Sissy Spacek
| Sissy Spacek | |
|---|---|
Spacek at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in August 2011
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| Born | Mary Elizabeth Spacek December 25, 1949 Quitman, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Spouse(s) | Jack Fisk (m. 1974) |
| Children | 2 |
Mary Elizabeth "Sissy" Spacek (/ˈspeɪsɛk/; born December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She is an Academy Award winner and three-time Golden Globe Award winner.
Spacek began her career in the early 1970s and first gained attention for her role as Holly Sargis in Terrence Malick's film Badlands (1973). Her career-defining role came in 1976 when she played the title character of Carrie White in Brian De Palma's iconic horror film Carrie, based on the first novel by Stephen King, for which she earned an Oscar nomination. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn in the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter, and also earned a Grammy nomination for the song "Coal Miner's Daughter" from the film's soundtrack. She went on to receive further Oscar nominations for her roles in Missing (1982), The River (1984) and Crimes of the Heart (1986). Coal Miner's Daughter and Crimes of the Heart also won her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.
A six-time Oscar nominee, she received her sixth nomination for In the Bedroom (2001), which also won her a third Golden Globe, this time for Best Actress in a Drama. Her other films include 3 Women (1977), Raggedy Man (1981), JFK (1991), Affliction (1997), The Straight Story (1999), Nine Lives (2005) and The Help (2011). As of 2015, Spacek plays matriarch Sally Rayburn in the Netflix thriller series Bloodline.
Contents
Early life
Spacek was born on December 25, 1949, in Quitman, Texas. She is the daughter of Virginia Frances (née Spilman) and Edwin Arnold Spacek, Sr., a county agricultural agent.[1] Spacek's father was of three quarters Czech (Moravian) and one quarter German ancestry; her paternal grandparents were Mary (Cervenka) and Arnold A. Spacek (who served as Mayor of Granger, Texas in Williamson County).[2][3] Her mother, who was of Polish, English and Irish descent, was from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.[4] Although her birth name was Mary Elizabeth, from birth, she was always called Sissy by her brothers which led to her stage name. In high school, she was named homecoming queen at her senior prom in 1968.[5]
Spacek was greatly affected by the death of her eighteen-year-old brother, Robbie, in 1967 when she was seventeen, which she has called "the defining event of my whole life."[6] Spacek used the personal tragedy as a tool to be fearless in her acting career: “I think it made me brave. Once you experience something like that, you’ve experienced the ultimate tragedy. And if you can continue, nothing else frightens you. That’s what I meant about it being rocket fuel – I was fearless in a way. Maybe it gave more depth to my work because I had already experienced something profound and life-changing."[7]
Career
1970s and beginning of acting career
Spacek worked for a time as photographic model and as an extra at Andy Warhol's Factory. She appeared in a non-credited role in his film Trash (1970). With the help of her cousin, actor Rip Torn, she enrolled in Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and then the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. Her first credited role was in the cult classic Prime Cut (1972), in which she played Poppy, a girl sold into sexual slavery.[4] The role led to television work, which included a guest role in The Waltons, which she played twice in 1973. Spacek received international attention after starring in Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973), in which she played Holly, the film's narrator and a 15-year-old girlfriend of mass-murderer Kit (Martin Sheen).[4] Spacek has described Badlands as the "most incredible" experience of her career.[8] On the set of Badlands, Spacek met art director Jack Fisk, whom she married in 1974.[9]
Spacek's iconic and career-defining role came in Brian De Palma's film Carrie (1976), in which she played Carietta "Carrie" White, a shy, troubled high school senior with telekinetic powers.[4] Spacek had to work hard to persuade director de Palma to engage her for the role.[4] After rubbing Vaseline into her hair and donning an old sailor dress her mother made for her as a child, Spacek turned up at the audition with the odds against her, but won the part.[10] She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in the film. Spacek had previously been the set dresser for DePalma's film Phantom of the Paradise (1974).
