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Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is a four-time Academy Award-nominated American actor and musician. To call Jeff Bridges "the most underappreciated great actor of his generation," as did Janet Maslin in her The New York Times review of "American Heart" (1992), became something of a cliché in contemporary film criticism. Hailed for his relaxed, naturalistic performance style, Bridges remained an A-list leading man for over four decades without the benefit of ever having been a box-office champ. Furthermore, Bridges accomplished this feat without ever having to resort to the broad self-parody of such contemporaries as Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro. Basically a character actor with leading man looks, Bridges built his reputation with a wide assortment of parts in various genres. Much like the late, great Spencer Tracy, however, Bridges’ greatest talent was his ability to take on complex, morally ambiguous characters with such ease that people accused him of playing himself. Bridges was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Dorothy Dean (née Simpson) and actor Lloyd Bridges. He shared a close relationship with his brother, actor Beau Bridges, who acted as a surrogate father during his earlier life when their real father was busy with work. He is an uncle of Jordan Bridges. He married Susan Geston on June 5, 1977 after meeting her on the set of Rancho Deluxe in 1975, filmed on a ranch where Geston worked as a maid. The couple have 3 daughters, Isabelle (b. 1981), Jessica (b. 1983), and Hayley (b. 1985). The son of well-known film and TV star Lloyd Bridges and his long-time wife Dorothy Dean Bridges, Jeff was born on December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California, and grew up amid the happening Hollywood scene with big brother Beau Bridges. Both boys popped up unbilled alongside their mother in the film The Company She Keeps (1951), and appeared on occasion with their famous dad on his popular underwater TV series "Sea Hunt" (1958) while growing up. At age 14, Jeff toured with his father in a stage production of "Anniversary Waltz". The "troublesome teen" years proved just that for Jeff and his parents were compelled at one point to intervene when problems with drugs and marijuana got out of hand. He recovered and began shaping his nascent young adult career appearing on TV as a younger version of his father in the acclaimed TV-movie Silent Night, Lonely Night (1969) (TV), and in the strange Burgess Meredith film The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go (1970). Following fine notices for his portrayal of a white student caught up in the racially-themed Halls of Anger (1970), his career-maker arrived just a year later when he earned a coming-of-age role in the critically-acclaimed ensemble film The Last Picture Show (1971). The Peter Bogdanovich- helmed film made stars out off its young leads (Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd) and Oscar winners out of its older cast (Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman). The role, for which Jeff received an Oscar-nomination (for "best supporting actor") set the tone for the types of roles Jeff would acquaint himself with his fans -- rambling, reckless, rascally and usually unpredictable). Owning a casual carefree handsomeness and armed with a perpetual grin and sly charm, he started immediately on an intriguing 70s sojourn into offbeat filming. Chief among them were his boxer on his way up opposite a declining Stacy Keach in Fat City (1972); his Civil War-era conman in the western Bad Company (1972); his redneck stock car racer in The Last American Hero (1973); his young student anarchist opposite a stellar veteran cast in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (1973); his bank-robbing (also Oscar-nominated) sidekick to Clint Eastwood in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974); his aimless cattle rustler in Rancho Deluxe (1975); his low-level western writer who wants to be a real-life cowboy in Hearts of the West (1975); and his brother of an assassinated President who pursues leads to the crime in Winter Kills (1979). All are simply marvelous characters that should have propelled him to the very top rungs of stardom...but strangely didn't. Perhaps it was his trademark ease and naturalistic approach that made him somewhat under appreciated at that time when Hollywood was run by a Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino-like intensity. Neverthless, Jeff continued to be a scene-stealing favorite into the next decade, notably as the video game programmer in the 1982 sci-fi cult classic TRON (1982), and the struggling musician brother vying with brother Beau Bridges over the attentions of sexy singer Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989). Jeff became a third-time Oscar nominee