Biography for
Kathleen Turner (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

19 June 1954, Springfield, Missouri, USA

Birth Name

Mary Kathleen Turner

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Spouse

Jay Weiss

(1984 - 2007) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Husky voice.

Trivia

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars" in film history (#73). [1995]

Education: Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri; transferred after two years University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland; B.F.A., 1977.

Suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.

Was immortalized in the 1980s song, "The Kiss of Kathleen Turner," by techno-pop singer Falco.

She performed some of her own stunts in Romancing the Stone (1984), Undercover Blues (1993) and V.I. Warshawski (1991). Her nose was broken while filming V.I. Warshawski (1991).

Spoke the voice (uncredited) of sexy Jessica Rabbit in the toon-noir Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

Was considered for the lead in Basic Instinct (1992).

Also attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Sister-in-law of fashion designer Donna Karan.

Somewhat resembles Lauren Bacall (looks and voice).

Her father, Richard, was a foreign service diplomat who was imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII.

Upon meeting the legendary Lauren Bacall, to whom she has often been compared, she reportedly introduced herself by saying, "Hi, I'm the young you."

Daughter Rachel Ann Weiss born October 14, 1987, with ex-husband, Jay Weiss.

Checked herself into Marworth in Waverly, Pennsylvania, for alcohol abuse. [3 December 1999]

Fluent in Spanish.

She recieved a lifetime achievement award from the Savannah College of Art and Design at the Savannah Film Festival in October 2004.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1990 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for portraying Maggie the Cat in a revival of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004

Was nominated for Broadway's 2005 Tony Award as Best Actress in a Play for portraying Martha in the 2005 revival of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Has one eye that's blue and one eye that's hazel.

London Evening Standard Theatre Award 2006 for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

Ranked #1 in Fotogramas magazine's "Favourite Foreign Actress." poll [1988].

Ranked #1 in Fotogramas magazine's "Favourite Foreign Actress." poll [1987].

Referenced by Jack Black in High Fidelity (2000). He says that his band's name is very close to being called "Kathleen Turner Overdrive".

She discovered she had developed rheumatoid arthritis during shooting Serial Mom (1994).

Companion of David Guc [1977 - 1982].

Was raised in Canada, Cuba and England where her father was a diplomat.

Personal Quotes

"A woman my age is not supposed to be attractive or sexually appealing. I just get kinda tired of that."

"I feel I get recognized for my voice more than for my face."

"I know there are nights when I have that power, when I could put on something and walk in somewhere, and if there's a man there who doesn't look at me, it's because he's gay."

"I learned years ago, I adore acting and I think it's the most alive I know how to be -- almost -- but I really want a good life. I've been married for 17 years -- I know, they call us the last couple. I have a 13-year-old daughter. I have a lovely home life with good friends who aren't in the business ...and I have no desire to cost my whole life in pursuit of the career alone."

"When I was 20, I had so many more insecurities and looked for approbation from everyone. But by the time I was 40 and now at 50, you wake up and think, fuck you, I don't have to prove myself any more, and that makes you sexy."

"I often play women who are not essentially good or likable, and I often go through a stage where I hate them. And then I find the reasons why they are that way, and end up loving and defending them."

"It's always been my first love, I never feel more alive than when I'm on stage. On film you feel chopped up, you can be acting from the neck up, or the hand, there is a lot of close up."

"Then [when I was] about 40, the roles started slowing down. I started getting offers to play mothers and grandmothers. I'd say the cut-off point for leading ladies today is 35/40, whereas half the men in Hollywood get their start then. It's a terrible double standard."

"I find the idea of today's icons being teenagers incredibly uninspiring. I think the Europeans have enough tradition and respect for the experience and body of work of an actress that they don't sell out to the new ones."

"I'm not a naturalistic actor. I believe acting is a planned process of communication. I don't see anything naturalistic about it."

The studios are no longer creative institutions. Their job is to raise a great deal of money for their shareholders, to hedge their bets about risk. All this does not spell creativity. You might as well be talking real estate. Thank goodness for the independents. Except that distribution is still controlled by the studios. So they take the first week's profit and, after that, they don't give a damn. They take their money and they leave. It sucks.

Salary

Body Heat (1981)

$30,000.00

Where Are They Now

(March 2003) Appeared along with Robert Vaughn for one week at NYC's 45 Bleeker Theatre in "The Exonerated", a true-life drama with a revolving cast.

(April 2005) Appearing on Broadway as Martha is "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", opposite Bill Irwin as George.

(January 2006) Appearing at the Apollo Theatre, London as "Martha" in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", opposite Bill Irwin as "George".

(October 2007) Presiding the international jury of this 34th edition of the Ghent Film Festival. (Flanders, Belgium)

(February 2008) Release of her autobiography, "Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love and Leading Roles" by Kathleen in collaboration with Gloria Feldt.

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