but intermittent relationship with actor Warren Beatty who described her as "the most beautiful and at the same time the most nervous person I had ever known".[4]
Following the end of the relationship, she returned to the United Kingdom, where she lived on a farm in Wales. Never a prolific actress, even at the height of her fame and bankability in the 1960s, Christie made fewer and fewer films in the 1980s. She had a major supporting role in Sidney Lumet's Power (1986), but other than that, she avoided appearances in large budget films and appeared in riskier fare.
Christie has turned down many leading roles in films such as They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Anne of the Thousand Days and The Greek Tycoon. Christie also signed on to play the female lead in American Gigolo opposite Richard Gere, however when Gere dropped out and John Travolta was cast in the role, Christie too dropped out from the project. Gere changed his mind and took back the role, however it was too late for Christie as her part was already taken by Lauren Hutton. Julie Christie also had to drop out of the leading role in Agatha due to breaking her wrist whilst roller-skating; the part was filled by Vanessa Redgrave.[citation needed]
[edit] Later work
Christie made a comeback with her appearance as Gertrude in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996). Despite her training, it was her first-ever venture into Shakespeare. That same year, she played the role of Queen Aislinn in Dragonheart She next starred as the unhappy wife in Alan Rudolph's domestic comedy-drama Afterglow (1997). Critics were delighted with her performance, for which she received her third Oscar nomination. Since then, Christie has appeared mostly in small roles in English and American films.
Christie made a brief appearance in the third Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), playing Madame Rosmerta. That same year, she also appeared in two other high-profile films: Wolfgang Petersen's Troy, and Marc Forster's Finding Neverland, in which she played Kate Winslet's mother. The latter performance earned Christie a BAFTA nomination as supporting actress in film.
Christie portrayed the female lead in Away From Her, a film about a long-married Canadian couple coping with the wife's Alzheimer's disease. Based on the Alice Munro short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain", the movie is the first feature film directed by Christie's sometime co-star, Canadian actress Sarah Polley. She only took the role, she says, as Polley is her friend.[citation needed] On her part, Polley said that Christie liked her script but initially turned it down as she was ambivalent about acting. It took several months of persuasion by Polley before Christie finally accepted the role, which was written with her in mind.
Debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2006 as part of the TIFF's Gala showcase, Away From Her drew rave reviews from the trade press, including the Hollywood Reporter, and the four Toronto dailies. The critics singled out the performances of Christie and her co-star, Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent, and Polley's assured direction.[citation needed] Her luminous performance created an "Oscar buzz", leading the distributor, Lions Gate Films, who bought the film at the TIFF to release the film in 2007 in order to build up momentum during the awards season. On December 5, 2007, Christie won the Best Actress Award from the National Board of Review for her performance in Away From Her.[6] She also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture, and the Genie Award for Best Actress for the same film. On January 22, 2008, Christie received her fourth Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for the 80th Academy Awards. She appeared at the ceremony wearing a pin calling for the closure of the prison in Guantanamo Bay.
In 2008 Christie narrated "Uncontacted Tribes", a short film for the British-based charity Survival International, featuring previously unseen footage of remote and endangered peoples.[7] Christie has been a long-standing supporter of the charity,[8] and in February 2008 was named as its first 'Ambassador'.[9]
Rumor has it that Christie signed to join the cast of New York, I love you, which screenplay was written by Anthony Minghella and will be directed by Shekhar Kapur. In the film she will be romantically involved with Shia LaBeouf.
[edit] Personal life
In November 2007, aged 66, Christie discreetly married[10] her long-time partner (since 1979), The Guardian journalist Duncan Campbell. It was her first marriage and the wedding surprised many as Christie had long insisted for many years that marriage was not an option for her. She has owned a farm in Montgomeryshire, Wales, since the late 1970s, where she spends most of her time. She is active in various causes, including animal rights, environmental protection and the anti-nuclear power movement.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Theatre
- Cries From The Heart (2007) színész
Royal Court Theatre
- Old Times (1995, 2007) színész
Wyndham’s Theatre
- Suzanna Andler (1997)
Chichester
- Uncle Vanya (1973) színész
Broadway
- The Comedy of Errors (1964) színész
- Frinton Repertory of Essex (1957) színész
- Anna Frank színész
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=513285&in_page_id=1879 Daily Mail - 11 February 2008
- ^ Julie Christie Biography (1941-)
- ^ a b miamimedia.com
- ^ a b The divine Miss Julie | Interviews | guardian.co.uk Film
- ^ Salon.com People | Julie Christie
- ^ National Board of Review of Motion Pictures :: Awards
- ^ Uncontacted Tribes - Survival International
- ^ Audio - Survival International
- ^ Julie Christie named ‘Survival ambassador’ - News from Survival International
- ^ In brief: Julie Christie gets married | News | guardian.co.uk Film
[edit] External links
- Julie Christie at the Internet Movie Database
- Julie Christie biography and filmography at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- Julie Christie at TV.com
- BBC News | Entertainment | Actress Christie on Alzheimer's role
- Julie Christie: Beauty that never fades in The Independent - People
- After years living as a recluse, Julie Christie is suddenly the talk of Hollywood again | the Daily Mail
- Oscar winner and nominee Julie Christie talks about getting old - Times Online
- The secret Indian sister who haunts actress Julie Christie | the Daily Mail
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christie, Julie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Christie, Julie Frances |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 14 April 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chabua, Assam, India |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
