Early life
Winger was born
Mary Debra Winger
in
Cleveland Heights, Ohio, the daughter of Ruth (
née Felder), an office manager, and Robert Winger, a meat packer.
[1] She was raised in an
Orthodox Jewish family.
[2] In the early 1970s, she spent several weeks at
Beit Zera, a
kibbutz in
Israel.
[3] [4] She has stated publicly and with amusement that the Internet has a growing "snowball" of claims that she had been part of a
kibbutz in Israel, whereas she says she was merely on a typical Israeli youth program that visited the kibbutz.
[5] After returning to the
United States, she was involved in an
automobile accident and suffered a
cerebral hemorrhage as a result. She was left partially
paralyzed and
blind for ten months, although she was initially told that she would never see again. With time on her hands to think about her life, she decided that, if she recovered, she would move to
California and become an
actress.
[6]
Career
Winger's first acting role was as "Debbie" in the 1976
sexploitation film
Slumber Party '57
[7]. Her next role was as Diana Prince's younger sister Drusilla (
Wonder Girl) in the
Wonder Woman
television series. Winger got her first starring role in
Urban Cowboy
in 1980, opposite
John Travolta, for which she received a
BAFTA award nomination. In 1982, she co-starred with
Nick Nolte in
Cannery Row
and opposite
Richard Gere in
An Officer and a Gentleman
, for which she was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress.
Winger's acting work has received critical acclaim. Winger was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress twice more: for
Terms of Endearment
in
1983, and for
Shadowlands
1993, for which she also received her second BAFTA award nomination. Winger was originally cast in the lead role in
A League of their Own
but dropped out and was replaced by
Geena Davis.
In 1995, Winger turned 40 and began a hiatus from the film industry, during which she spent a semester as a
teaching fellow at
Harvard University. In 2001, a critically acclaimed
documentary film titled
Searching for Debra Winger
was made by
Rosanna Arquette and released in 2002 after Winger returned to performing. Other films include
Legal Eagles
,
Made in Heaven
,
Everybody Wins
,
The Sheltering Sky
,
Leap of Faith
,
Black Widow
,
Betrayed
,
Wilder Napalm
,
A Dangerous Woman
and
Sometimes in April
. She earned an
Emmy Award nomination for her title role in the television film
Dawn Anna
in 2005, directed by her second husband,
Arliss Howard.
In 1995, Winger performed in
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True
a musical performance of the popular story at
Lincoln Center to benefit the
Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on
Turner Network Television (TNT), and issued on CD and video in 1996.
In 2008, Winger wrote a book based on her personal recollections titled "Undiscovered."
[8] In
2008, she also got very positive reviews as Anne Hathaway's estranged mother in
Rachel Getting Married
.
Personal life
In 1983, she dated
Bob Kerrey, who was the then-Governor of
Nebraska, while filming
Terms of Endearment
in
Lincoln, Nebraska. From 1986 to 1990, she was married to actor
Timothy Hutton, her first son Noah Hutton was born in 1987, and since 1996 has been married to actor
Arliss Howard. Her second son Gideon Babe Howard (Babe) was born in 1997.
Winger's film career was complicated by her notorious inability to get along with her co-stars. Her hatred of
Richard Gere was well publicized. Winger was also highly critical of
Robert Redford, with whom she made
Legal Eagles
, and of
Steve Martin, with whom she appeared in
Leap of Faith
. Winger also gained a reputation for turning down roles in successful films, such as the role of Madison in
Splash
(which was a surprise hit for
Daryl Hannah), the role played by
Michelle Pfeiffer in
The Fabulous Baker Boys
and the role played by
Glenn Close in
Fatal Attraction
.
Filmography
| Year
| Film
| Role
| Notes
|
| 1976
| Slumber Party '57
| Debbie
|
|
| 1976-77
| Wonder Woman
| Drusilla (Wonder Girl)
| (3 episodes)
|
| 1978
| Thank God It's Friday
| Jennifer
|
|
| 1979
| The Warriors
|
| (Uncredited)
|
| French Postcards
| Melanie
|
|
| 1980
| Urban Cowboy
| Sissy
| Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
|
| 1982
| Cannery Row
| Suzy DeSoto
|
|
| An Officer and a Gentleman
| Paula Pokrifki
| Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
|
| 1983
| Terms of Endearment
| Emma Horton
| National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
|
| 1984
| Mike’s Murder
| Betty Parrish
|
|
| 1986
| Legal Eagles
| Laura J. Kelly
|
|
| 1987
| Black Widow
| Alexandra 'Alex' Barnes
|
|
| Made in Heaven
| Emmett Humbird
| (uncredited)
|
| 1988
| Betrayed
| Catherine Weaver
|
|
| 1990
| Everybody Wins
| Angela Crispini
|
|
| The Sheltering Sky
| Kit Moresby
|
|
| 1992
| Leap of Faith
| Jane Larson
|
|
| 1993
| Wilder Napalm
| Vida Foudroyant
|
|
| Shadowlands
| Joy Gresham
| Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
|
| A Dangerous Woman
| Martha Horgan
| Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
|
| 1995
| Forget Paris
| Ellen Andrews Gordon
|
|
| 2001
| Big Bad Love
| Marilyn
|
|
| 2003
| Radio
| Linda
|
|
| 2004
| Eulogy
| Alice Collins
|
|
| 2005
| Sometimes in April
| Prudence Bushnell
|
|
| Dawn Anna
| Dawn Anna Townsend
| Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
|
| 2008
| Rachel Getting Married
| Abby
| Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Cast
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
|
References
- Debra Winger Biography (1955?-)
- FILM; Debra Winger: Caught on a Winter Afternoon - New York Times
- http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c44_a12868/The_Arts/Books.html
- Jewish Journal
- Leonard Lopate Show radio interview on 6/10/08
- Where There'S Smoke, There'S A Fiery Actress Named Debra Winger - New York Times
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076726/
- Debra Winger, Actor—Blue Flower Arts: An Agency Representing Poets, Authors and Speakers