It's always staggering to really stop and breathe in the whole of her career, how long this screen giant has wowed and wooed us. Consider that in 1980 (I nabbed this old pic to the left from the wondrous Simply Streep site), she already had an Oscar and the world was already in love with her! And that was just the very beginning.
There have been bumpy patches in the marriage between audience and star, as there are in all relationships, but for the most part we've all lived happily ever after with Mary Louise Streep (Gummer). The moviegoing public, both domestic and international -- and probably even intergalactic if alien cultures have been observing our screens and stages -- has remained hopelessly besotted with Meryl since the late 1970s when she first sprang up, fully formed, an instant movie star.
Today is Meryl's 62nd birthday and she's been famous for just over half of those! We ♥ her.
Many movie stars peak just as they ascend (sad but true) and are defined by one to three (if they're lucky) signature roles. The beauty of Meryl's career is that she simply refused to peak. It's like she wasn't climbing any mountains of stardom but just floating above us all, serenely. Ironically, given her chameleon reputation, the world's most acclaimed actress's signature role is actually MERYL STREEP.
Here's a video The Film Experience crafted for her 60th birthday... time to share it again!
The eighth wonder of the world.