After Carrie, Spacek played the small role of housekeeper Linda Murray in Alan Rudolph's ensemble piece Welcome to LA (1976) and cemented her reputation in independent cinema with her performance as Pinky Rose in Robert Altman's classic 3 Women (1977). Altman was deeply impressed by her performance, having stated: "She's remarkable, one of the top actresses I've ever worked with. Her resources are like a deep well." Brian de Palma added: "[Spacek is] a phantom. She has this mysterious way of slipping into a part, letting it take over her. She's got a wider range than any young actress I know."[11] Spacek also helped finance then-brother-in-law David Lynch's directorial debut, Eraserhead (1977) and is thanked in the credits of the film.
1980s and Oscar win
Spacek began the 1980s with an Oscar in 1980 for Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), in which she played country music star Loretta Lynn, who selected her for the role.[4] In the film, both she and Beverly D'Angelo, who played Patsy Cline, performed their own singing.[4] Film critic Roger Ebert has credited the movie's success "to the performance by Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. With the same sort of magical chemistry she's shown before, when she played the high school kid in Carrie, Spacek at 29 has the ability to appear to be almost any age on screen. Here, she ages from about 14 to somewhere in her 30s, always looks the age, and never seems to be wearing makeup."[12] Spacek also was nominated for a Grammy Award for her singing on the film's soundtrack album. She followed this with her own country album, Hangin' Up My Heart (1983); the album spawned one hit single, "Lonely But Only For You", a song written by K. T. Oslin, which reached No. 15 on the Billboard Country chart.[citation needed]
In the film Heart Beat (1980), Spacek played Carolyn Cassady, who slipped (under the influence of John Heard's Jack Kerouac and Nick Nolte's Neal Cassady) into a combination of drudgery and debauchery.[13][14] Spacek was so adamant about getting the role, that she poured through over 4,000 pages of research to prepare for her character. Producer Ed Pressman and director John Byrum took her to dinner to advise her that she did not have the role. Spacek was so distraught at the news that she shattered a glass of wine in her hand. After that, Pressman walked up to Spacek with a piece of shattered glass and told her she had the role. He said that Spacek breaking the glass clinched the deal, and they believed she would ultimately best suit the part.[15] The film was released on April 25, 1980 to mixed critical reviews.[16]
Also in the 1980s, Spacek starred alongside Jack Lemmon in Constantin Costa-Gavras's political thriller Missing (1982, based on the book The Execution of Charles Horman) and appeared with Mel Gibson in the rural drama The River (1984), and with Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange in 1986's Crimes of the Heart (1986).[4] She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for all of these roles.[4] Other performances of the decade included star turns in husband Jack Fisk's directorial debut Raggedy Man (1981) and alongside Anne Bancroft in the suicide-themed drama 'night, Mother (1986).[4] Spacek also showed her lighter side by voicing the brain in the Steve Martin comedy The Man with Two Brains (1983).
1990s–2010s
In the 1990s Spacek slowly come back to Hollywood after her self-imposed hiatus.[citation needed] She had a supporting role as the wife of Jim Garrison (played by Kevin Costner) in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991) and made a number of comedies, TV movies, and the occasional film. Most notable of her appearances during these years was her turn as the evil Verena Talbo in the ensemble piece The Grass Harp (1995), which reunited her with both Laurie and Lemmon, as well as a supporting performance, again alongside Nick Nolte, as the waitress Margie Fogg in Paul Schrader's father-son psychodrama Affliction (1997). She also played Rose Straight in David Lynch's The Straight Story (1999) and Brendan Fraser's character's mother in Blast from the Past.
