Kathleen Turner

Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress.

Known for her distinctive husky voice, she is the recipient of two Golden Globes, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy, and two Tony Awards.

Born June 19, 1954, in Springfield, Missouri, to Patsy (née Magee) and Allen Richard Turner, a U.S. Foreign Service officer who grew up in China (where Turner's great-grandfather had been a Methodist missionary), Turner is the third of four children, and the only one to be born in the United States.

She has a sister, Susan, and two brothers.

Raised in a strictly conservative Christian home, Turner's interest in performing was discouraged by both of her parents: "My father was of missionary stock", she later explained, "so theater and acting were just one step up from being a streetwalker, you know? So when I was performing in school, he would drive my mom [there] and sit in the car. She'd come out at intermissions and tell him, 'She's doing very well.

Owing to her father's position with the Foreign Service, Turner grew up in Canada, Cuba, Venezuela, and London, England.

She attended high school at The American School in London, graduating in 1972.

In 1973, Turner spent the summer with her mother in Midland, Texas.

There, at Yucca Theater, Turner made history when she was cast as the first female villain in the Summer Mummers 1973 melodrama, Plodding Among the Planets.

After debuting both off and on Broadway in 1977, followed by her television debut as Nola Aldrich on the NBC soap opera The Doctors (1978–1979), Turner rose to prominence with her portrayal of Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981), which brought her a reputation as a sex symbol.

During this period, director Herbert Blau saw her performance in The House of Blue Leaves, and invited her to spend her senior year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1977.

During that period, Turner acted in several productions directed by film and stage director Steve Yeager.

Several months after moving to New York City in 1977, Turner took over the female lead in Michael Zetter's play Mister T, which co-starred Jonathan Frakes and played at Soho Repertory Theatre.

That production marked her off-Broadway debut.

Several months later, Turner made her Broadway debut as Judith Hastings in Gemini by Albert Innaurato, staged at The Little Theatre (now known as the Helen Hayes Theater) and starring Danny Aiello.

It opened May 21, 1977, during the time when she was appearing in the soap The Doctors.

In 1978, Turner made her television debut in the NBC daytime soap The Doctors as the second Nola Dancy Aldrich.

She worked solidly throughout the 1980s, in films such as The Man with Two Brains (1983), Crimes of Passion, Romancing the Stone (both 1984), Prizzi's Honor, The Jewel of the Nile (both 1985), Switching Channels, The Accidental Tourist (both 1988), and The War of the Roses (1989).

Turner ultimately became one of the top box-office draws, and most sought-after actresses of the 1980s and early 1990s.

She made her film debut in 1981 as the ruthless Matty Walker in the thriller Body Heat; the role brought her to international prominence.

Consequently, her first project after this was the 1983 comedy The Man With Two Brains.

Turner co-starred in Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito.

Film critic Pauline Kael wrote of her performance as writer Joan Wilder, "Turner knows how to use her dimples amusingly and how to dance like a woman who didn't know she could; her star performance is exhilarating."

For her portrayal of the title character in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Turner was nominated for the 1987 Academy Award for Best Actress.

Turner's voice work includes Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Constance in Monster House (2006), as well as characters on television series such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill, and Rick and Morty.

In addition to her work on stage and screen, Turner has taught acting classes at New York University.

Subsequent credits include V.I. Warshawski (1991), Serial Mom (1994), Baby Geniuses, The Virgin Suicides (both 1999), Beautiful (2000), Marley & Me (2008), and Dumb and Dumber To (2014).

Empire cited the film in 1995 when it named her one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History.

She also played Charles Bing, the drag queen father of Chandler Bing, on the seventh season of Friends (2001).

The New York Times wrote in 2005 that, propelled by her "jaw-dropping movie debut [in] Body Heat ... she built a career on adventurousness and frank sexuality born of robust physicality".

"The start of real acting for me began during high school in London", she stated in her 2008 memoir.

"There were seven of us who were sort of a theater mafia. We produced, directed, acted, chose the plays, got one teacher fired and another one hired."

Her father died of a coronary thrombosis one week before her graduation, and the family returned to Springfield, Missouri.

At the age of 19, Turner began volunteering at a local Planned Parenthood office.

She attended Southwest Missouri State University for two years, studying theater.

Outside film, Turner guest-starred as Sue Collini on Showtime's Californication (2009) and Roz Volander on Netflix's The Kominsky Method (2019–2021).

Turner stated in 2018, "Body Heat was a blessing because I went straight to being a leading actor and I didn't have to suffer any of this predatory male behaviour like many young actresses. It doesn't frustrate me that nearly four decades after that film I'm still referred to as a sexual icon. I got over that a long time ago."

With her deep voice, Turner was often compared to a young Lauren Bacall.

When the two met, Turner reportedly introduced herself by saying, "Hi, I'm the young you."

After Body Heat, Turner steered away from femme fatale roles to "prevent typecasting" and "because femme fatale roles had a shelf-life".