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Susan Sarandon |
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Forecourt Ceremony held on Monday, January 11, 1999 |
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Born: Susan Abigail Tomalin, October 4, 1946, in New York City, New York
Age at the time of the ceremony: 52
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At some point, you have to fall for Susan Sarandon. Intelligent and vivacious, with a steely quality, Sarandon is no fool, that's for sure. She has acted in an array of projects from big pictures to independent projects, and has done a great deal of activism.
Sarandon was born the oldest of nine children in Queens New York. As the family enlarged, they moved to Edison New Jersey, where Susan graduated Edison High School in 1964. Attending The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., she studied acting with Father Gilbert V. Hartke. She graduated in 1968.
Going to a casting call for a movie and hoping to get a small role, Sarandon wowed director John Avildsen, who cast her in a pivotal role in
Joe (released in July 1970) with Peter Boyle. She then did a bit of globe hopping, appearing in the low-budget Canadian film Fleur bleue - AKA The Apprentice (released in September 1971), then went to Italy to appear in the comedy La mortadella - Lady Liberty (released in December 1971) with Sophia Loren.
Proper Hollywood agenting got her roles in
Lovin' Molly (released in April 1974) with Anthony Perkins, and the thankless role of Peggy in Billy Wilder's remake of The Front Page (released in December 1974) with Lemmon and Matthau. She got third-billing in The Graet Waldo Pepper (released in March 1975) with Robert Redfford, then starred as Janet in the film which, though a flop initially, later became a huge success on the Midnight Circuit, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (released in September 1975) with Tim Curry.
Still finding her way, Sarandon had a role in the Sidney Sheldon potboiler
The Other Side of Midnight (released in June 1977) with Marie-France Pisier. She then worked with French director Louis Malle in Pretty Baby (released in April 1978) with Brooke Shields (back when Paramount financed stuff like that), then took a role in the crime film King of the Gypsies (released in December 1978) with Eric Roberts.
She re-teamed with Malle for
Atlantic City (which Premiered at the Chinese in April 1981) with Burt Lancaster, then starred as the Ariel character in a modern-day film of the Tempest (released in September 1982) with John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands, then played a gerontologist trying to help David Bowie in The Hunger (released in April 1983).
Sarandon played Livilla in the mini series A.D. aired over the History Channel in March and April 1985, and Edda Mussolini Ciano in Mussolini and I, aired over HBO in September 1985. She scored bigtime with The Withches of Eastwick (which played the Chinese in June 1987) with Jack Nicholson, and Bull Durham (released in June 1988) with Kevin Costner.
Sarandon joined the cast of
A Dry White Season (released in September 1989) with Donald Sutherland (back when MGM financed stuff like that), and turned many heads by starring as the older woman in White Palace (released in October 1990) with James Spader.
For many, the Sarandon package all comes together in
Thelma & Louise (released in May 1991) with Geena Davis. The elegantly told tale of two women needlessly on the run made her and Davis worldwide icons.
She
played a newscaster in Bob Roberts (released in September 1992) with Tim Robbins, and worked with Witches director George Miller once again in Lorenzo's Oil (released in January 1993) with Nick Nolte. For her trip into John Grisham territory, Sarandon finally got top-billing in The Client (released in July 1994) with Tommy Lee Jones, then played the mother, Mrs. March, in Little Women (released in December 1994) with Winona Ryder.
Sarandon won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking (released in December 1995) with Sean Penn. She co-starred with Paul Newman in
Twilight (released in March 1998), and did the comedy Stepmom (released in December 1998) with Julia Roberts.
She played Margherita Sarfatti in
Cradle Will Rock (released in May 1999) with Hank Azaria, played an impulsive mother to Natalie Portman in Anywhere But Here (released in November 1999), and did the comedy The Banger Sisters (released in September 2002) with Goldie Hawn.
Sarandon played Susan B. Anthony in two episodes of Freedom: A History of Us aired over PBS in February 2003, headlined in Shall We Dance (released in October 2004) with Richard Gere, played Orlando Bloom's mother in Elizabethtown (released in October 2005), and starred in the mystery Irresistable (released in April 2006) with Emily Blunt
She played tobacco heiress Doris Duke in Bernard and Doris (released in September 2006, then aired over HBO in February 2008), did six episodes as Alicia Green on Rescue Me aired over FX in August 2007, and starred in In the Valley of Elah (released in September 2007) with Tommy Lee Jones.
Sarandon entered the Disney empire with
Enchanted (released in November 2007) with Amy Adams, then played the title characters' mother in Speed Racer (which played the Chinese in May 2008) with Emile Hirsch, and starred in the family drama The Greatest (released in January 2009) with Pierce Brosnan. Sarandon played the mother of twins Edward Norton (in a double role) in Leaves of Grass (released in September 2009), played Shia LaBeouf's mom in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (released in September 2010), and played Jason Segal's mom in Jeff, Who Lives at Home (released in September 2011).
In Robot & Frank (released in January 2012), Frank Langella tries to swipe a rare book from Sarandon's librarian Jennifer. She played Richard Gere's unsuspecting wife in Arbitrage (released in September 2012), and did six episodes of The Big C with Laura Linney airing over Showtime in June 2012.
She played an ex-Weather Underground member in
The Company You Keep (released in April 2013) with Robert Redford, she played multiple roles in the complex telling of Cloud Atlas (released in October 2012) with Tom Hanks, and played the current girlfriend of Robert De Niro in The Big Wedding (released in April 2013).
She playes a loose-cannon mom to Rose Bryne in the drama
The Meddler (released in September 2015), played a New York dectetive in Ace the Case (released in August 2016) with Ripley Sobo, and played Bette Davis to Jessica Lange's Joan Crawford in the mini series Feud which Premiered at the Chinese in March 2017, then aired over the FX Network).
She joined the ensemble comedy
A Bad Mom's Christmas (released in November 2017) as Kathryn Hahn's mother, and played studio head Samantha Winslow on 19 episodes of Ray Donovan aired over Showtime beginning in August 2017.
Sanandon co-starred in the ensemble drama Blackbird (released in September 2019) with Kate Winslet, and plays mom in the comedy VHYes (released in January 2020) with Kerri Kenney. She co-starred in the bowling comedy The Jesus Rolls (released in February 2020. Sarandon narrated the documentary Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story, direct to video in March 2020.
Sarandon dies in the first reel of Ride the Eagle with Jake Johnson (released in June 2021). She plays the symbolic "Woman with No Name" in Jolt with Kate Beckinsale over Amazon Prime in July 2021.
Sarandon has been very busy. She dabbled in hypnotism in Forty Winks with
Justin Marcel McManus (released in March 2022), did 10 episodes of the country-music soaper Monarch with Anna Friel (released in September 2022), and has a slot in the ensemble comedy Maybe I Do with Diane Keaton (released in January 2023). |
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Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Susan Sarandon Forecourt block. Executed by unknown, Monday, January 11, 1999. 49 x 44 inches. |
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Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Susan Sarandon Forecourt ceremony, Monday, January 11, 1999. Susan Sarandon gives a winsome smile while placing her hands in the cement. Photo by WENN / Marcus Hoffman. |
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