In 2001, she was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her work in Todd Field's In the Bedroom (2001).[4] The New York Times film critic Stephen Holden said of her work in the film: "Ms. Spacek's performance is as devastating as it is unflashy. With the slight tightening of her neck muscles and a downward twitch of her mouth, she conveys her character's relentlessness, then balances it with enough sweetness to make Ruth seem entirely human. It is one of Ms. Spacek's greatest performances."[17] Her performance as Ruth Fowler, a grieving mother consumed by revenge, won extraordinary praise and garnered the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress[18] as well as the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, and Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, among many others.[19][20]
Other performances of this decade include unfaithful wife Ruth in Rodrigo García's Nine Lives (2005) and a turn as a woman suffering from Alzheimer's in the television movie Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007). In 2008, Spacek had a supporting part in the Christmas comedy Four Christmases and a lead role in the independent drama, Lake City. Spacek appeared on the HBO drama Big Love, for a multi-episode arc, as a powerful Washington, D.C. lobbyist.[21]
In 2005, she narrated the audiobook of the original Carrie novel by Stephen King[22] and, in 2006, she narrated the classic Harper Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), which sold over 30 million copies. In 2011, she received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.[23] Spacek was featured in The Help (2011), directed by Tate Taylor, and along with the cast, was awarded with the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for their performance in the film.[citation needed]
In 2012, Spacek published a memoir, My Extraordinary Ordinary Life, with co-author Maryanne Vollers.[24][25] The Washington Post's Jen Chaney called it "refreshingly down-to-earth" and "beautifully written".[26] She also mentioned that Spacek's description of her childhood is so "evocative that one can almost taste the sour stalks of goatweed she chewed on steamy summer afternoons". Jay Stafford of Richmond Times-Dispatch pointed out that, unlike other actors' autobiographies, Spacek's "benefits from good writing and remarkable frankness".[27] The Austin Chronicle's Margaret Moser stated that Spacek's memoir is "as easy to read as it is a pleasure to digest".[28] Joe Muscolino of the Biographile gave the book a 5 out of 5 rating, saying that it "does not disappoint".[29] Kirkus Reviews, however, was less appreciative of the book, calling it "an average memoir" and "overly detailed", while criticizing its lack of "narrative arc", but complimented Spacek for being "truly down-to-earth".[30] It further criticized that "the book is 'ordinary' and does not have enough drama to engage readers not directly interested in Spacek and her work", and ended by saying that it's "for die-hard movie buffs and Spacek fans only".[30]
Personal life
Spacek married production designer and art director Jack Fisk in 1974, after they met on the set of Badlands.[4] Fisk later directed her in the films Raggedy Man (1981) and Violets Are Blue (1986). They have two daughters, Schuyler Fisk (born July 8, 1982) and Madison Fisk (born September 21, 1988).[31] Schuyler Fisk is both an actress and a singer. In 1982, Spacek and her family moved to a farm near Charlottesville, Virginia.[32]
Despite Spacek's lengthy career and recognition, she has managed to keep a low profile and is rarely a tabloid fixture. Various critics have praised her ability to maintain a private life in the public eye.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Women in Revolt | Girl extra at bar | Uncredited[citation needed] |
| 1972 | Prime Cut | Poppy | |
| 1973 | Badlands | Holly Sargis | |
| 1974 | The Migrants | Wanda Trimpin | |
| 1976 | Carrie | Carrie White | |
| 1976 | Welcome to L.A. | Linda Murray | |
| 1977 | 3 Women | Pinky Rose | |
| 1980 | Coal Miner's Daughter | Loretta Lynn | |
| 1980 | Heart Beat | Carolyn Cassady | |
| 1981 | Raggedy Man | Nita Longley | |
| 1982 | Missing | Beth Horman | |
| 1983 | The Man with Two Brains | Anne Uumellmahaye | Voice; uncredited[citation needed] |
| 1984 | The River | Mae Garvey | |
| 1985 | Marie | Marie Ragghianti | |
