Meryl Streep as Gail Hartman in The River Wild, released in September, 1994.
 
Merryl Streep on Wikipedia
Meryl Streep on the Internet Movie Database
 
 
 
 
 
 
Meryl Streep
Forecourt Ceremony held on Sunday, September 25, 1994
 
Born: Mary Louise Streep, June 22, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey
Age at the time of the ceremony: 45
 
Meryl Streep is of German and Swiss heritage. Growing up in Basking Ridge New Jersey, her mother Mary always encouraged young Meryl to work hard and make her dreams happen. Meryl appeared in plays both in junior high and high school. Somewhat of a show-off, she began singing lessions at age 12, but quit after four years. After moving once more to Bernardsville New York, Streep became a cheerleader and was the homecoming queen.

Streep attracted a good deal of attention while attending Vassar College, where she starred in Miss Julie in 1969. She was very good at accents and could memorize her lines quickly. Upon graduation in 1971, Streep attended the Yale School of Drama, where she became so busy working odd jobs and doing plays that she thought of dropping out. She graduated in 1975.

Fresh out of college, Joseph Papp cast Streep in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Trelawany of the "Wells" on Broadway for 47 performances, in October and November 1975.

After seeing Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (released in February 1976), she decided to go into film work, auditioning for producers while playing Dunyasha in a NYSF revival of The Cherry Orchard for 62 perfs, from February to April 1977. During that time, Streep's role as Michael Moriarty's girlfriend in The Deadliest Season aired over CBS in March 1977.

Streep starred in a Broadway musical by Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht called Happy End for 75 performances, from May to July 1977, then she was cast in a small role in Julia (released in October 1977) with Jane Fonda; Streep had a horrible reaction to the finished film, but Fonda encouraged Streep to keep with it, and became her champion.

Despite her Emmy-winning performance in Holocaust aired over NBC in April 1978, with James Woods, most people had never heard of Meryl Streep when they saw her in The Deer Hunter (released in December 1978), with Robert De Niro. She was hailed as a luminous screen presence. After she took a supporting role as Woody Allen's ex in Manhattan (released in April 1979), she made a surprising (and Oscar-winning) performance in Kramer vs. Kramer (released in December 1979), opposite Dustin Hoffman.

Streep now starred in several literary adaptations and roles where her character faces great hardship over the course of the story. She won an Oscar for The French Lieutenant's Woman (released in September 1981), with Jeremy Irons, and went on to win another one for Sophie's Choice (released in December 1982), with Kevin Kline; she kept going with Silkwood (released in December 1983), with Kurt Russell, Out of Africa (released in December 1985), with Robert Redford, A Cry in the Dark (released in November 1988), with Sam Neill, Postcards from the Edge (released in September 1990), with Shirley MacLaine, and The House of the Spirits (released in October 1993), again with Jeremy Irons.

And so the action thriller, The River Wild (which played the Chinese in September 1994), with Kevin Bacon, opened up a new chapter for Streep; a chapter which saw her playing a romantic lead in The Bridges of Madison County (released in June 1995), with Clint Eastwood, a music teacher in Music of the Heart (released in October 1999), with Cloris Leachman, an author in Adaptation (released in December 2002), with Nicholas Cage, a society woman giving a houseparty in The Hours (released in December 2002), with Nichole Kidman, and played numerous roles (including Emma Goldman) in Angels in America aired over HBO in December 2003. In each of these films, she was usually nominated for the Best Actress Oscar or Emmy — standard operating procedure for Ms. Streep.

With this kind of resumé, Streep came to be known for the kinds of films she agreed to be in. She narrated four episodes of Freedom: A History of Us aired over PBS in February 2003, played a senator in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate (which played the Chinese in July 2004), with Denzel Washington, played a ruthless fashion magazine editor (is there any other kind?) in The Devil Wears Prada (released in June 2006), with Anne Hathaway, played a benefactress to a Chinese exchange student in Dark Matter (which premiered at the Sundance Festival in January 2007), with Liu Ye, headlined the musical Mamma Mia! (released in July 2008), with Pierce Brosnan. . . the list goes on and on.

The list does go on and on. She played a peevish (and humanly real) mother superior in Doubt (released in December 2008), with Amy Adams, played Julia Child in Julie & Julia (released in August 2009), with Amy Adams, Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (released in December 2011), with Jim Broadbent, was in the ensemble peice August: Osage County (which was shown at the Chinese during AFI Fest in November 2013), with Julia Roberts, played a big bad Witch in the musical Into the Woods (released in December 2014), with Emily Blunt, played Emmeline Pankhurst in Suffragette (released in October 2015), with Carey Mulligan, and delighted everyone in the title role of Florence Foster Jenkins (released in April 2016), with Hugh Grant.

Working finally with director Steven Spielberg, Streep starred as Washington Post owner Katherine Graham in The Post (released in December 2017), with Tom Hanks.

Streep was game enough to be in the sequel Mama Mia! Here We Go Again (released in July 2018) with Lily James, played Cousin Topsy in Mary Poppins Returns (released in December 2018) with Emily Blunt, played Nicole Kidman's mother Mary Louise Wright in Big Little Lies aired over HBO in June 2019 and played Aunt March in Little Women (released in December 2019) with Saoirse Ronan. She plays a big Broadway musical comedy star in The Prom with James Corden streaming over Netflix in December 2020. Also that month, Streep played a diffident stuck-up author on a cruise in Let Them All Talk with Candice Bergen. It was streaming over HBO Max. She plays the US President in the comedy Don't Look Up (released in December 2021).

Who knows what else this incredible performer has in store for us?
 
 
Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Meryl Streep Forecourt block. Executed by unknown, Sunday, September 25, 1994. 49 x 44 inches.
Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Meryl Streep Forecourt ceremony, Sunday, September 25, 1994. Meryl Streep smiles up at the cameras while placing her handprints in the cement.
 
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