with his highly intriguing (and strangely sexy) portrayal of a blank-faced alien in "Starman" (1986), and earned high regard as the ever-optimistic inventor Preston Tucker in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). Since then Jeff has continued to pour on the Bridges magic on film. Few enjoy such an enduring popularity while maintaining equal respect with the critics. The Fisher King (1991), American Heart (1992), Fearless (1993), The Big Lebowski (1998) and The Contender (2000) (a fourth Oscar nomination) are prime examples. More recently he seized the moment as a bald-pated villain as Robert Downey Jr.'s nemesis in Iron Man (2008). Jeff has been married since 1977 to non-professional Susan Geston (they met on the set of Rancho Deluxe (1975)). The couple have three daughters, Isabelle (born 1981), Jessica (born 1983), and Hayley (born 1985). He hobbies as a photographer on and off his film sets, and has been known to play around as a cartoonist and pop musician. Bridges's first major role was in the 1971 movie The Last Picture Show for which he garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated again for the same award for his performance opposite Clint Eastwood in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. One of his better known roles was in the 1982 science-fiction cult classic Tron, in which he played Kevin Flynn, a video game programmer. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1984 for playing the alien in Starman. He was also acclaimed for his roles in the thriller Against All Odds and the crime drama Jagged Edge. His role in Fearless is recognized by some critics to be one of his best performances. One critic dubbed it a masterpiece; Pauline Kael wrote that he 'may be the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived'. He also appeared as "The Dude" in the Coen Brothers' classic cult film The Big Lebowski. Bridges was especially enjoyable in his next picture, the Gary Ross-directed “Seabiscuit” (2003), in which he played wealthy financier, Charles Howard. Summoning a winning synthesis of his previous character, Preston Tucker, and his own father, Lloyd Bridges, Bridges breathed life into the optimistic, but grief-tempered character of Howard, the man responsible for bankrolling the famed 20th Century racehorse. Although the brisk pace of the film did not allow Bridges to fully explore his character's extreme emotional depths, the actor effectively conveyed Howard's entrepreneurial spirit. Almost simultaneously, Bridges appeared in the quirky comedy-drama, "Masked & Anonymous" (2003), the story of a singer-songwriter who emerges from obscurity to stage a benefit concert. The movie starred Bob Dylan – who also handled the directing chores – as singer Jack Fate and Bridges as Tom Friend, a jaded and bitter veteran music journalist covering the concert. Bridges’ maintained his steady output well into the decade, starring in an average of about one film per year. After a co-starring turn in director Terry Gilliam’s underappreciated fantasy, “Tideland” (2005), Bridges starred in the gymnastics-themed sports comedy “Stick It” (2006). The following year, Bridges lent his voice to his first animated project “Surf’s Up” (2007), an ambitious CGI-animated feature comedy about championship penguin surfers. In 2000, Bridges was nominated for his fourth Academy-Award for his role in The Contender. He also starred in the 2005 Terry Gilliam movie Tideland, his second with the director (the first being 1991's The Fisher King). He plays the role of Obadiah Stane in the 2008 Marvel motion picture, Iron Man. In his off time while on set, he has been known to document the filmmaking process by photographing fellow actors and on-set staff with a Widelux panoramic camera. He began doing this during the filming of Starman at the suggestion of co-star Karen Allen. He has published many of these photographs online and in print titled "Pictures". Bridges is also a cartoonist. Some of his "doodles" have appeared in various films, such as K-PAX and The Door in the Floor (a short story-within-story by John Irving). Bridges narrated the documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002), a singular filmographic witness of the "unmaking" of a Terry Gilliam retelling of Don Quixote, tentatively titled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which would have starred Johnny Depp as Sancho Panza and Jean Rochefort as the quixotic hero. Bridges has worked with Gilliam on The Fisher King and Tideland. Bridges also narrated the documentaries Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West (2002, IMAX), Raising the Mammoth (2000, TV), and The Heroes of Rock and Roll (1979, TV). He also voiced the character Big Z in the animated picture Surf's Up. Bridges can be heard most recently as the voice behind Hyundai's 2007 "Think about it" ad campaign. |
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