Jeff Bridges

Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born on December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California. He couldn’t be otherwise, since his father, Lloyd Bridges , was a popular movie actor. The mother, Dorothy Dean Bridges, would take a few first steps in the profession, while the older brother, Beau Bridges , would develop an acting career, although not as brilliant as Jeff’s. That acting vocation ran in the family soon became clear, as the mother and the two little ones appeared as extras in John Cromwell ‘s film Freedom on Parole (1951). Little can be said about Jeff’s work, since he had not even turned two years old.

That film and television were a school can be deduced from the fact that the two brothers appeared in a couple of episodes of Sea Hunt , the underwater series starring their father, and also on the Lloyd Bridges television show. It was clear that the idea was to pass on the precious heritage of the acting profession, and at the age of 14 Lloyd took Jeff on a theatrical tour, in the show “Anniversary Waltz”. The boy would have had a rebellious adolescence, even with drug problems, but his parents seem to have managed to redress the problem. The therapy was called “work”. So in 1969 Jeff took on television as the youthful version of his father’s character in Silent Night, Lonely Night .

The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go (1970) can be considered his film debut. It was a weird Burgess Meredith thriller , starring James Mason . That same year he appeared with another youth Rob Reiner in Hate in the classrooms . The image of an unpredictable youthful rebel must have helped him be selected the following year for a legendary film for his nostalgic cinephilia, The Last Movie , by Peter Bogdanovich . Without eating or drinking it, Jeff found himself with an Oscar nomination for supporting actor. This being the case, it was natural that John Huston would have him immediately for the boxing movie.Fat City, golden city .

His smiling youthful face gave the characters he embodied a particular charm. It is not uncommon for this reason that he could be the hero in King Kong (1976), the digital man of Tron (1982) or Starman (1984), an alien with good intentions, a role that gave him his third Oscar nomination. This did not prevent more complex characters in heartbreaking dramas – The Iceman (1973), based on the work of Eugene O’Neill – or his intervention in the westerns Gunslingers in Hell and Heaven’s Gate (1980), the latter under directed by Michael Cimino . With Clint Eastwood he would shoot A loot of 500,000 dollars(1974), which earned him his second Oscar nomination.

One could dwell on every title in Bridges’ filmography, but in the 80s we must highlight the idealism of Tucker, a man and his dream (1988), the optimistic trajectory of a great inventor told by Francis Ford Coppola . And his hand in hand with his brother in reality and in fiction Beau, and with Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), with the famous piano scene.

The 1990s started with Texasville , a worthy sequel to The Last Session . It was followed in 1991 by The Fisher King , a great chivalric film by the sometimes excessive Terry Guilliam, one only has to think that Bridges would have to make the unspeakable Tideland fifteen years later . Curiously, he made films for great directors that are not among the best of these filmmakers: Without fear of life (1993), a look at the traumas of a plane crash by Peter Weir , and White Storm (1996), sailing on a ship school according to Ridley Scott . There was more success in the ‘note’ of The Big Lebowski(1998) by the Coen brothers.

No matter how you look at it, one has the feeling that Bridges has a great time making movies, and that he tries everything and everyone, he doesn’t hate anything. An all round pro, wow. And that he chooses films that the public may like, controlling the risks of some oddity. There are the bombs of Flying through the air (1994), the psychopath of the disturbing Kidnapped (1993), the experience of putting yourself at the command of Barbra Streisand Love has two faces (1994), the fear of Arlington Road (1999), the politics of Candidate for Power (2000) –new Oscar nomination–, the disbelief before the Martian in K-Pax (2001), the horse races ofSeabiscuit (2003), the confused writer with a disastrous married life from The Door in the Floor (2004). He even dares with sports cinema ( Stick It , 2006), with superheroes ( Iron Man , 2008, with a great sense of humor) and with political satire ( The men who stared at goats , 2009).

Rebel Heart (2009) is one of those ‘hottie roles’ that a great actor turns into a credible, real, flesh-and-blood character. His composition as an alcoholic country singer is moving, quite a character, but with a disastrous family life, in need of redemption. By the way, no one will say that here he has dived into his own life. Jeff grew up in a stable family, creating a seamless home for himself. In 1977 he married Susan Geston, who is neither an actress nor a film professional, and has had three daughters, Isabelle (1981), Jessica (1983) and Hayley (1985). Of course, none of them has followed in the cinematographic footsteps of the parent.

A fan of photography, Jeff Bridges maintains his own website, jeffbridges.com, written in his own handwriting, never better said in his original design.