| 1986 | Violets Are Blue | Augusta 'Gussie' Sawyer | |
| 1986 | 'night, Mother | Jessie Cates | |
| 1986 | Crimes of the Heart | Babe Magrath Botrelle | |
| 1990 | The Long Walk Home | Miriam Thompson | |
| 1991 | Hard Promises | Christine Ann Coalter | |
| 1991 | JFK | Liz Garrison | |
| 1994 | Trading Mom (a.k.a. The Mommy Market) | Various roles | |
| 1995 | The Grass Harp | Verena Talbo | |
| 1997 | Affliction | Margie Fogg | |
| 1999 | Blast from the Past | Helen Thomas Webber | |
| 1999 | The Straight Story | Rose 'Rosie' Straight | |
| 2001 | In the Bedroom | Ruth Fowler | |
| 2001 | Midwives | Sibyl Danforth | |
| 2002 | Tuck Everlasting | Mae Tuck | |
| 2004 | A Home at the End of the World | Alice Glover | |
| 2005 | Nine Lives | Ruth | |
| 2005 | The Ring Two | Evelyn | |
| 2005 | North Country | Alice Aimes | |
| 2006 | An American Haunting | Lucy Bell | |
| 2007 | Gray Matters | Sydney | |
| 2007 | Hot Rod | Marie Powell | |
| 2007 | Pictures of Hollis Woods | Josie Cahill | |
| 2008 | Lake City | Maggie | |
| 2008 | Four Christmases | Paula (Brad's Mom) | |
| 2009 | Get Low | Mattie Darrow | |
| 2011 | The Help | Mrs. Walters | |
| 2012 | Deadfall | June Mills | |
| 2012 | Amazon Gold[33] | Narrator |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Love, American Style | Teri | Episode: "Love and the Older Lover" |
| 1973 | The Girls of Huntington House | Sara | Film |
| 1973 | The Waltons | Sarah Jane Simmonds | 2 episodes |
| 1974 | Ginger in the Morning | Ginger | Film |
| 1975 | Katherine (a.k.a. The Radical) | Katherine Alman | Film |
| 1978 | Verna: U.S.O. Girl | Verna Vane | Film |
| 1992 | A Private Matter | Sherri Finkbine | Film |
| 1994 | A Place for Annie | Susan Lansing | Film |
| 1995 | The Good Old Boys | Spring Renfro | Film |
| 1995 | Streets of Laredo | Lorena Parker | Miniseries |
| 1996 | Beyond the Call | Pam O'Brien | Film |
| 1996 | If These Walls Could Talk | Barbara Barrows | Film; segment: "1974" |
| 2000 | Songs in Ordinary Time | Marie Fermoyle | Film |
| 2002 | Last Call (a.k.a. Fitzgerald) | Zelda Fitzgerald | Film |
| 2009 | Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People | Narrator | Miniseries |
| 2010 | Gimme Shelter | Adrienne Nourse | Film |
| 2010–11 | Big Love | Marilyn Densham | 5 episodes |
| 2015 | Bloodline | Sally Rayburn | 13 episodes |
Discography
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Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Hangin' Up My Heart | 17 | Atlantic |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Bubbling | CAN Country | |||
| 1980 | "Coal Miner's Daughter" | 24 | — | 7 | Coal Miner's Daughter (Soundtrack) |
| "Back in Baby's Arms" | — | — | 71 | ||
| 1983 | "Lonely but Only for You" | 15 | 10 | 13 | Hangin' Up My Heart |
| 1984 | "If I Can Just Get Through the Night" | 57 | — | 41 | |
| "If You Could Only See Me Now" | 79 | — | — | ||
Awards and nominations
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References
- ↑ Sissy Spacek biography. Film Reference.com.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Ancestry of Sissy Spacek. Wargs.com.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2002
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- ↑ Biography.com - Sissy Spacek
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Further reading
- Crowe, Cameron. "From a Nymphet to Weirdo". The Montreal Gazette. November 19, 1979.
External links
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- Articles with hCards
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- 1949 births
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American actresses
- Actresses from Texas
- Actors Studio alumni
- American country singer-songwriters
- American female country singers
- American film actresses
- American people of English descent
- American people of Czech descent
- American people of German descent
- American people of Irish descent
- American people of Polish descent
- American people of Moravian descent
- Atlantic Records artists
- Best Actress Academy Award winners
- Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
- Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
- Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni
- Living people
- Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- People from Wood County, Texas
- Sundance Film Festival award winners
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead winners
