BARRYMORE. True to her “genetic calling.” AP
IF EVER there was a young talent who was “destined” to become a film star, it was film “royal,” Drew Barrymore, whose forebears were theater and film stars for many decades.
True to her “genetic calling,” little Baby Drew was less than a year old when she first faced the cameras, in all her quintessential cuteness, in a TV commercial.
When she was only 5 years young, she made her big-screen debut in 1980, in “Altered States.” But, it wasn’t until a year later that she got to play the role that “made” her, as the youngest human friend and protector of the fey title character in Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
Many years later, after numerous “downs” and relatively few “ups,” Drew finally conquered the many abusive imps and demons that had plagued her for years, and emerged as the bankable and acclaimed adult star she is.
Her slow but eventually successful effort to come into her own as a star for all reasons is made all the more admirable by the fact that many of her juvenile contemporaries failed to rise above the pressures and vicissitudes of child and teen stardom, and fell off along the way.
For his part, now Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio first guest-starred on the hit TV show, “Growing Pains,” before making his film debut in “Critters 3.”
—Not a great start in the movie biz, but he eventually made his thespic and stellar mark in edgy, psychologically troubled roles, before finally becoming the major film draw he is today.
‘Mainstream’ roles
Interestingly, DiCaprio’s career arc is similar to that of Johnny Depp—two cases of the “other” type of screen persona eventually making it in “mainstream” roles.
Depp and DiCaprio are so thespically copacetic that we hope to see them acting together in what should turn out to be a very special film! —Stanley Kubrick, will you do the honors?
Like Drew Barrymore, Gwyneth Paltrow is to the show biz manor and manner born, with both of her parents (Blythe Danner and director Bruce Paltrow) busy for decades in the biz.
Talk about veteran film stars with a “royal” lineage, Michael Douglas’ dad, Kirk, was a big star in the ’40s and ’50s, so it really was only a matter of time before Michael joined the family business.
He did so way back in 1966 when he played a small role in one of his dad’s starrers, “Cast a Giant Shadow.” The part was so insignificant that his participation in the flick went uncredited—which was probably a good thing!
His next attempt at making his mark in the movies fared much better: It was in “Hail, Hero,” and he got a nomination for most promising newcomer in the Golden Globe awards.
Since then, Douglas has fulfilled his early promise and is now known, not as Kirk’s son, but as very much his own person.
And he continues to stretch his wings and expand his horizons: In 2013, he went very much against type to play the gay pianist and colorful show biz personality, Liberace—to great acclaim. The new audacity evident in his role choices is exciting, so we look forward to his next big-screen gambits!