Making Meryl a star

Press, 13 July 1985, Page 20

Making Meryl a star

The Mery! Streep Story. By Nick Smurthwaite. Columbus Books, 1984. 128 pp. Illustrations, index. $29.95.

(Reviewed by

Hans Petrovic)

Meryl Streep has a striking, angular face that lends itself perfectly to this pictorial biography of the Academy Award-winning actress. It is surprising how quickly a relatively new film personality can establish herself in the public’s awareness. In Streep’s case, it took a handful of good films, winning several prestigious awards, and getting her face on the cover of “Time” magazine to be securely placed on a pedestal in the cinematic Hall of Fame.

Streep made her first brief motion picture appearance in “Julia” in 1977, and since then has made half a dozen films that have been seen here.

“The Meryl Streep Story” is mainly devoted to her film career, illustrated with more than 100 colour and black-and-white pictures from that period, with only a few taken earlier, or under other circumstances.

In the introduction, the author, Nick Smurthwaite, makes it clear that “this book does not pretend to be a definitive biography of Meryl Streep, or even a retrospective study of her career; it is, rather, a progress report, scanning the first decade of her professional career in search of clues to the secret of her extraordinary success.”

Under these self-imposed restrictions, the author, who is a London-based critic and show-business writer, has succeeded in presenting a well thought out chronicle of her development as an actress. The book skips through her childhood, telling us little about her family background. It also poses more questions than it answers, such as the origin of her (actual) surname, and the real colour of her hair. (Observant film-goers will remember that her hair was somewhat darker in “Silkwood” —

making her a plutonium blonde?) The author is at his best with his detailed analysis of each film, and with behind-the-camera information about the actress coming to terms with each new role. He also tells us that she has a fine soprano singing voice and that

after so many dramatic roles, she is bound to surprise everyone with a musical in the not-too-distant future.

For the record, Streep’s filmography so far is: “Julia,” with Jane Fonda; “The Deadliest Season,” a TV movie; "Holocaust,” a TV mini-series about Jewish persecution; “The Deer Hunter,” in which the role of Linda brought her first critical attention; “Manhattan,” directed by Woody Allen; “The Seduction of Joe Tynan,” with Alan Alda; “Kramer vs Kramer,” although on screen for less than 15 minutes, she won the best supporting actress Academy Award for her role; “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” with an English accent, her strongest performance to then; “Still of the Night,” a who-dunnit with Roy Scheider, “Sophie’s Choice,” which won her the best-actress Oscar, plus many other awards; “Silkwood,” a change of pace as a hard-edged worker at a plutonium plant. The films end here, although the book also makes mention of “Falling in Love,” with Robert De Niro, which has been seen here recently. Finally, we are given a short but interesting look into her very private personal life, and told that success has not spoilt Meryl Streep, who still loves to ride New York subways and do her own shopping. One gets the feeling that there is much more to this actress than we are told.