The Clint Eastwood Archive would
like to send our congratulations and sincere best wishes to Jeff Bridges who will
tonight be honoured for his career achievement at tonight’s 76th annual Golden
Globe Awards.
Early days found him opposite his
father in television’s “Sea Hunt” and “The Lloyd Bridges Show.” He caught his
feature film stride right out of the gate, though, with Peter Bogdanovich’s
1971 “The Last Picture Show.” For his performance as Duane Jackson, a teenager
searching for direction in the dust of 1951 North Texas, Bridges earned his
first of seven Oscar nominations. He marvels today at how low-key the occasion
was then. There was no campaigning or interviews building up to the big day, just
a phone call with the happy news.
Bridges would become a vital
ingredient for directors throughout the 1970s. He scored raves opposite Stacy
Keach in John Huston’s “Fat City” in 1972. He took on the role of Don Parritt
in John Frankenheimer’s 1973 adaptation of “The Iceman Cometh” and landed yet
another supporting actor nomination opposite Clint Eastwood in Michael Cimino’s
“Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” in 1974. By mid-decade he was already headlining
such major spectacles as John Guillermin’s “King Kong.”
In early 2010, on his fifth Oscar
nomination — and by then considered wildly overdue for recognition — Bridges
finally heard his name called at the Academy Awards. He won the lead actor
prize for Scott Cooper’s “Crazy Heart,” the story of a rambling country-western
singer adapted from a Thomas Cobb novel and, through Cooper, somewhat inspired by
the life of Waylon Jennings.
“That was a dream — I guess come
true, in a way,” Bridges said in 2016. “Not even come true. It just seemed like
a dream! It was an out-of-body experience.”
He would add another nomination,
for the Coens’ “True Grit” remake, the very next year, and he continues to
register those accolades today, most recently for his grizzled Texas Ranger in
David Mackenzie’s “Hell or High Water.”
He admits to having a bit of reticence
in taking on new projects, lest he be kept from some other enticing
opportunity. But he has maintained a striking pace all the same as one of the
most prolific actors of his generation.
And despite the early rebellion,
he eventually came to agree with his dad. Working in show business is, indeed,
a great life.
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